What are you making with them?
Do you really need to core them?

If I'm making sauce, salsa, etc. I just slice off a thin layer from the top. Check the blossom end for any large defects, otherwise leave it there and chop.

Deanna

thanks for the info. i'm just making sauce but every recipe says to core them, but i'm going to do it your way.

I think the core and seeds provide lots of flavor.
I run my sauce through a food mill, so the seeds, hard pieces of core and skins are all removed anyway.

Enjoy your sauce!
Deanna

that is my question about Romas.
I never use 'em in sauce, cause I really, really, really hate those pieces of plastic (started to say cellophane, but that'd date me) that come off regular toms when cooked. Does that happen with Romas... (I don't have a food mill)
kay

If you invest in a food mill for processing your tomatoes for sauce then you don't have to worry about cores or seeds or peels. The mill removes them all quickly and easily.

Without one then just use the boiling water-ice water dip to peel them then slice off the top of the fruit. You'd still have to tolerate all the seeds (you can strain some of them out with a wire strainer) but at least you wouldn't have to put up with the plastic bits of peel. We don't care for the seeds left in at all. Makes the sauce bitter to our palates.

And yes, any variety, if used unpeeled, ends up with the rolled up bits of chewy plastic peel in it.

But if you process lots of tomatoes and make lots of sauce then a food mill makes a world of difference in the processing.

Dave

Can you freeze the tomatoes, let them defrost, and then slide the skins off? The freezing process turns the tomatoes to mush inside but that might not matter if you are making sauce anyway.

thanks lois, I do like a bit of texture in my sauces. Don't make enough to justify a food mill and have no place to store it. Guess I'll continue to use regular toms dipped in hot water, skinned and cut in half and seeds thumbed out. Gets most of 'em and I dn't mind the rest. Much better than try to peel all those romas.
kay

I process so many tomato products each year, and would never want to be without my "Tomato Shark" tools. If you try a google image search for it, you will see these inexpensive tools. I also cuis or food mill some things with the peel - but many things are better w/o peel fragments says our family!
It is best used on the roma or paste types, needing only one swift circular motion to be done wit the tough small cores. If you do this before blanching and peeling, the whole skin will come off in one or two movements after blanching and cooling.