Monday, August 3, 2009

What to do with all the Tomatoes


I found a recipe a couple years ago for chicken with sun-dried tomato sauce that has become one of our family favorites.
It seemed like a good idea to preserve some of our abundance of tomatoes by drying them.

Plus, I was anxious to try out our new Solar Food Dehydrator (Food Pantrie Dryer from Peddlers Wagon).


The process was simple, cut tomatoes into 1/8" slices and lay on trays. Hang dryer outside, out of direct sunlight (which ours was most of the day) and wait.

These took two days; the temperature was around 100 degrees for those days, with nighttime temps around 80 (not kidding). I suppose it would take longer under different weather conditions but the principle is pretty much the same.

We actually own an electric dehydrator and may still
use it in the winter, but this is perfect for our hot summers.

Since we keep our house on the warm side (ie. we're too cheap to use the AC) I figure it's safer to store them in a cold place, so into the freezer they go. I can't wait to take these out in the winter, soak them in olive oil and use them in our old favorites as well as finding some new recipes...yum:)

6 comments:

Chiot's Run said...

I've always wanted to get a solar dehydrator.

Julie said...

Your tomatoes look gorgeous! And that solar dehydrator thingy is so very cool!

mamaraby said...

Those tomatoes look fantastic!!

Maureen said...

Thanks gals!

I do love the dehydrator; it makes me want to dry everything (zucchini and basil are drying as we speak). I'm thinking raisins next week and apricots next year :)

Nancy Winningham said...

all of our tomatoes have succumbed to blossom rot. Except the greeen ones, which I haven't figured out what to do with. Even our "Ace" tomatoes are still not turning red.

Maureen said...

Hey Nancy, we've had quite a bit of that too. I've been reading up on it and adding calcium to the soil is supposed to help....next year?

ps. stop by and you can pick some of ours to take home :)