Why do almost all recipes involving tomatoes tell you to peel them?

Question

I can't understand! Is a piece of tomato skin going to kill me?

I cannot think of anything more pointless than peeling a tomato, well, grapes maybe.

I recently found a great a pre-prepared Italian pasta sauce which contains whole cherry tomatoes (taste bombs in their skins) and roasted vegetables. It's probably the best I've ever eaten.

So why the insistence on skinning tomatoes?

Answer 1

They can be bitter, and when they cook off and curl up, they are hard to chew.  If you don't want to peel them, don't.  No one here will mind.

Answer 2

Leave the skin of if that's what you prefer. By peeling the tomato it will cook down faster (the peel holding the insides together). and the peel can get sharp because it's thick in some baked items. I prefer to always peel.

Answer 3

Finicky people

Some recipes are written by show off people

Some people will only quarter the tomato and the skin will not dissolve,, so big mess

canned stewed tomatoes are skinned

Answer 4

I peel tomatoes when I'm using large fresh ones in soup or sauce because I just don't like the papery feel of tomato skins when they are cooked.

You are right they won't kill you.  But, if you have little ones they could choke on a piece of tomato skin.  

Answer 5

When you cook tomatoes the skin will come off eventually and it will roll up into tiny straw like pieces that some people don't like. With cherry tomatoes, they will be so small that they will be barely noticeable. I never peel cherry tomatoes, they are so small it's just not worth the trouble.

Answer 6

Some people (I know one!) cannot stand the skin.  I refuse to skin them, if they are to be used in a sauce I blitz it and keep quiet.  No complaints yet. Your 'tast bombs in their skins' sound fantastic

Answer 7

If you don't peel the tomatoes, bits of skin will fall off in your sauce. That's all.

Oh and tomato skins can also make a sauce bitter.

Answer 8

Put the whole tomatos into a pot of boiling water for just one minute

submerge them into a bunch of ice water and the skin will slip right off.

it gets hard and rolls up into little tubes if you cook with the skin on