saving tomato seeds

is it true you need to ferment the tomatoes in order to seperate the seeds to save or can you just cut them open and dry the seeds?
oh and can you use tomatoes that were a touch frosted and now a bit soft?

yes,yo have to ferment tom. seeds,once they mold,clean them up,dry them,they should be good to grow. frozen toms is a tough one,I would think as long as they weren't too frozen the seeds should be fine,do a germ. test should let you knowhow viable thet are

For what it's worth, I did save seeds from a few frozen tomatoes and they grew. Don't know if it was just those ones or if all of them will grow. I suspect they will all grow, as I get a few in the compost pile from rotten ones or chicken damaged ones that got tossed there and stayed outside all winter. They come up each spring.

thanks for the answers guys! i had no idea you let the mix mold and ferment before you save the seeds..so glad i inquired first.
i have some fargo yellow pear tomatoes ( thanks fowler!  i loved them)and tiny cherry.ones fermenting right now
i was so pleased with those yellow beans with the red seeds birish (red valentine?)and my garlic grew well too...i will be replanting the best ones
also liked the ying and yang beans because the seeds are so cool looking but they were not worth eating as young beans.
i tried a bicolor corn this year called double standard and i wasplwased with the way it stayed well wrapped amd never got too starchy but a little too slow growing for me. i had tried simonet last year and didnt like it because as it ripened it opened up at the silk end and the bugs moved in
im still on the lookout for an open pollinated sweet corn i can grow here....

Weird I have never fermented my tomato seeds, just dried them on a paper towel. They always come up even after two or three years. I have never even heard of fermenting them.

My mom and I had always just dried the tomato seeds on paper towel but this year we learned of the fermenting process.  I fermented some of the seeds from my gramma's heritage tomatoes and it was easy and worked great!  I tested the germination by placing a few seeds on top of a wet paper towel inside of a zip loc bag.  Every seed germinated.  We didn't have to battle the dried- on paper towel like other years.

Some people ferment them, some don't. I don't think it makes a big difference. I just squeeze them out on a paper towel or plate, then when they are good and dry, I pop them in an evelope and they seem to grow well. To each their own, perhaps.

My understanding is that the fermenting is only to make it easier to separate from the sludge, not necessary for the seed to be viable. I do ferment mine, and they do very well, and are easy to deal with.

makes sense...i have gone ahead and fermented them but havent seperated yet