I prefer to ask my own specific questions

There's nothing wrong with that, but you'll have much better luck searching this forum via Google. It's a more efficient way to search and find what you want. Go to advanced search, enter your search terms and specify this site in the box that says Search within a site or domain.

If you're using Windows once you find a thread you can hit Ctrl+F and a Find box will come up. You can enter a word or phrase and the Find function will highlight everywhere in the thread that word or phrase appears.

Give it a shot. It takes longer to explain than to do.

1. Paste in a recipe like Annie's Salsa, posted often here, is not necessary. It's used as a safe thickener for those who prefer their salsa that way, but it's optional.

2. Salsa in the fridge is not a good keeper. If softens and gets soggy pretty quickly. Flavors also change. Onions get strong, etc. You'll notice significant changes within a few days. It's the kind of thing better made on-the-spot than stored.

3. With fresh salsa measurements and proportions are entirely to your taste. It's not a safety issue.

4. To freeze whole tomatoes just take the clean tomatoes and put in a bag and freeze. Skins remove easily after thawing. Flavor is essentially the same as fresh. It's texture that changes.

Thanks Carol! That is a much better way of searching. I use Google all the time but never used the advanced feature where you can put in the site you want to search. This will really come in handy.

As for the salsa, so if I plan to keep it for more than a few days I should process and can it right? Can I throw in a can of diced tomatoes instead of the sauce and paste if the natural juices aren't enough?

Wow looks like any excess tomatoes will be frozen and not canned lol. Would you recommend using them in salads, on sandwiches or for making salsa after freezing or will the texture be such that it won't be enjoyable?

Carol answered all your questions so all I can add is a word of defense of our poor abused search system here. I never have any problems with using it but then it is a Boolean-based search so it responds to specifics not general terms best. It also has a forum-specific ability and an advanced function too. So the more specific your term, the narrower the results. It also deals best with singular not plurals and the order and the tense of the words you use is important. But that also holds true for Google.

Boolean was the original form of searching on the web - and still the best in some ways - but only we old time computer nerds seem to relate to it. ;)

Example if you are interested, in order of worst to best term to use: salsa vs. Annies salsa vs. paste in salsa
freezing tomatoes vs. freeze tomato, etc.

Also keep in mind that if you need an answer in a real hurry sometime, you'll find most all the basic questions covered in detail at NCHFP (and its search is a Google-based search).

Don't get me wrong, I've no objections to questions. It's just that sometimes you need the info in a rush and none of us are around. ;)

Dave

funissa, frozen tomatoes are more like cooked tomatoes, kind of, I can't think of a better way to describe the texture. They do get softer and squishier, so I wouldn't try to use them on sandwiches, probably. Depending on the salad, that might be OK, but I use them mostly for items that will be cooked or fresh salsas and pasta sauces, etc.

Annie

I do use the search function, but for things like Annie's Salsa..........there are so many hits each year, you gotta have an afternoon to pick through the search results. LOL. Also, the directions changed mid-stream on it, and I pulled up old results and did not can them according to new recommendations. That can happen with searches and you are in the middle of making them when you Google them.