Last year, I had lots of nice red golf-ball sized tomatoes. Though I
enjoy lettuce, cucumber & tomato (+salt, pepper & mustard) sandwiches,
I could not eat them all. I gave some tomatoes away but I still had
many.

So I had to find a way to preserve them. I thought of sun drying
them... but it was late october here in Canada and the sun was nowhere
around.

So I decided to oven dry them instead. I sliced them all in half, and
placed them on an oven tray. I salted them. I preheated the oven to
a high temperature and then put the tray in for I think about an hour.
They dried out. Note : aim to dry them out, not cook them.

Then I put them in ziplock bags and put them in the freezer. That was
last summer and I still have some in my freezer today. Its just as
good as the day it went in because I'm using 3 methods of preservation
(drying, salting, freezing). No bacteria or fungi can grow.

I take a few out of the ziplock bags and just throw them into food
that I cook. They're great. For the health concious, you can throw
them into water to let the salt dissolve out and then put them in
food.

I'm going to do the same this year if I have some left over. Although
I will consider giving some to the local food bank as well.

PlucknGro wrote:

Last year, I had lots of nice red golf-ball sized tomatoes. Though I
enjoy lettuce, cucumber & tomato (+salt, pepper & mustard) sandwiches,
I could not eat them all. I gave some tomatoes away but I still had
many.

So I had to find a way to preserve them. I thought of sun drying
them... but it was late october here in Canada and the sun was nowhere
around.

So I decided to oven dry them instead. I sliced them all in half, and
placed them on an oven tray. I salted them. I preheated the oven to
a high temperature and then put the tray in for I think about an hour.
They dried out. Note : aim to dry them out, not cook them.

Then I put them in ziplock bags and put them in the freezer. That was
last summer and I still have some in my freezer today. Its just as
good as the day it went in because I'm using 3 methods of preservation
(drying, salting, freezing). No bacteria or fungi can grow.

I take a few out of the ziplock bags and just throw them into food
that I cook. They're great. For the health concious, you can throw
them into water to let the salt dissolve out and then put them in
food.

I'm going to do the same this year if I have some left over. Although
I will consider giving some to the local food bank as well.



How about drying them out and powdering them?

writes:

So I decided to oven dry them instead. I sliced them all in half, and
placed them on an oven tray. I salted them. I preheated the oven to
a high temperature and then put the tray in for I think about an hour.
They dried out. Note : aim to dry them out, not cook them.

I'm curious. Why did you salt them? They are delicious just slicing and
drying. They also make a great snack even for people who are
salt-restricted or diabetic, but the addition of salt would nullify that.

You can always add salt if you use them for cooking.

Glenna

In article, says...


I did the same (in oven)..roma are best for this treatment and i quarter
them so they dry better/faster...then i tightly packed them in glass jars,
added a lot of chopped basil and covered with olive oil....it worked ok.
kelvyn.

Regarding storing tomatoes, if you like chili in the winter just put
them whole into freezer bags and freeze them until you're ready to cook chili.
All you have to do is run them under warm water to remove the skin and toss
them into the crockpot with your other chili ingredients and they certainly
enhance the flavor.

Andrea

On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 20:38:16 +1200, Kelvyn
wrote:

In article, says...


I did the same (in oven)..roma are best for this treatment and i quarter
them so they dry better/faster...then i tightly packed them in glass jars,
added a lot of chopped basil and covered with olive oil....it worked ok.
kelvyn.

-----------------
Please note: I feel obliged to post this - I'm not going to
argue the point with you (or anyone else), but I feel a
responsibility to post what I know about it. Having once
presented reliable sources of information, I have nothing
further to say on the subject and people can make up their
own minds whether or not to follow the USDA (and other)
recommendations.
------------------


Before you do it again, please read this:

-----------------------
How do I can oil with herbs? Can I can pesto?
Herbs and oils are both low-acid and together could support
the growth of the disease-causing Clostridium botulinum
bacteria. Oils may be flavored with herbs if they are made
up for fresh use, stored in the refrigerator and used within
2 to 3 days. There are no canning recommendations. Fresh
herbs must be washed well and dried completely before
storing in the oil. The very best sanitation and personal
hygiene practices must be used. Pesto is an uncooked
seasoning mixture of herbs, usually including fresh basil,
and some oil. It may be frozen for long term storage; there
are no home canning recommendations.

From: The National Center for Home Food Preservation,
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/questions/FAQ_canning.html#31

----------------------------------

I know that the tomatoes are high-acid, but the basil is
not.

I would definitely question the safety of 'preserving' even
tomatoes in oil: modern varieties of tomatoes are not
necessarily high-acid enough to even can safely using the
water-bath method of canning, and the addition of some acid
(lemon juice) or use of a pressure canner for tomatoes is
now recommended by the USDA.

