Many plant seeds can be saved simply by collecting them as they dry. Tomatoes take a bit more work. The tomato seeds are enclosed in a gel like sack that contains growth inhibitors, preventing the seeds from sprouting inside the tomato. The best way to remove this gel covering is to allow the fruits to rot and ferment. In nature this happens when the fruit falls off the plant. For seed savers, we're going to speed up the process.
http://gardening.about.com/od/totallytomatoes/ss/TomatoSeeds.htm

I never thought about growth inhibitors in the gel around the seed. Thank you for taking the time to answer. I do appreciate it. :)
gg

If you don't wanna mess with fermenting the seeds, you can try THIS courtesy of Trudi the Wintersown Lady.

thanks for that info hoosiercherokee. That is a very interesting method.
gg

Thank you Bill!

GG, it's a really easy method and you likely don't have to go out and buy anything to do it ;-)

I just received a donation of tom seeds that were cleaned by the method--the donator wrote "Wow, those seeds came out clean!"

Well, they do ;-) The method takes about 35 minutes start to finish, but you get a half-hour break inbetween ;-) You don't have cups of burbling yuck to babysit for a few days while the contents ferment. Your commitment time is greatly reduced--35 minutes of attention vs three-plus days; and also, a little disinfectant is going to go far in helping to reduce seed-to-soil disease transmission from any exterior-born pathogen.

T

Trudi, I like easy and quick! :). I think this will be the method to try!
gg