Fresh fruits and vegetables can go bad before you can get around to eating them. This can be really frustrating and can waste a lot of food each month for many households.
You can prevent food waste by dehydrating your tomatoes. Tomatoes often don’t last for long in the fridge, so storing them properly can make a big impact on your food budget each month.
Dehydrating tomatoes can help you to have fresh tomatoes on hand whenever you want to cook your favorite meals that include them. Dehydrated tomatoes can be easily stored once they are dried out using your vacuum sealer.
If you are ready to learn how to use this food storage method to prevent food waste in your house, you will want to keep reading.
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How to Dehydrate Tomatoes
The process of dehydrating tomatoes is easier than you might think. Make sure that you start with clean hands. Prep your tomatoes by removing the seeds and slicing them into cubes or slices as desired.
Cherry or grape tomatoes can be sliced into halves or quarters. Very large tomatoes are often best cut into thin slices or cubed into small chunks.
Make sure to use a very sharp knife as you cut these slices and chunks to preserve the texture of the tomatoes.
Any variety of tomatoes will store well. However, you will want to be sure that you do not try and dehydrate old tomatoes that are losing their texture.
Fresh and firm tomatoes will dehydrate far better than tomatoes that have gotten soft or that have begun to lose their texture.
Spread out the tomatoes on your dehydrator trays. Make sure that you use a mesh liner to keep the smaller parts of the tomatoes from falling through the holes as they dry out.
Make sure that you don’t have too many tomatoes on each tray because this will slow down the process of drying them out.
Dehydrate your tomatoes at 135 degrees Fahrenheit. You will need to dry them out for 6-12 hours. Check your tomatoes from time to time to make sure that they are not drying out too fast. They should not bend and should be firm when you press on them.
If you need to dehydrate your tomatoes in your oven, you will want to arrange them in the lowest part of the oven. Remove the other racks and heat to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
Make sure that the tomatoes are not touching and that there are not too many per sheet. Use crumpled balls of foil to separate large slices of tomato. Dehydrate until the tomatoes are firm on the edges and still plump.
Make sure that you cool the tomatoes that you have dehydrated in the oven or the dehydrator before you store them. Moisture that is trapped in the storage bags or storage solutions can ruin your stored tomatoes rapidly.
Cooling the tomatoes that you have dehydrated will usually take about a half hour, but you should check periodically to make sure that they have cooled enough to store. Storing them as soon as it is safely possible is ideal.
Storing Your Dehydrated Tomatoes
Once you have dried out your tomatoes, you will need to store them. A vacuum sealer can be a big help in this situation.
You will be able to arrange the dehydrated tomatoes in vacuum sealing bags and seal them up tightly. This storage method will keep your dehydrated tomatoes fresh for up to a year.
Vacuum sealing is an ideal storage method that can keep all kinds of food fresh for many months at a time. Between a dehydrator and a vacuum sealer, you can keep fresh fruit and veggies fresh for the long haul.
Being able to eliminate food waste can help save you a lot of money and time in the kitchen.
Tips for Dehydrating Tomatoes
Make sure that you have clean hands and that you are working on a clean surface. Also, be sure that you have the tomatoes laid out in a smooth layer on the trays, as this helps to make the drying process go more smoothly.
Remove excess pulp and liquids before you start dehydrating the trays of tomatoes.
Keep your stored tomatoes in a cool and dark place. Heat and light can still impact the texture and flavor of your stored tomatoes even once they have been vacuum sealed and dehydrated.
If you are interested in rehydrating your tomatoes for use, you can simply place them in a bowl of warm water or even broth if you want to season them for cooking.
Allow them to come back to being soft and supple slowly over the course of about ten to fifteen minutes.
If you are worried about forgetting when you stored your dehydrated tomatoes, you can simply mark the date on the storage bags that you have used to keep them fresh.
This is the best way to make sure that you do not forget about the oldest stored items in your pantry or freezer.
Dehydrating Tomatoes is Easier Than You Might Think
If you are tired of throwing out fresh tomatoes that you have just purchased because they have gone bad, you will want to start dehydrating your tomatoes.
You can use your vacuum sealer to further extend the life of your dehydrated tomatoes once they are dried out. This is one of the best storage combinations that you can use to make sure that you have fresh vegetables on hand at all times to cook or to add to things like salads.
Dehydrating tomatoes is a simple solution that can help to prevent food waste in your home. The combination of dehydrating fresh fruits and veggies and vacuum sealing them can help you to have fresh foods in your home at all times.
You can even use your oven to dehydrate tomatoes properly. This is a very flexible way to make sure that you don’t waste food and that you can add tomatoes to your favorite recipes whenever you wish.
I am Brianna, a self-published author with a passion for sharing my knowledge and expertise on various topics with people looking to find the perfect items for their needs. I love ensuring that the right informative content is available to people looking for the right information. I am an avid horseback rider and reader when I am not writing.
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