Drying Tomatoes and Peppers
Not sure what to do with all those extra tomatoes and peppers? While many of us can or freeze our extras to enjoy throughout the year, a recent trip to my parents house reminded me of another way to preserve them.....drying or dehydrating. My partner and I arrived at my parents house friday evening....a little tired and road weary. We were greeted by my parents' warm smiles and hugs and were quickly ushered into the kitchen where there were several pizza pie doughs rolled out with a variety of toppings to put on them. We enjoyed fresh tomatoe sauce made from garden tomatoes, mozzarella cheese blended with herbs and spices, fresh red peppers, sliced shallots, roasted garlic in olive oil, dried tomatoes, and an earthy-red pepper powder that my father had made from some of the garden peppers. I noticed two large containers full of dried peppers and tomatoes and a large jar full of the pepper powder. Not only did we enjoy adding these toppings to our pizzas, the following day we made beans and rice, adding some of these same delicious ingredients.
While we know that eating foods in their freshest state provides the most vitamins, drying or dehydrating, in my opinion, also provides a way to utilize some of the excess produce in a creative way and still get some of the vitamins and nutrients....not to mention they are absolutely delicious! My parents have three different dehydrators, one of which has several tiers and they use these often. From what they have shared with me, it's a fairly simple process to dehydrate fruits and vegetables. For tomatoes, my father likes to use an Italian paste tomato because they are juicier and have less seeds. He slices them in rounds and puts them in the dehydrator on 130-140 degrees for about 6 hours. Some dehydrators have just an on/off switch and you neede to check on those from time to time, rotate them and pulll out the ones that are dry. A more expensive dehydrator that allows you to control the temperature works best. Peppers can also be dehydrated in 6 hours like the tomatoes. For pepper powder, my father likes to use the sweet red peppers, and dehydrate them for 8 hours. Then, he places them in a coffeee grinder and adds the ground powder to a air tight jar to store in a cool, dark place. You can use the powder in sauces, soups, stir-frys, on top of pizzas, etc.. Enjoy!
- Elizabeth's blog
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