The project.

Good, ripe tomatoes are like buses… You wait ages for them, then suddenly you have more than you know what to do with. Fear not – Emily Gussin is here to show you how to capture that tip-top tomato flavour and preserve it for the months ahead

FOOD STYLING: EMILY GUSSIN. PHOTOGRAPHS: INDIA WHILEY-MORTON

I’ve always loved tomatoes. If there’s a punnet of cherry tomatoes in the kitchen, I’ll snack on them like popcorn while I’m cooking. I try to grow my own most years, too, even on my tiny north-facing balcony in a block of urban flats – although that does admittedly result in more green, clinging-on-for-dear-life tomatoes than gorgeously ripe red ones.

As soon as British tomatoes are in season, I buy big cratefuls. These days, you can get them easily year-round, but those shipped from overseas are picked before they’re fully ripe to extend their shelf life. Although they do ripen during transit, they can’t develop in flavour as they would naturally, resulting in watery, tasteless tomatoes that do a disservice to the real deal. Those grown in the UK, left to fully ripen on the plant and kept away from cold storage taste completely different – properly sweet and rich in flavour.

If you find yourself with a glut of these beautifully ripe tomatoes, don’t panic – you don’t need to use them all up right away. Here’s how to preserve the bounty and enjoy them for months to come.

CHOOSE YOUR TECHNIQUE: SWEET OR TANGY

Whether you grow your own or not, a weekend spent preserving tomatoes is a joy. There are so many ways to enhance their flavour while also making them last longer, but here I’ve focused on the two main methods: slow-cooking (via confit and semi-drying) and increasing acidity (through pickling and creating vinegar-based ketchup).