I tried sun drying some tomatoes myself this year and they all got moldy/slimy before drying enough. I really want to get better at preserving my garden surplus, but not just can everything.
I make them. I don’t ‘sundry’ them, as I live in a swamp. I use a dehydrator, and before that, an oven.
I dry almost all of my homegrown tomatoes and typically rely on local field tomatoes for canning. I’ll dehydrate them as they come in and toss the dehydrated tomatoes in the freezer for use later, or to make tomato paste for canning. To make tomato paste, I just blend the sun-dried tomatoes and add the required acidity before canning.
The tomatoes in this photo were long lost tomatoes from the depths of my freezer. I blended them and added them to the top of the rice.
Yeah, I’ve got a dehydrator that I use for lots of stuff. But I thought “what’s the fun in making ‘sun-dried-tomatoes’ without using the sun to dry them??”
Also, the space in a dehydrator is limited, where as on a giant wire rack in my greenhouse I can do 10x as much!!
Just me trying stuff out. I’ll give it another go with next years tomatoes.
I had the same experience when I lived in the Northeastern US but now that I live in a desert where the humidity never goes over 30% it works great. I think if you are in a humid place you really need a dehydrator or some kind of fan blowing on them
I’m in the PNW. which most people assume is rainy/wet. But really it’s bipolar: cold/wet in winter, hot/dry in summer. We’re entering fall, so I guess the humidity was too high this time. I also did the drying in my greenhouse which gets very hot (120F in daytime) but I also think the humidity spikes at night. So next time I’ll try with a fan blowing on them.
Do you make the sun dried tomatoes? Or buy them?
I tried sun drying some tomatoes myself this year and they all got moldy/slimy before drying enough. I really want to get better at preserving my garden surplus, but not just can everything.
I make them. I don’t ‘sundry’ them, as I live in a swamp. I use a dehydrator, and before that, an oven.
I dry almost all of my homegrown tomatoes and typically rely on local field tomatoes for canning. I’ll dehydrate them as they come in and toss the dehydrated tomatoes in the freezer for use later, or to make tomato paste for canning. To make tomato paste, I just blend the sun-dried tomatoes and add the required acidity before canning.
The tomatoes in this photo were long lost tomatoes from the depths of my freezer. I blended them and added them to the top of the rice.
Awesome stuff. I hope to have a better season for tomatoes next year, so I will potentially need to find new ways to preserve them.
That’s a neat idea! Have you looked into a dehydrator?
Yeah, I’ve got a dehydrator that I use for lots of stuff. But I thought “what’s the fun in making ‘sun-dried-tomatoes’ without using the sun to dry them??”
Also, the space in a dehydrator is limited, where as on a giant wire rack in my greenhouse I can do 10x as much!!
Just me trying stuff out. I’ll give it another go with next years tomatoes.
It sounds like it was a fun experiment!
I had the same experience when I lived in the Northeastern US but now that I live in a desert where the humidity never goes over 30% it works great. I think if you are in a humid place you really need a dehydrator or some kind of fan blowing on them
I’m in the PNW. which most people assume is rainy/wet. But really it’s bipolar: cold/wet in winter, hot/dry in summer. We’re entering fall, so I guess the humidity was too high this time. I also did the drying in my greenhouse which gets very hot (120F in daytime) but I also think the humidity spikes at night. So next time I’ll try with a fan blowing on them.