Dried Tomatoes

Here it is the middle of October, weeks after a hard freeze, and I'm still drying tomatoes. The tomato crop was large again this year, with a good crop from about 16 tomato plants. Since I have so many tomatoes ripe at the same time, I have to find a way to store them for use later, and having already so many jars of canned tomatoes, I now dry them.

We use a lot of dried tomatoes - they are great on salads, thrown into stews, or just eaten right out of the bag. Since I don't use any preservatives, I freeze them once I dry them, just to be sure they don't go bad from any residual moisture left in them.




This year we grew Better boys, Amish Paste, Sun Golds, Jet Sonic, Sweet 100's, and two varieties from Bulgaria.


The Bulgarian Tomatoes were from seeds brought back by a relative. They germinated well and grew vigorously. The fruit from these were huge, one being a pinkish red and the other a true tomato red. Both were gorgeous tomatoes, but we thought they were rather bland compared to the Better Boys. I probably won't grow them again, although I may save some seeds.




The Sungolds and Sweet 100s are cherry tomatoes that taste great, produce well and dry fantastic. These are on my "always grow" list, along with Better Boys and Amish Paste.

The Jet Sonic tomatoes were great producers of perfect looking fruit, but I found them rather bland. I won't be growing them again.

Drying Tomatoes in the Dehydrator

Every year I get a large surplus of tomatoes and a lot ripen around the same time. Often I can them, but this year I still have many jars of canned tomatoes, chili, tomato mince meat, etc. Another way to store excess tomatoes is to dry them. This reduces the volume greatly and the result can be stored in the freezer taking up much less space than undried tomatoes would. I might even be able to store them in the pantry, but since there are no preservatives, I prefer to play it safe and freeze them. Once dried, they keep for a very long time. When I want to use them, I try to remember to put a bag of them in the refrigerator ahead of time to thaw. They're really good in salads, in stews, or straight out of the bag.

Here's my last crop of tomatoes from the garden.


Here they are cut up and put in the dehydrator. It takes at least 10 hours, to dry them.


And here they are, ready for the freezer, or to eat like chips. The cherry tomatoes are incredibly sweet.