During the growing season, we talked about dehydration. But, we probably didn’t mention that our dehydrator was running almost 24/7 from July through September!
One of the great things about dehydration based preservation techniques is that it buys you time. Rendering a shelf stable “middle product” allows the grower to keep up with the season, at least until you have some downtime to further process that food.
We’ve showed various examples of our dehydrated products before, but this winter we’ll illustrate our tomato powder. This tomato powder is a menagerie of our heirloom summer grown tomatoes, both regular and cherry types. Everything goes together for a robust flavor, ranging from sweet to savory!
Now, the average home cook might look at tomato powder with a big question mark over their head. But, what if I told you that you can make tomato paste using a 1 to 1 ratio, powder to water? Or, tomato sauce using a 1 to 2 ratio, powder to water? This really helps avoid those annoying, half used cans of tomato products that always seem to happen! Or, you can toss some in with any tomato based dish for a huge punch of home grown flavor.
The key to a good grind is to use a high speed coffee grinder. Both blenders and food processors will tend to create chips from your dried produce, instead of the desired powder. Sometimes that’s the goal, though! (Hint, hint!)
Some people might opt to remove the tomato skins or seeds. We’re way too lazy for that. But, if that kind of thing bothers you, you can process your tomatoes through a food mill and then simply dehydrate the resulting mash.
Our bumper crop of tomatoes from last season will go that much further, now! All home grown, no weird preservatives and tailored to exactly how much we need at a time!
