Sun-dried tomatoes

Well, maybe not sun-dried but it's the next best thing. The smallish tomatoes are starting to ripen in large enough numbers that my pockets are no longer big enough. I finally collected enough that I could feasibly dry a batch. I love drying tomatoes! My friend Helen recommended it to me one year and I am forever grateful! So much so that I give her some every year.

Normally, I would dry them in my food dehydrator. However, a couple years ago, Richard's grandmother gave us the dehydrator that her family used to use when she was growing up. You know, back in the 20's and 30's. It is very, very cool. How to describe it? It is large and square with a flat top and reservoir on the bottom for water. Richard's grandpa had thought it was an oil drip pan for a car. I am not doing it justice so look at the pictures to get a better idea. The brilliance of it revolves around the fact the water boils at 100 degrees celsius. Therefore, water can never be hotter than 100 (unless it is contaminated with certain other chemicals but we won't get into that right now). Anyway, when fruit or veggies and what not is put on the top of the pan, it won't burn like it does if you try and put it on top of the woodstove on a cookie cooling rack (don't ask me how I know).

When we first got it, we brought it home and immediately and wide-eyed put it on the wood stove we use to heat the house. The first lesson we learned is one I should have known. Boiling water takes up more room than still water so it's best not to fill the resevoir to the top. Once we got that straightened out we noticed the condensation on the walls. Hmmm, that much steam inside the house had to go somewhere. So, we sighed and put up our nifty device and I went back to the electric dehydrator.

Fast forward to now and the recent installation of a wood cook stove on the back porch. With the fall bounty I hauled this evening we realized that now was the time to try again. So, the wood cook stove is sitting out on the porch chugging away with the food dehydrator sending up a line of steam. The tomatoes are starting to get dry. The problem now is that I want to go to bed but I hate to halt the process and have the partially dried but still warm and moist tomatoes hang out all day tomorrow until we get home and can tend the stove again.

I'll post an update when the tomatoes are dry and show you how they look!