Dehydrated tomatoes

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blissful

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I'm dehydrating tomatoes, as usual, as they come out of the garden. Sliced in half and 9 or 12 hours, whatever it takes and then in freezer bags.
It makes the BEST spaghetti sauce, the best tomato sauce, tossed in the blender with some water, fresh tasting and sunny like the sunshine just finished getting them ripe.

I wish we had planted more this year. Next year, I'll plant enough to harvest twice this much to last a few years.

I have some cherry tomatoes, I'm dehydrating those too.....without slicing them, I don't know if they will dry out. I guess I'll find out tonight, whether they dry out or not.
 
I have a dehydrator and buckets of tomatoes. I might just try that. I have some white currant tomatoes that are so sweet--I think if I dried them they might sub for grapes!
 
I have a dehydrator and buckets of tomatoes. I might just try that. I have some white currant tomatoes that are so sweet--I think if I dried them they might sub for grapes!

I don't know why I thought this, but I thought you dehydrated tomatoes, with all your gardening interests.
Anyways, dehydrating is a low time, low cost way to put them up. I used to can tomatoes and it was always the hottest days and it would make the kitchen so hot, I just quit a few years ago.
I love the dehydrated tomatoes now. Tomato powder and dried tomatoes in a blender with water.....it's better than canned.
 
Nope, I am very new to dehydrating--my aunt found a dehydrator at the yard sale, and thought I would like it.

How do you store them after they are dry? I did some mushrooms the other day, and thought they were perfectly dry, but they molded!
 
Nope, I am very new to dehydrating--my aunt found a dehydrator at the yard sale, and thought I would like it.

How do you store them after they are dry? I did some mushrooms the other day, and thought they were perfectly dry, but they molded!

I put them in freezer bags and freeze them, a couple gallons of dehydrated tomatoes only take a little room in the freezer.
I don't dry them to 'brown', I dry them out, but not beyond dry and red. When they dry out to brown, they take on a burnt taste to me, so just red and pliable.
So let's say I have 20 tomatoes, they might only take up an 8 oz spot, or less, tomatoes are mostly water. When they dry they are 1/8th the space of fresh.

I've heard drying things can mold, but they have to be VERY dry, and I've never known how dry they need to be in order to not mold. That is why I keep the tomatoes in the freezer.
 
Cherry tomatoes are wonderful dried. I slice mine in half before dehydrating.
 
Cherry tomatoes are wonderful dried. I slice mine in half before dehydrating.
So far, 2 hours, they still look like cherry tomatoes, though, the regular tomatoes don't look much different either. I'll look again in 2 hours, and if they still look normal and not drying, I'll slice them open. Well, maybe not....in two hours.....
Dawg........your response is causing me to go on a picture taking expedition....and maybe an experiment too. Off I go.......:LOL: this Offness happens. It's like in the movie Forrest Gump, S*** happens.
 
Cherry tomatoes are wonderful dried. I slice mine in half before dehydrating.

Well here we are, my experiment has begun. This is what it all looks like. I cut about half the cherry tomatoes--and wow were they hot and juicy. I put them back in the dehydrator.
Here is what they look like.
 

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blissful said:
Well here we are, my experiment has begun. This is what it all looks like. I cut about half the cherry tomatoes--and wow were they hot and juicy. I put them back in the dehydrator.
Here is what they look like.

Blissful, you have inspired me! I have an overabundance of toms, and my dehydrator is already out!
 
Blissful, you have inspired me! I have an overabundance of toms, and my dehydrator is already out!

Dawg......I inspired you?...now I feel a little important......does this mean you are going to dehydrate those tomatoes?
I've run mine about 12 hours most days, between garlic and tomatoes.
 
I came home from MN a couple of years ago during the height of tomato season. My brother and I stopped at the farm. I discovered 100+ roma tomatoes on the counter. It took the two of us about 20 minutes to get them all washed, halved, seeded and in the dehydrator. After driving for 2 days, it didn't take much to convince me that dehydrated tomatoes were the way to go. I too pack in freezer bags and freeze for 24-48 hours. After that, I pack in dry jars and store in a dark cupboard.
 
I dry Romas. Slice them 1/4 inch, dehydrate and pack in olive oil. I used to add a bruised garlic clove and some fennel seed, then serve with crusty sourdough bread. I was told that adding garlic could generate botulism in the anaerobic environment, so now I add it crushed right before serving, although I had done it the other way for years and nobody ever died or even got a mild disturbance. Who knows...
 
I dry Romas. Slice them 1/4 inch, dehydrate and pack in olive oil. I used to add a bruised garlic clove and some fennel seed, then serve with crusty sourdough bread. I was told that adding garlic could generate botulism in the anaerobic environment, so now I add it crushed right before serving, although I had done it the other way for years and nobody ever died or even got a mild disturbance. Who knows...

I did this too (garlic, oil).........but most of the other people that did, died, don't know what from?:ermm: I think that knowing that information is just...important,...to not send along bad information, that might hurt someone.......so we just don't pass on that bad information anymore. Know what I mean?
Nice seeing you again Gad--zucchini's....it's always a pleasure to hear from you.
 
Here is how they look today.
The cherry tomatoes I cut open stuck to the tray while the ones I didn't cut aren't as dry. I have some cherry tomatoes and some romas that are needing a little more dehydrating time.
I guess it doesn't matter if I cut the cherry tomatoes or not, I either lose some to sticking to the tray, or it takes a little longer to dry them. They take so much less space, I'm happy with that.
 

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Blissful, I dry the cherries with the cut side up, that way they don't stick.

A few of mine still need a bit more time too. They really shrink up, don't they?
 
Blissful, I dry the cherries with the cut side up, that way they don't stick.

A few of mine still need a bit more time too. They really shrink up, don't they?

Good idea.

They do shrink up a LOT. One year we had bushels of tomatoes and they all fit in a couple gallon zip lock bags once they were dry, that is amazing to me.

When I made sauce last week, I put a few hand fulls in the blender with water and the taste is so sunny. No bitterness. I wish I had planted more.
 
I came home from MN a couple of years ago during the height of tomato season. My brother and I stopped at the farm. I discovered 100+ roma tomatoes on the counter. It took the two of us about 20 minutes to get them all washed, halved, seeded and in the dehydrator. After driving for 2 days, it didn't take much to convince me that dehydrated tomatoes were the way to go. I too pack in freezer bags and freeze for 24-48 hours. After that, I pack in dry jars and store in a dark cupboard.
Why do you freeze them if you don't keep them frozen?
 
My MIL used to make a lot of fruit leather on her home built dehydrator. I wonder what tomato leather would be like, and if there's a recipe or technique out there that I could follow. Thanks for the inspiration. Oh, and when my tomatoes really start to come out, I'll try dehydrating some.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 

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