It almost tomato season, it’s almost tomato season, it’s almost tomato season!! I keep telling myself that, as I wait for the tomatoes to ripen in our garden. We actually had our first full-sized tomato from our garden (a Cherokee Purple) just last night … finally … and it was worth waiting for.
So once tomato season finally arrives and there are many beautiful tomatoes in your garden, or in the farmers’ markets, what do you do to make them ready to devour? Well, first wash them (yes, I did grow up to be my mother!). Second, DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT PUTTING THEM IN THE REFRIGERATOR! And the next, and final preparatory step is to hull the tomato.
Hulling a tomato means to take out the core that formed at the south end of the stem; it’s that tasteless hard cone that’s at the top center of the tomato. So once you’re ready to hull a tomato, what’s the best way to do it? You can take a sharp little paring knife and dig the core out of the tomato. But I’ve never wanted to do a down-facing dog into a tomato with a sharp knife: the possibilities of slipping and doing damage to myself are too great.
This problem cries out for a tool, and what do you want in a tomato huller that would make it a Cool Tool? First it has to be easy, so that even a child could do it well. But it can’t have scary dangerous sharp edges, because you may want to give it to your child, to help and feel part of the dinner-making process. However, it does need to be able grasp and cut out the hull - the center core - without taking too much of the good part of the tomato, because, after all, tomato season is short! And you want that tool to extract the hull cleanly from the tomato … and do it with style. Oh yes, and you also want it to be dishwasher safe for safe and easy cleanup because, during tomato season, you will be using it every day!
All of these characteristics are found in the Chef’n Hullster Tomato Huller. Like its smaller cousin, our best selling StemGem Strawberry Stemmer, it has stainless steel serrated blades that extend and open when you push a button in the top. Insert the open blades around the core, and then release the button and twist in one clockwise motion. The core comes out quickly and cleanly, perfect for canning or making stuffed tomatoes, or as the first step before slicing tomatoes and serving them with a little olive oil and some fresh mozzarella or burrata … delicious!
Great design, and essential functionality, especially in the height - or depth - of tomato season! Definitely a Cool Tool!
Facts:
- Core tomatoes quickly and easily
- Serrated blades remove core cleanly
- Top rack dishwasher safe
