Re: My suggestions for storing tomatoes

[Kswck]

Last year, I had lots of nice red golf-ball sized tomatoes. Though I

> enjoy lettuce, cucumber & tomato (+salt, pepper & mustard) sandwiches, > I could not eat them all. I gave some tomatoes away but I still had > many. > > So I had to find a way to preserve them. I thought of sun drying > them... but it was late october here in Canada and the sun was nowhere > around. > > So I decided to oven dry them instead. I sliced them all in half, and > placed them on an oven tray. I salted them. I preheated the oven to > a high temperature and then put the tray in for I think about an hour. > They dried out. Note : aim to dry them out, not cook them. > > Then I put them in ziplock bags and put them in the freezer. That was > last summer and I still have some in my freezer today. Its just as > good as the day it went in because I'm using 3 methods of preservation > (drying, salting, freezing). No bacteria or fungi can grow. > > I take a few out of the ziplock bags and just throw them into food > that I cook. They're great. For the health concious, you can throw > them into water to let the salt dissolve out and then put them in > food. > > I'm going to do the same this year if I have some left over. Although > I will consider giving some to the local food bank as well. > > >

How about drying them out and powdering them?

[Glenna Rose]

I'm curious. Why did you salt them? They are delicious just slicing and drying. They also make a great snack even for people who are salt-restricted or diabetic, but the addition of salt would nullify that.

You can always add salt if you use them for cooking.

Glenna

[Kelvyn]

I did the same (in oven)..roma are best for this treatment and i quarter them so they dry better/faster...then i tightly packed them in glass jars, added a lot of chopped basil and covered with olive oil....it worked ok. kelvyn.

[Andrea Bostrom]

Regarding storing tomatoes, if you like chili in the winter just put them whole into freezer bags and freeze them until you're ready to cook chili. All you have to do is run them under warm water to remove the skin and toss them into the crockpot with your other chili ingredients and they certainly enhance the flavor.

Andrea

[Pam Rudd]

When last we left our heros, on Fri, 29 Aug 2003 08:38:16 -0400, Pat Meadows scribbled:

Pay attention to the nice lady. She's absolutely correct.

I shared a table with a very nice man from the CDC at a conference a few years back, and he told me about the sharp rise in cases of botulism since making flavored oils has become popular with home gardeners.

I cheat when I can my flavored oils, I use the autoclave in the lab where I work. I wouldn't risk it, otherwise.

[zalzon]

Read the message about food posioning and improper preservation.

Using three different methods of preservation simultaneously (salting, drying, freezing) is a safe bet however.

Foods have to be dried rather than cooked cos cooking will not preserve it.

[Glenna Rose]

Nothing I've read has said that salt should be added to tomatoes when drying them which is why I asked. Dehydrated tomatoes are not a source of food poisoning, or if they are, I've certainly not heard of it and I'm about as compulsive about food preservation and food care as a person can be.

I dry tomatoes all the time. When they are fully dried, I vacu seal them in bags. Per directions I have read about processing them with the skins on (I don't peel before I slice them into thin slices), I put them in the freezer for several days. Often, I just leave them there until they are used.

When dried tomatoes spoil, it is because they've been allowed to partially rehydrate and they will mold so are obviously spoiled. I would never recommend someone dry them any way other than slicing them since quartering or halving would not allow even and proper drying and will (as outlined in one of my canning books) lead to spoilage. I do not add anything to tomatoes when drying since additives would require different care than the tomatoes alone. (I do, however, add lemon juice to canned tomatoes per canning directions though I'd rather not. My newer canning books, purchased in recent years, do indicate salt is optional, but the lemon juice is necessary.)

If you have information that says salt should be added when dehydrating tomatoes, please give your source as I certainly want to be ensure ignorance is not making my tomatoes a potential health risk. I'm very grateful for this group and the frank and straightforward conversations in it. We all learn from each other.

Thank you for any info you can provide.

Glenna

[Dianna Visek]

How hot was the oven? Did you keep the door closed?

Thanks, Dianna

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