Why You Should Be Making (and Drinking) Tomato Water
© Tara Fisher
You’ve had your fill of caprese salads, fresh marinara sauce and BLTs. Now what do you do with a garden full of nearly bursting, ultra-juicy tomatoes? You make tomato water. The distilled essence of tomato’s vibrant goodness, tomato water is easy to make and incredibly useful.
To make tomato water, line a large colander with cheesecloth and set it over a bowl. Chop super-ripe tomatoes, toss them with a little salt, then set them in the cloth-lined colander. Cover the colander with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. What’s left in the bowl is the sweetest concentration of tomatoey deliciousness you’ll ever taste. Here, six ways to use tomato water.
1. Tomato Water Bloody Marys
Bloody Marys can be filling, but using fresh tomato water makes them especially light and refreshing.
2. Tomato Salad with Tomato Water Granita
Chefs Michael Fojtasek and Grae Nonas explore every dimension of the tomato in this ingenious mix of flavors, temperatures and textures.
3. Tomato Tartare with Tomato Water
Jacques Pépin’s tomato tartare has the look of the original beef tartare and is delightfully refreshing for a first course.
4. Pan-Seared Halibut with Tomato Vinaigrette
Alaskan halibut is the star of this dish, topped with a warm tomato-water vinaigrette.
5. Tomato Sorbet
Andrew Zimmern makes this recipe all summer long with everything from orange sunburst cherry tomatoes to Valencias to German Striped.
6. No-Cook Tomato Buttermilk Soup
You can make this soup with tomato water for a pure-white chilled soup, or use drained tomato puree for a quicker, more rustic version.
Related: More Tomato Recipes
DIY Tomato Salad
Great Bloody Mary Recipes
Top Tomato Dishes
Pairings for Tomato Dishes
