I see that most people resort to peeling their tomatoes and even coring them while using them in cooking and all this only to make sure that what one eats is super smooth sans the fibrous bits.Super smooth baby food? Is that what we want to eat? We could do with a little bit of a rustic, chunky pasta sauce .Come on , be brave !Why do i insist that we use uncored and unpeeled tomatoes in cooking?Coz most of the vitamins and a whole lot of fiber is located in these parts of the tomatoes.Naturally occuring vitamins are better absorbed than synthetic vitamins from a bottle.Natural fiber is indigestible and thus forms a large part of our ummmmmm stools(for lack of a less offensive and 'in the face' term !) .It is only when the stools are bulky that the bowels find it easy to send them out .Fibrous stools also prevent colon cancer.Fibrous stools also prevent Constipation too.There has been a rise in colon cancer in recent times and this could be attributed to the altered food habits of people where they have taken to binge drinking and eating highly processed foods with very less natural fiber.What i am trying to get at with all this banter is:HMMMM....People essentially are trying to get rid of the natural foods off of their natural fiber and natural vitamins too all in an attempt to attain a smooth sauce.Come on.The naturally occuring fiber in our diet is actually meant to be eaten.We need bulk so that the undigested wastes move through our long intestines quite easily.. Morever, Blanching and peeling and coring the tomatoes also makes us lose a lot of valuable vitamins which lie right underneath the skin of the tomatoes.Now that we have blenders and puree makers, making those seeds into mush is no big deal.So, why give up on the fiber and the vitamins ? We can still have a very smooth sauce even while using the peel and the seeds.Don't blanch the tomatoes , just puree the whole lot without blanching and voila---smooth sauce.