Reliable sources of information on canning include the
following:

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/index.html - The National Center
for Home Food Preservation, recently established by the US
Department of Agriculture at the University of Georgia.
These folks are pulling together information from a variety
of sources, and have become a very, very useful resource for
home food preservers.

http://extension.usu.edu/publica/foodpubs.htm - Utah State
University extension publications

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publication...ions_usda.html
- a copy of the USDA 'Complete Guide to Home Canning'

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publication...n_guide_03.pdf
- Guide 3, Selecting, Preparing, and Canning Tomatoes and
Tomato Products

Pat

Blanch them, peel off the skins, run thru the blender and pour into
freezer bags and freeze them. Nothing like fresh 'mater sauce for pasta
etc over the winter. Our youngest would have a fit if he didn't get his
winter doses of spagetti with moms homemade sauce.

PlucknGro wrote:
Last year, I had lots of nice red golf-ball sized tomatoes. Though I
enjoy lettuce, cucumber & tomato (+salt, pepper & mustard) sandwiches,
I could not eat them all. I gave some tomatoes away but I still had
many.

When last we left our heros, on Fri, 29 Aug 2003 08:38:16 -0400,
Pat Meadows scribbled:

On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 20:38:16 +1200, Kelvyn
wrote:

In article, says...

I did the same (in oven)..roma are best for this treatment and i quarter
them so they dry better/faster...then i tightly packed them in glass jars,
added a lot of chopped basil and covered with olive oil....it worked ok.
kelvyn.

-----------------
Please note: I feel obliged to post this -

Pay attention to the nice lady. She's absolutely correct.

I shared a table with a very nice man from the CDC at a
conference a few years back, and he told me about the
sharp rise in cases of botulism since making flavored oils
has become popular with home gardeners.

I cheat when I can my flavored oils, I use the autoclave
in the lab where I work. I wouldn't risk it, otherwise.


left in because it should be read again, nothing new past this
point but my .sig

-----------------------
How do I can oil with herbs? Can I can pesto?
Herbs and oils are both low-acid and together could support
the growth of the disease-causing Clostridium botulinum
bacteria. Oils may be flavored with herbs if they are made
up for fresh use, stored in the refrigerator and used within
2 to 3 days. There are no canning recommendations. Fresh
herbs must be washed well and dried completely before
storing in the oil. The very best sanitation and personal
hygiene practices must be used. Pesto is an uncooked
seasoning mixture of herbs, usually including fresh basil,
and some oil. It may be frozen for long term storage; there
are no home canning recommendations.

From: The National Center for Home Food Preservation,
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/questions/FAQ_canning.html#31

----------------------------------

I know that the tomatoes are high-acid, but the basil is
not.

I would definitely question the safety of 'preserving' even
tomatoes in oil: modern varieties of tomatoes are not
necessarily high-acid enough to even can safely using the
water-bath method of canning, and the addition of some acid
(lemon juice) or use of a pressure canner for tomatoes is
now recommended by the USDA.

Reliable sources of information on canning include the
following:

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/index.html - The National Center
for Home Food Preservation, recently established by the US
Department of Agriculture at the University of Georgia.
These folks are pulling together information from a variety
of sources, and have become a very, very useful resource for
home food preservers.

http://extension.usu.edu/publica/foodpubs.htm - Utah State
University extension publications

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publication...ions_usda.html
- a copy of the USDA 'Complete Guide to Home Canning'

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publication...n_guide_03.pdf
- Guide 3, Selecting, Preparing, and Canning Tomatoes and
Tomato Products






--
"Maybe you'd like to ask the Wizard for a heart."
"ElissaAnn"

On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 20:20:22 -0700, (Glenna Rose)
wrote:

So I decided to oven dry them instead. I sliced them all in half, and
placed them on an oven tray. I salted them. I preheated the oven to
a high temperature and then put the tray in for I think about an hour.
They dried out. Note : aim to dry them out, not cook them.

I'm curious. Why did you salt them?
Glenna


Read the message about food posioning and improper preservation.

Using three different methods of preservation simultaneously (salting,
drying, freezing) is a safe bet however.

Foods have to be dried rather than cooked cos cooking will not
preserve it.

How hot was the oven? Did you keep the door closed?

Thanks, Dianna


On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 22:31:40 GMT, PlucknGro
wrote:


So I decided to oven dry them instead. I sliced them all in half, and
placed them on an oven tray. I salted them. I preheated the oven to
a high temperature and then put the tray in for I think about an hour.
They dried out. Note : aim to dry them out, not cook them.


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