Do you "need" to peel? No. It is always your choice. But is it recommended? Definitely.

The peel on any food is the primary source of bacteria and other contaminants. Remove it and you reduce the potential bacterial count by half or more. So no, the peel isn't "harmless", especially when you will be packing it into an anaerobic vacuum.

And with tomatoes the peel turns to small rolled up bits of rubbery, chewy stuff that most of us don't want included.

Your choice.

Dave

Personally we don't like the peels after canning. It's not hard to peel tomatoes, using the hot water/ice water method. We do several bushel per setting that way. Our kitchen ALWAYS looks like a canning kitchen during season.

You should peel them for the reasons they others said. They are awful , like bits of paper in the salsa.
That is where the majority of bacteria is.

When making salsa I use a salsa screen on my Victorio tomato mill, which allows a small amount of skins to get through, but it is barely noticeable. Changing or cleaning the screen after each 15 pounds of tomatoes helps, as the skin pieces tend to get caught in the holes of the screen. Be sure not to rub the screen clean into the batch as you would be adding back skins.

To reduce bacteria, I spray down all counter tops and sinks with a dilute bleach solution and dry with clean paper towels. I then soak all tomatoes under tepid water for at least ten minutes to loosen any dirt on the surfaces. After soaking, I scrub the tomatoes thoroughly under running water with a vegetable brush, then cut out the cores and any imperfections and place them on the clean counters. I mill them raw and add the juice to the cooking pot. Saves hours of work for large batches compared to the hot dip and cold soak method of skin removal.

TomNJ

Saves hours of work for large batches compared to the hot dip and cold soak method of skin removal.

Tom - if you are using a Victorio to prep then you don't need to do the hot dip and cold soak skin removal. That's one of the primary advantages to using one. Sure you can raw process the tomatoes with it but it is even easier if you hot process them through it. Just wash the fruit and toss it whole into a pot, heat until softened and then run them through the mill.

Dave

You should not soak produce. The water they sit in will just allow bacteria to seep into the pores of the produce. Just rub and wash well under cool running water in a colander.

I roast my tomatoes under the broiler to peel them. Not only does this free up my hands to work on other things in the kitchen, the tomatoes get the extra flavor benefit from roasting.

I used to do the boil/blanch dance, but not anymore. I am able to peel a whole bushel of tomatoes in less than an hour with less mess.

Here is a link that might be useful: How to Quickly Peel Tomatoes

Thanks everyone! I blanched and peeled them the old fashioned way, but I may try roasting next time!