I have just bought an Excalibur Food Dehydrator and I have a couple of
questions...

When drying tomatoes, the guide that came with the dryer simply said
to wash them then slice into 1/4" slices. There was no mention of
peeling them. When I dried them, the middle slices worked perfectly -
the outer slices were still damp after a very long time. Do you
recommend peeling the toms or should I slice the outer ones thinner?
Do you core them at all? What do you do?

Thanks.

DanielCoffey wrote:
I have just bought an Excalibur Food Dehydrator and I have a couple of
questions...

When drying tomatoes, the guide that came with the dryer simply said
to wash them then slice into 1/4" slices. There was no mention of
peeling them. When I dried them, the middle slices worked perfectly -
the outer slices were still damp after a very long time. Do you
recommend peeling the toms or should I slice the outer ones thinner?
Do you core them at all? What do you do?

Thanks.


I grow a variety of tomatoes that was bred for drying. It's called
"Principe Borghese", and they are small oblong plum tomatoes. I cut
them in half (or quarters, I don't remember, I haven't done any in a
couple of years) without peeling and they work great. I dried so many 2
years ago that I'm still using them, but I'm about out. [note to self:
I need to plant PB's again this year]

I have dried regular slicing tomatoes before and i don't remember having
the problem you did. Are you slicing them lengthwise or horizontally?
Take a thin slice off the top, remove the core, and then slice
horizontally. Discard (or eat) the very bottom slice that is mostly skin.

Dried tomatoes are a nice addition to soup, where you don't want them to
color the broth. They will rehydrate as they cook but then stay in one
piece rather than fall apart like fresh tomatoes.

Bob

On Fri, 24 Feb 2006 11:46:30 -0600, zxcvbob
wrote:

I grow a variety of tomatoes that was bred for drying. It's called
"Principe Borghese", and they are small oblong plum tomatoes.

I just used a small batch of regular slicing toms from the supermarket
as a trial since I'm new to drying. Given the time of year, I opted
for their premiuim on-the-vine variety rather than the poor soggy pale
orange ones. I do plan to grow my own this year (it's still frosty
here in Scotland) but for now I'll manage with a few at a time from
the shop till our local Farmers Market stocks theirs. Once mine come
on I can use them.

Are you slicing them lengthwise or horizontally?
Take a thin slice off the top, remove the core, and then slice
horizontally. Discard (or eat) the very bottom slice that is mostly skin.

I sliced horizontally like you suggest, but I didn't discard the top
and bottom slices. I didn't core them either, but it wasn't a problem,
cos I only bagged the middle slices which had dried fully and reserved
the top/bottom slices in the fridge overnight.

Today I picked through the reserved slices and cut out the cores. I
roughly chopped them all and added a little olive oil and seasoning.
We've just enjoyed a quick risotto which I threw the pieces into. They
tasted fantastic!

Dried tomatoes are a nice addition to soup, where you don't want them to
color the broth. They will rehydrate as they cook but then stay in one
piece rather than fall apart like fresh tomatoes.

Thanks for that tip. Do you powder any for making your own puree at
all?

Daniel.

"DanielCoffey" wrote in message
...
I have just bought an Excalibur Food Dehydrator and I have a couple of
questions...

When drying tomatoes, the guide that came with the dryer simply said
to wash them then slice into 1/4" slices. There was no mention of
peeling them. When I dried them, the middle slices worked perfectly -
the outer slices were still damp after a very long time. Do you
recommend peeling the toms or should I slice the outer ones thinner?
Do you core them at all? What do you do?

Congrats on the Excalibur I have one too and it is a great
machine)

I take off a very thin slice of tomato off the ends and just dry the
'inner' slices

DanielCoffey wrote:

Thanks for that tip. Do you powder any for making your own puree at
all?


No. The dried slicing tomatoes were dry enough that they could have
been powdered, but I just ate them. The plum tomatoes dry into tough
little bullets.

Bob

I just slice mine in half, put olive oil on them, salt and place them in my
drier. I use plum tomatoes. Still eating mine from last summer and plan to
do more when I can get a new crop.


"DanielCoffey" wrote in message
...
I have just bought an Excalibur Food Dehydrator and I have a couple of
questions...

When drying tomatoes, the guide that came with the dryer simply said
to wash them then slice into 1/4" slices. There was no mention of
peeling them. When I dried them, the middle slices worked perfectly -
the outer slices were still damp after a very long time. Do you
recommend peeling the toms or should I slice the outer ones thinner?
Do you core them at all? What do you do?

Thanks.

Well lets see, I dried about a 5 gallon bucket of tomatoes this past
year and the about the same the year before. I usually slice the
tomates about 3/8 of an inch thick. First I core the tomatoes, cut a
thin slice off of the top-mostly skin and a thin slice off the bottom -
also mostly skin. Sometimes even a thin slice off of eack side. I slice
from the top down, this seems to hold the meat of the tomato nicely. I
normally lightly spray the trays with a Pam like spray and lightly salt
the tomatoes with season salt, I find the salt brings out the flavor but
could be eliminated if you are watching your salt. I like to dry them
really dry.

I use them in stews, meat dishes but mostly I use it on pizza. I will
powder some usually around 1/2 cup of powder at a time, the tomatoes
keep better when not powdered. The best way to powder the tomatoes,and
other dried vegies for that matter is to use one of the little electric
coffer grinders that you can get for around $10.00 or at a garage sale
for around $1.50. I use this little grinder for all kinds of thing, Oh
you don't want to use it for coffe after using it for hot peppers and
stuff. :-)

Connie TC
I have just bought an Excalibur Food Dehydrator and I have a couple of
questions...

When drying tomatoes, the guide that came with the dryer simply said
to wash them then slice into 1/4" slices. There was no mention of
peeling them. When I dried them, the middle slices worked perfectly -
the outer slices were still damp after a very long time. Do you
recommend peeling the toms or should I slice the outer ones thinner?
Do you core them at all? What do you do?

Thanks.