Dehydration - Not So Bad When You're a Tomato, by guest blogger Tammia

Tammia brings us Food Preservation Part 2 - Dehydrating!

I'll admit it. I've got a problem, a food preservation problem. In one day I canned 5 quarts of tomatoes, made 16 jars of blackberry jam, 1 quart of sauce, pickled 2 quarts of onions, and dehydrated a quart of cherry tomatoes. Since that's a lot to cover in one post, let's break it down into bite sized pieces. "Sun-dried" bite sized pieces.

 

First, you'll need a huge load of tomatoes, salt and pepper, a bunch of basil, and a dehydrator.

I borrowed my dehydrator from a friend of mine that has TWO. She's a food preserving bad ass.

 

If you don't own one, you can buy one for about $40 (the dehydrator, not the badass friend - she's priceless).

One Huge Load of Tomatoes

Step 1:  Clean and halve all the tomatoes.

 

Tomato bath.

Step 2: Clean out all the seeds. A spoon could be used, but it's so much easier to just use your fingers. 

 

Scoop out the seedy guts.

Step 3: rinse, dry and chop basil. toss the cleaned out tomato halves with kosher salt, pepper and basil.  

 

Step 4: Place the tomatoes skin side down on the dehydrator trays.

 

 

ooooh pretty!

 

Step 5: allow to dehydrate completely - about 8 hours/overnight.

 

 

Dried Up Tomatoes!

Step 6: Place in a clean dry jar and use in salads, soups, pasta sauce, pizza...the uses are endless. I tend to just eat them straight out of the jar, they're so delicious!

 

Dessicated tomato-y goodness

 Thanks for this great post, Tammia! I LOVE dried tomatos, and I put them in everything, especially egg sandwhiches and omelets!