Tomatoes! Time for the Dehydrator.

Many years ago I exchanged plants with a friend.  She gave me two tomato plants, one of which was Principe Borghese, a cherry tomato.  I was unfamiliar with it, but having lots of cherry tomatoes that year, I decided to dehydrate them.  I quickly noticed that the Principe Borghese were very productive,  superior quality when dehydrated but were pretty bland fresh.  Reading up on them, I discovered that they were specifically designed for sun dried tomatoes - dehydrating.  My friend was hugely disappointed with them as she wanted a tomato that would dry, freeze and be delicious fresh and Principe Borghese just didn't fill the bill for her.  She never grew them again, but I've been growing them ever since.

Today I picked all the tomatoes that were becoming ripe.  I gathered about a dozen of the Health Kick that were almost ripe and a basketful of Principe Borghese - just from four plants each.  The Health Kick will continue to ripen in the house but there were plenty of cherry tomatoes for dehydrating.

I cut the tomatoes into quarters.  I believe they'll dehydrate fine in half, but in quarters, they dry just that much faster.  I don't bother removing the skins beforehand.  On a cherry tomato that would be just too fiddly and the skins in stews and soups just don't bother us.

Then the cut tomatoes are arranged on a dehydrator tray with lots of space between for air movement.  I got 4 trays from today's harvest and set the dehydrator for 135 degrees F.  They'll take at least a day to dry properly.  You want them good and dry so they don't go mouldy on you.  The finished product gets tucked away in canning jars with the lids screwed down tight.  I've experimented in the past with ziplock bags and vacuum sealed bags but they were never totally satisfactory.  And with glass jars, you have the satisfaction of knowing that you aren't creating more waste with empty plastic bags.  The whole procedure only took an hour, but the satisfaction of knowing that I grew the plants from seed, watched them grow, and then was able to pick and process the fruit to brighten up a winter meal was worth triple the time.  This is why I garden.