Many times I find myself in the awkward position of having too many tomatoes to eat before they go bad, but not quite enough for a batch of canning. The answer? Dehydrate them!
I got the idea while thumbing through The Busy Person’s Guide to Preserving Food: Easy Step-by-Step Instructions for Freezing, Drying, and Canning. (Which, incidentally, is an awesome book for people like myself who always seem to have too many projects going on).
The directions say to cut out cores and slice to 1/8″ thick. I didn’t core them (just removed the little cap) and don’t think I quite made them 1/8″ thin, but it still worked. Then, dry in a dehydrator at 120F for 8 to 10 hours, turn slices over and dry another 6-8 hours, or until crisp.
The Verdict: I almost think I made them too thin, because they were a bit difficult to get off the trays. No matter, because when they were done they were almost like little tomato chips, and the concentrated flavor was WONDERFUL. I think I liked the yellow heirlooms the best.
So, uh, what do I DO with dehydrated tomatoes?
I restrained myself from eating them raw, because quick internet search turned up the following ideas:
- The Seasonal Chef provides directions for salad dressing, tomato potatoes, and essence of dried tomatoes
- The Kitchn provides recipes for Creamy Braised Cauliflower with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Orzo Salad with Rosemary Almonds and Sun-Dried Tomatoes, and Double Corn Bread with Smoked Mozzarella and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
- There’s a recipe on Allrecipes.com for sun-dried tomato pesto
- Family Fresh Cooking suggests Sun-Dried Tomato Humus
- you can even make tomato sauce (although that seems like much more work than just canning it in the first place)
