Happy New Year! Our tomatoes have started producing too many to use but not enough for me to make my usual sauce. I wondered if I could freeze them in measured amounts then put them all together with some more fresh once I have enough. I figured the water from freezing would just evaporate in the long boiling. Has anyone done this? I’ve done it with fruit but thought tomatoes might be too watery. Thanks

Yes, I've done that heaps of times Janet, and you are correct, they are much more watery and you need to boil it off until you get the sauce consistency you want - which is more boiling than using fresh tomatoes. Mum always used to say using brown sugar instead of white sugar helped thicken the mixture, but I'm not exactly sure about that, but certainly gives the sauce a bit of a darker colour and also nicer taste. No problems adding fresh tomatoes to the frozen ones.

Happy New Year
Regards,
Dawn.

Yes, I use frozen tomatoes in my tomato sauce. I used to boil the excess liquid off but now I prefer to keep the cooking time as brief as possible (half an hour) so I remove excess liquid by ladling it off. I start with 8kg tomatoes and reduce to about 3kg.
My recipe instructions now say:

"Put 8kg tomatoes (chopped or left whole) in a pot on high heat. As the water forms, take all of it off except for a bit in the bottom (to prevent burning and because it’s hard to bail out that bit anyway). Check the weight of the tomatoes to see if it’s down to 3kg yet. If not, continue cooking and removing water until it is at 3kg. (If you're using frozen tomatoes, this whole process will take only a few minutes. If you’re using fresh tomatoes, it will take a lot longer. Don’t bother removing the skins during this process - they're removed later.)"

I use glacial acetic acid instead of vinegar in my tomato sauce as I don't like vinegar flavour in sauces/relishes etc, and this helps reduce the liquid amount as well.

Perfect answer ladies. Thanks. I’m not very patient so quite like the idea of ladling off the excess. I think from memory my sauce boils for three hours. It’s a really old recipe passed down through the generations.

Yes I think that's a good idea of J1's too. Janet my recipe is similar to yours by the sounds, an old one which takes 3 hours boiling. I no longer make anything which involves tomatoes as my husband has an allergic reaction to them these days........I still grow a few for myself to eat fresh though.
Regards,
Dawn.

I was thinking about this today as I cut up the first 4lb (okd recipe) of tomatoes, and wondered to myself if they really are more watery when thawed or whether it’s just that the cell structure has broken down releasing the liquid which would normally be released on heating. It doesn’t really matter anyway. I don’t want to make pasta sauce, have still got the majority of last years tomato paste in the freezer, so I’ll just be making my normal sauce, the majority of which my son and daughter-in-law will get. Time to be sensible about the number of preserves I make I think.