Would blow-torching tomatoes have the desired "oven roasted" effect?
I want to have oven roasted tomatoes that have some black on them for salsa. I have over 100 tomatoes and don't want to use the oven for a full day doing this. I think a blowtorch might blacken the tomatoes in a good way. Would this have the desired effect (i.e., having blackened charred tomatoes)? How would it be different from baking them in an oven?
I know the tomatoes won't lose as much liquid as if they were baked, but that is not an issue since I'll be reducing them in a salsa anyway.
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It depends on what effect you're going for.
If all you want is some burnt bits? Sure, go for it. Heck, you don't even have to use the tomatoes for that; you can just burn some paper, or grind up some lump charcoal. (I wouldn't suggest using briquettes or self-lighting charcoal for that.)
If you're going for the taste of roasted tomatoes, that won't be there. That develops through a longer cooking time (though not all day. See Tetsujin's answer) and can't really be short-cutted. A kitchen torch doesn't deliver much heat compared to an oven, just very focused heat.
The other thing you might consider, particularly if your oven is low-powered and/or doesn't have a convection mode, is roasting some of the tomatoes and leaving the others raw. I've actually made salsa like this before, because I like the taste of roasted tomatoes and also the tang of fresh ones. It lets you absolutely roast the hell out of the ones you're roasting.
Does your oven have a fan-grill?
30-ish tomatoes on a tray, 3 trays, set to fan grill & rotate the trays every few mins.
Alternatively, use the regular oven & when the tomatoes are nearly done, switch to the grill. Rotate as above.
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