I've smoked quite a lot of tomatoes, usually end up making about 10-12 quarts of smoked canned tomatoes a year. The method I use is to blanche and skin the tomatoes, regardless of size, and then cold smoked them whole for 2-3 hours depending on how much smokey flavor you want. I haven't tried skinning cherry tomatoes yet, but that does seem like a pain. If I were to smoke cherry tomatoes I would probably cut them in half and then cold smoke them cut side down for only an hour.
You really do need to take the skin off as it is a superb barrier that will keep most of the smoke flavor out. However, without the skin the tomatoes became mush very easily and I've found that I need to use a silicone rack on top of the metal rack to ensure they don't slip between the grates. The silicone rack has about 1/2" square holes throughout to let the smoke puff up through.
I've mainly used hickory (dust and pellets) and it gives a great flavor, but I've also smoked them with sage pellets before with surprising success. The sage flavor really comes through strong with 1-2 hours of it being plenty for my tastes.
We make sauces, soups, and salsas with the tomatoes. The salsa in particular has always been a big hit, the extra level of flavor that the smoked tomatoes brings really lets it stand apart from the average canned or fresh salsa.
You really do need to take the skin off as it is a superb barrier that will keep most of the smoke flavor out. However, without the skin the tomatoes became mush very easily and I've found that I need to use a silicone rack on top of the metal rack to ensure they don't slip between the grates. The silicone rack has about 1/2" square holes throughout to let the smoke puff up through.
I've mainly used hickory (dust and pellets) and it gives a great flavor, but I've also smoked them with sage pellets before with surprising success. The sage flavor really comes through strong with 1-2 hours of it being plenty for my tastes.
We make sauces, soups, and salsas with the tomatoes. The salsa in particular has always been a big hit, the extra level of flavor that the smoked tomatoes brings really lets it stand apart from the average canned or fresh salsa.
