Tomatoes

The standard way to make tomato sauce is to skin the tomatoes, put them in a big pot, bring to a boil, use a food mill to remove the seeds, and cook until it's thick.  It takes a long time, uses lots of energy, and must be stirred the whole time.  I'm trying some new ideas to make it easier and use less energy.

This year I'm trying some dehydrating.  I figured if I dehydrated some tomatoes, I could add them to sauce as it started cooking and it would thicken the whole thing up.  After slicing tomatoes, we put them out in the sun and they are dry in three days.

This bowl of dehydrated tomatoes came from about half a bushel of tomatoes.  They are kind of leathery, not crisy.  I left them in the sun for four days and then they spent another two days in an open bowl on the counter, but didn't seem to change after the first three days.

Even though they were leathery, they crushed up pretty good in the blender.  When it was all done, we had about two cups of powder.

A friend mentioned that she doesn't skin her tomatoes, she just puts them through the blender.  What a great idea!  I thought I'd try it, but start with some solar dehydrating before it goes into the pot. 

Rather than only picking the tomatoes that are perfect, we've been picking all that look close.  The ones that are just a little shy spend some time on the counter to redden up all the way.  These will be ready in a few days.

This is a lot of prep, but I'm hoping it makes sauce making faster and easier.  Last year we didn't get many tomatoes, so this year we planted a lot more plants and so far we're on target for a good supply for tomato sauce.