Vegetable Butchery 101: Grating Tomatoes

Jim Dixon wrote about food for WW for more than 20 years, but these days most of his time is spent at his olive oil-focused specialty food business Wellspent Market. Jim’s always loved to eat, and he encourages his customers to cook by sending them recipes every week through his newsletter. We’re happy to have him back creating some special dishes just for WW readers.

Good canned tomatoes are fine, and actually better, for the many months when we can’t get good tomatoes at the store. But during the summer, I’m eating as many local tomatoes as I can, even in things where canned might be easier. If they’re going in something where I don’t want chunks of cut-up tomato, I grab a box grater.

The origins of the grated tomato are lost in the murky depths of culinary history, but I picked up the technique when I was learning about Spanish food. While the classic pan con tomate (aka pa amb tomàquet in Catalonia) usually calls for rubbing a cut tomato directly onto a slice of grilled bread, some recipes direct you to use a grater on the tomato first and then spoon the juicy pulp on the bread. I prefer the tomato-on-bread technique for that particular dish, but I quickly adopted the grater for almost anything else that calls for fresh tomato purée.

It works for all kinds of tomatoes, although I wouldn’t recommend grating cherry tomatoes. All you need is a grater with large holes and a bowl. Slice the tomato in half at the equator, place your grater in the bowl, and rub the cut side against the holes. Press gently with a flat hand and grate slowly until all that’s left is the skin, which you can salt and eat, toss in the compost, or dry and grind to make tomato powder. Use the grated tomato in cooked dishes where you want some extra umami flavor. Spoon it raw over yogurt or labneh to scoop up with bread or chips.