Tomatoes dried in a sun dried style?

[Badjak]

I'm following.
I'll probably try drying tomatoes straight in the sun (protected by mesh) or in my kettle braai by putting the braai in the sun (vents open so moisture can get away) as it will get arounf 60 oC / 140 F inside (no fire or anything) or maybe even more

 

[msmofet]

Why am I seeing a foreign language? Is my computer going crazy? Ghost in the machine?

 

[taxlady]

Why am I seeing a foreign language? Is my computer going crazy? Ghost in the machine?

View attachment 70490

I saw that too, so it's not your computer going crazy. My guess is that @knowledge keeper had translated the page before they replied, so the software copied the foreign language. Just guessing though.

 

[blissful]

I don't pack my dry tomatoes in oil but if you do then you might want to read this on how to do it safely.

Packing dried tomatoes in oil - Ask Extension

I'm wondering if it's safe to pack dehydrated grape tomatoes (electric dehydrator) in olive oil for storage (so they're like the sun-dried tomatoes I ...

ask2.extension.org

@dragnlaw I freeze the dry but pliable tomatoes. I've used them for 6 months to a year from the freezer. The more well packaged they are, vacuum sealed, the better.

 

[medtran49]

When I got the new convection oven, the only difference was they dried a lot faster. Think I mentioned that in the post I linked to where I described how to make them.

 

[dragnlaw]

Sometimes when drying food a phenomenon called case hardening occurs. It's when the outside gets so dry that no more moisture is drawn out of the food by the dehydrator, but the inside isn't dry yet.

My understanding for that happening is the temperature was too high. (and/or the fan was too strong - but that would be rare in a dedicated dehydrator.)
I don't think you will have a problem with your toaster oven as long as the temperature is kept (for tomatoes) to approx. 125 f.

 

[larry_stewart]

I dry mine in my dehydrator. 99% I use Roma. Just cut in half, skin side down, about 125 f . I do rotate the tray cause the dehydrator sometimes heats unequally.

Regardless of which ever method you use to dry, try and pick tomatoes that are uniform in size so they dry at the same rate. Sometimes I dont listen to my own advise and wind up with a tray of tomatoes with different levels of dehydration , from crispy to plump and juicy.

Personally, I kinda like them dried but still a little pasty inside. Once dried to my liking, I place them on a parchment lined cake sheet and put it in the freezer. once frozen, into a labelled container they go , back in the freezer for later use.

 

[dragnlaw]

My whole purpose in drying things is that I don't have the freezer space anymore.

 

[taxlady]

I don't pack my dry tomatoes in oil but if you do then you might want to read this on how to do it safely.

Packing dried tomatoes in oil - Ask Extension

I'm wondering if it's safe to pack dehydrated grape tomatoes (electric dehydrator) in olive oil for storage (so they're like the sun-dried tomatoes I ...

ask2.extension.org

@dragnlaw I freeze the dry but pliable tomatoes. I've used them for 6 months to a year from the freezer. The more well packaged they are, vacuum sealed, the better.

I was wondering about the safety of storing dried tomatoes in oil. Thank you for the link. I don't really foresee myself doing that. I don't think I have a use for them that way.

 

[blissful]

My whole purpose in drying things is that I don't have the freezer space anymore.

Same here. That's why I dry them completely and condition them, store in glass jars. Plastic jars work too but moisture can slowly over time migrate in or out.
This is kind of a funny story. I had a plastic gallon of honey stored in the basement. I forgot about it. It was a gift from the guy I was dating at the time, for helping harvest honey. Over the next few years the sides started to suck in because the moisture was migrating out. The honey got thicker and thicker and then crystalized starting at the bottom. Ya see, I apparently only found men attractive if they were bee keepers or they were potential bee keepers. (so not true! it only looks that way)