Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Preserving your harvest

When you've eaten all the tomatoes and zucchini you can stomach and your neighbors run at the site of you because they don't want anymore either, what's a girl to do?

It is simply too hot here to can foods and I don't trust the process completely either! If it can't be lactofermented then I like to use the dehydrator and dry our vegetable harvests. Drying food has been around for centuries and it is a very convenient and healthy way to preserve food. Add your dried veggies to soups and casseroles for a nutritional boost, or just snack on them like veggie chips!
Why pay $$$ for those fancy sun dried tomatoes when you can make them yourself for next to nothing?

Slice your ripe tomatoes very thinly on a mandolin or food processor and add garlic, rosemary, thyme, salt & pepper, and a dash of olive oil. Mix gently with your hands until the slices are coated.

Place slices on your dehydrator and leave for about 12 hours. If you don't have a dehydrator you can place slices on a parchment linned baking sheet and put in a 150 degree oven overnight. Be prepared...your house is going to smell AMAZING!

To store you can put them in a jar covered with olive oil or simply seal in a ziplock baggie! They add such great flavor to salads, pasta dishes, and homemade pizza.

Or even just straight out of the jar!


For more gardening ideas check out:
An Oregon Cottage
Tuesday Garden Party

6 comments:

  1. Great post! I love adding sun-dried tomatoes to salads, but I buy them from the store. They are quite expansive. Last year, I had a good tomato harvest and I was searching on the web for info on how to sun dry tomatoes, but somehow never got to do it. My tomato plants look very promising this year, so I hope to sun dry some of them.

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  2. Brilliant! I am definitely going to do this when we get tomatoes:) Thanks for the tip.

    by way of Jami's garden party

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  3. I will be trying this if we get an abundance of tomatoes(fingers crossed), thanks!

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  4. I love tomatoes and this looks like a WONDERFUL idea! YUM!!!

    Found you with Tuesday Garden Party

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  5. Oh yeah- I love dried tomatoes, though I usually just cut them in half, dry and cover with oil. I'll have to try some flavored ones...

    Great idea to share with us at the TGP!

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  6. I got a dehydrator for Christmas, just hoping the garden produces enough to use it! I like this idea!

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