Dehydrator Dried Garden Tomatoes

 Hello friends,

My container garden tomatoes and herbs are doing beautifully.  I have too many to use and not enough to can, so today I am making “sun dried” tomatoes in my dehydrator. Drying tomatoes is great way to preserve an abundance of your vine ripened garden tomatoes. 

  

Drying concentrates the tangy sweet tomato flavor making them a delicious addition to salads, soups, pizzas, dips, sauce, pasta, and are great on charcuterie boards. Traditional sun dried are done outside in direct sun but I find that using a dehydrator is much better since you can control the temps and avoid the exposure to pests that sometimes feast on your drying tomatoes when outdoors. You can get perfectly dried tomatoes without the excess moisture that can cause mold to form and spoil your efforts. 

A food dehydrator offers constant, low temperature and uses a fan to circulate air around the food. This provides the best environment for proper drying.  You can successfully dry most fruits, veggies, herbs, and meats.  Follow the directions that come with your dehydrator.  You can also do these in a low slow oven but since I have a dehydrator, I haven’t done them in the oven.  If using an oven you will need to watch them carefully so they don’t burn as you won’t get the consistent temps and air flow like you will with a dehydrator.  Ovens regulate the heat with cycles so it is easy to burn your harvest.

 

 

 You can use any tomato varieties.  San Marzano, Plum, Roma and Paste varieties are very suitable as they have more tomato pulp with less juice and seeds.  You can also do cherry and grape tomatoes, just slice them in half.  Today, I happen to have slicing tomatoes ripening – Rutgers, early girl, husky red and patio so I am using them. 

You can do them with or without the skin. You can remove the seeds or leave them, it is up to you. Since I am slicing these, I peeled them first. Either way is fine. For easy peeling, wash and core the tomatoes, submerse them in boiling water for 20 seconds, drain and the peel just pulls away.

Core

Blanch

Peel

Cut the tomatoes into uniform pieces for even drying. 1/4 inch even slices is good for quick drying.  You can also cut them in wedges but I find that the uneven thickness makes it a little more difficult to be sure you get the right amount of moisture out of the tomatoes – excess moisture can cause problems with mold.

 You can use them as is, freshly sliced, this will likely result in a darker result.  If you wish to maintain some of the color, treat the sliced tomatoes for 10 minutes in a water bath with 1 tsp citric acid in cold water.  Some use vinegar or lemon juice.  This is optional, I do the citric acid treatment.  It can be used for any fruits you dehydrate. It preserves the color and vitamin content as well.

Spread the prepared tomatoes on paper towels and blot to remove an excess water/juices.  This will help in even drying.  

Place the blotted tomatoes on the drying trays. Leave space between pieces to allow proper airflow. I do some with sea salt, my garden herbs such as basil, rosemary, thyme, sage or oregano, and I do some plain.

Follow the directions on your dehydrator, mine calls for 130 to 140 degrees for 6 to 12 hours.  I check mine after about 4 hours, flipping them over.  Thicker wedges or halves require more time, slices less.

When dried properly, the tomatoes will be leathery but not be sticky.  Test the thickest slices by tearing one in half and see if any moisture beads form along the tear.  If so, it isn’t dry enough so return the trays to the dehydrator. Also, if you have uneven pieces some may dry quicker than others so keep an eye on that, too. Remove the dried ones and return the rest for more dry time.  You don’t want to keep opening the dehydrator as that cause the temperature to drop, maintaining consistent low heat is best.

Wonderful yield.  Bright, glossy color, evenly dried.  Perfect!

  Once dried you can store them in various ways.  I do some in olive oil, you can add herbs and garlic, hot peppers or just leave them plain.  You will need to store the tomatoes in oil in the refrigerator and use rather quickly.  For longer storage place them in a clean glass jar.  Leave the jar on your counter for a few days and keep an eye on it.  If any moistures forms inside the jar, you will know that you did not dry them enough for long term shelf life.  If so, I suggest placing them in freezer bags or vacuum seal bags and store in the freezer for safety. If you are certain they are properly dried, you can store the jar in the cupboard and they should keep for several months.

Sun dried tomatoes, in the sun, dehydrator or oven, all a delicious way to preserve those wonderful summer garden harvests.

Thanks for visiting,

Bonnie

This morning harvest in the back garden. Not too bad for just a few pots in my container veggie garden. Loads of tomatoes, cukes and peppers. So far, I haven’t lost any tomatoes to pests or disease. Great season this year and the deer netting is working to keep out the squirrels, coons and chippies. 

I only have one plant of each variety: roma, celebrity, husky and bush tomatoes, jalopena, serrano, banana and green peppers, and one container with 3 pickling cuke plants. All producing record yield this summer.

Looks like I will have to get the dehydrator going to process the “sun” dried tomatoes and probably need to do more sun pickles, too.