Simple Method for Drying/Smoking Tomatoes

VGary · August 13, 2006

Simple Method for Drying/Smoking Tomatoes
I found a great resource for saving/preserving tomatoes! This guy is cool and gives a great simple "how to" instructions.
Gary/Louisville

Quote:
"I was watching "Food Finds" on Food Network and saw a man named Larry at a place called Boggy Creek Farm drying Roma tomatoes in a smokehouse. It takes three to five days for Larry to dry tomatoes this way, and he sells them in 2 ounce bags for $7.50 each.
I don't have a smokehouse, nor do I have the patience to spend five days drying tomatoes, but I figured I could do something similar with the WSM.

You can use smoke-dried tomatoes as you would sun-dried tomatoes. Add them to pizza, pasta, casseroles, stews, sauces, soups, salads, dips, stuffing, antipastos, scrambled eggs, cornbread...the possibilities are endless!

Smoke-dried tomatoes can be packed into sterilized glass jars with or without sprigs of fresh herbs, covered with extra-virgin olive oil, and stored in the refrigerator. The olive oil becomes infused with the smoky tomato flavor and is just delicious.
As always...click on any of the pictures to view a larger image."

Tips from Weber
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/tomatoes1.html

'mater · October 27, 2006

I knew it would be torture reading this and clicking that link now that I'm about as far from a tomato harvest as I can get now...

Got the info, ready for next year now...

username5 · October 28, 2006

I have used the oven method in the past to dry cherry tomatos and it worked well, BUT the tomatos did not dry as evenly as I had hoped and some of the tomatos ended up burning a bit. Curiously the ones which were a bit burnt tasted really good.

I was using an electric oven.

Currently I have a new electric oven that has a warming drawer and I imagine that would work better as it will maintain a lower temperature.

I also bought a food dehydrator this year for making jerky and I imagine it would do the best job overall since drying is what it is designed for, but haven't used it for tomatos yet. I still have one baggy of oven dried tomatos from 2 years ago (in the freezer) and they are still good, but not as good as they were.

I am thinking I should use them to try and make some kind of sun dried tomato salad dressing. mmmmm.

Earl · December 29, 2006

Dried cherry tomatoes are really great snacks. Cut them nearly in half, spread open and place on screen, sprinkle with Lawrey's Seasoned Salt and pepper and dry in dehidrator.

Colorado_west · December 30, 2006

Earl, that sounds good. I dried those little drying tomatoes . First time drying tomatoes. I took cream cheese and add dried tomato, bell pepper, celery. garlic powder and parsley and few black olives. Stirred that up and ate on crackers.

I want to try the seasoned ones.

August 13, 2006	#1
VGary Tomatoville Honoree Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Louisville, Kentucky Posts: 460	Simple Method for Drying/Smoking Tomatoes Simple Method for Drying/Smoking Tomatoes I found a great resource for saving/preserving tomatoes! This guy is cool and gives a great simple "how to" instructions. Gary/Louisville Quote: "I was watching "Food Finds" on Food Network and saw a man named Larry at a place called Boggy Creek Farm drying Roma tomatoes in a smokehouse. It takes three to five days for Larry to dry tomatoes this way, and he sells them in 2 ounce bags for $7.50 each. I don't have a smokehouse, nor do I have the patience to spend five days drying tomatoes, but I figured I could do something similar with the WSM. You can use smoke-dried tomatoes as you would sun-dried tomatoes. Add them to pizza, pasta, casseroles, stews, sauces, soups, salads, dips, stuffing, antipastos, scrambled eggs, cornbread...the possibilities are endless! Smoke-dried tomatoes can be packed into sterilized glass jars with or without sprigs of fresh herbs, covered with extra-virgin olive oil, and stored in the refrigerator. The olive oil becomes infused with the smoky tomato flavor and is just delicious. As always...click on any of the pictures to view a larger image." Tips from Weber http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/tomatoes1.html

October 28, 2006	#3
username5 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Zone 5 Wisconsin Posts: 117	I have used the oven method in the past to dry cherry tomatos and it worked well, BUT the tomatos did not dry as evenly as I had hoped and some of the tomatos ended up burning a bit. Curiously the ones which were a bit burnt tasted really good. I was using an electric oven. Currently I have a new electric oven that has a warming drawer and I imagine that would work better as it will maintain a lower temperature. I also bought a food dehydrator this year for making jerky and I imagine it would do the best job overall since drying is what it is designed for, but haven't used it for tomatos yet. I still have one baggy of oven dried tomatos from 2 years ago (in the freezer) and they are still good, but not as good as they were. I am thinking I should use them to try and make some kind of sun dried tomato salad dressing. mmmmm. __________________ We don't inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.

October 27, 2006	#2
'mater Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: NE Kansas Posts: 37	I knew it would be torture reading this and clicking that link now that I'm about as far from a tomato harvest as I can get now... Got the info, ready for next year now...

December 29, 2006	#4
Earl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: SW Ohio Posts: 1,278	Dried cherry tomatoes are really great snacks. Cut them nearly in half, spread open and place on screen, sprinkle with Lawrey's Seasoned Salt and pepper and dry in dehidrator.

December 30, 2006	#5
Colorado_west Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: western Colorado zone 5 Posts: 307	Earl, that sounds good. I dried those little drying tomatoes . First time drying tomatoes. I took cream cheese and add dried tomato, bell pepper, celery. garlic powder and parsley and few black olives. Stirred that up and ate on crackers. I want to try the seasoned ones.