Dried tomatoes

[Chuck52]

I used to wonder why dried tomtoes were so expensive......now I know! It takes a bu$$ load of tomatoes to make a handfull of dried. It also takes considerable time, even in a dehydrator. I loaded up my American Harvest dehydrator with Romas that I had halved or quartered, depending on size. I slit the skin on the larger pieces, as I read to do. I filled all four trays and ran it at 14o degrees for about 12 hours. The tomatoes were still not quite dry, so I let them set overnight with the drier off. I turned it back on this morning and gave them about two more hours, and they were mostly ready. The few that were still too moist are now in with another batch and should be done in another hour or so. The new ones will probably not be finished until tomorrow.

So. I was thinking of putting them in a jar of olive oil. They will supposedly keep quite a while at room temperature that way, and even longer if I refrigerate them. Of course, if you refrigerate olive oil it solidifies, so I was wondering if another oil would do as well as the olive oil. Anyone done this? Silly question. On this forum, someone has tried just about anything one can imagine.

Even with the lousy hot dry weather we've had this year, we're getting plenty of tomatoes. I've put up enough tomatoes, tomatoes and okra, and salsa to do us for the year. I figured some dried tomatoes would be nice, too. I actually could have sun dried them if we hadn't taken a trip last week. It was in the 100's and dry for about two weeks, but it didn't occur to me soon enough to take advantage of the weather for that. If I'd tried it I might have brought rain!

Chuck

 

[gordon21]

Keep drying them until you think they are done and then dry them some more. Moisture is your enemy. Store dry at 35-40 degrees in a plastic bag until you are ready to use them. Do not put in liquid until ready for use. You can dice them or jullienne them right before use. They are excellent on pizzas or as an ingredient or topping on most Italian dishes. The flavor is very intense compared to any other type of tomato. We sell a couple hundred # per week. Wholesale cost is about $3-$3.80 per pound.

 

[dmccarty]

Chuck the latest Mother Earth news had plans to build a solar dehydrator. Looked pretty easy to build. I added it to my to do list. We had so many tomatoes that ripened over the last couple of weeks a bunch of them went bad. We just could not eat them fast enough. I thought about drying them since it was so danged hot but the idea of running the oven for 12 hours did not appeal to me. I think the solar dehydrator would have done the job real nice.

I'm sure there are plans on the Internet on how to build one.

Later,
Dan

 

[Egon]

The PH of Olive Oil is too high to be considered as a preservative media.

Come on Rox - give us the right answere.

 

[Chuck52]

Well, I put them in olive oil after checking the commercially available ones. The oil-packed ones were all in olive oil. Egon, I don't think the oil is supposed to act as a preservative....it just helps keep moisture from getting back into the dried tomatoes. Many of the commercial products have various spices included (though that is discouraged for home production), usually there's garlic at least, and also most have SO2 content. The SO2 is listed as "to preserve color" on some, but in fact would also help prevent spoilage. I put up about 2 pints, and expect to use them fairly quickly. It is amazing how many fresh tomatoes are required to get two pints of dry. We made a few of the not-dry-enough ones into paste last night and used that on toasted French bread with baked brie and roasted garlic. Darn fine appetiser, though if you eat enough of it you actually lose your appetite.

The dehydrator seems to work fine for this, and must use less energy than the stove. I like the idea of sun drying, but the weather here in Mid-Missery is just not to be trusted. If I actually wanted hot and dry it would certainly rain.

Chuck

 

[Egon]

I think you will find that the oil packaged dry tomatoes are what may be termerm " Canned " and are thus sealed to outside air.

Check out some of the Heritage tomatoes for drying. Some are very fleshy and give a great taste.

http://www.pepperfool.com/recipes/canned/oil_packed.html