It is officially the Time of Bounty again. You’ve sown your seeds, cared for their sprouts, transplanted and top dressed the healthiest growers and are now harvesting a bounty of tomatoes and squash and corn and maybe even peppers from your garden several times a week if not every day.
This wonderful process leaves you full of pride while feeding you, your family and maybe even a few friends and yet you’ll probably still have too many tomatoes to eat fresh. So, you pull out the canner, jars, roll up your sleeves and get to work. Several hours later, you may be exhausted, but you also have some beautiful, home canned, whole, diced, stewed or crushed tomatoes. If you were feeling especially inspired before you started, you may even have some sauce, jam or salsa to put on the shelf.
Now, the question is, what do you do with all of those tomato skins? Of course, they can go to the chickens or into the compost. If you’re working with a very large batch of tomatoes, you might throw them into their own pot and simmer all of the tomato goodness still stuck to the skin down into a delicious tomato sauce or paste of it’s own (but that takes another burner and many hours of stirring and watching and…more stirring in the hot kitchen). If you’re like me, though, and working with smaller batches of tomatoes, you’ll make some tomato powder.
How to make Tomato Powder
- Wash, blanch and ice-water-bath your tomatoes to remove their skins.
- Place the skins on your dehydrator trays in a single layer.
- Turn your dehydrator on and leave it alone for 6-12 hours.Depending on your dehydrator, you can either put it on Low or Medium. The lower the temperature, the more nutrients your skins will retain, and the longer they will take to dehydrate.
- When your skins are done they will be thin like paper and very crispy.
- Remove your skins from the trays (a few pieces will stick, it’s OK).
- Toss them into a blender (or food prossesor) and blend for a minute or two.
- Keep an eye on the texture…do you want a fine powder or are you OK with a few flakes in there too? I’m OK with a few flakes in there.
- Pour your powder/flakes into a storage container and label it.
- Some people keep their powder in the fridge, I keep mine on the pantry shelf.
Uses for Tomato Powder
- Sprinkle on scrambled eggs for a little kick
- Sprinkle into grilled cheese for a healthy surprise
- Sprinkle into ground beef as it’s cooking (Tacos, anyone?)
- Add it into burgers along with the other spices of your choice. I love salt, pepper, garlic powder and tomato powder in mine
- Re-hydrate it into a juice, paste or a soupUse your own best judgement and taste buds for ratios of water to powder. Don’t forget to add a bit of salt
- Add it into a soup or stew for flavor (it’s almost beef stew weather time)
Benefits of Tomato Powder
- Less waste of every little bit of your hard earned tomatoes. Need I say more? OK…
- Taste. Who doesn’t like the taste of tomatoes? Dehydrating them condenses their flavor, so a little goes a long (delicious) way.
- Nutrients. Niacin, B6, vitamin C, antioxidants, lycopenes…a little bit of iron and calcium, too,
Regardless of why you do it, making tomato powder is an excellent way to get a little more bang for your buck while also tickling your taste buds a bit. Enjoy!
xoxo,
M
Linking up to the HomeAcre Hop #34, From the Farm Blog Hop, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways #88, Homemade Mondays #91
Instead of using the microwave or toaster oven to dry the skins. I put the skins in a strainer hang strainer over my crock pot set it on low, cover with a lid and walk away. No need to vent, the strainer is wire and has plenty of air to go through it. When using the crockpot I remove the porcelain. My Crock-Pot is oval in shape and not round.
Great idea for the skins! I was just thinking, I wonder what the powdered skins would taste like with a touch of Himalayan salt and dried garlic or garlic powder added to the mix?
That sounds absolutely amazing! 🙂
I am gonna have to try this!!! I always throw away the skin when I make spaghetti sauce, this is a great idea.
I’m sharing this to my Facebook page btw!
It really is simple and quite delicious to use! Thanks for the shares!
What a brilliant way to use up tomato skins! It got me thinking now about making lemon powder or orange powder from their rinds…
Brilliant.
Why use just the skins? To save room in my pantry I remove blemishes and stem ends then puree the whole tomato, skin and all without blanching. Using fruit leather trays makes it a snap to dry and it’s brittle when dry so it powders up easily in a food processor. It makes great sauce or added flavor of fresh tomatoes all winter long.
Ooohhh…sounds like a great way to preserve the tomatoes and save space!
Just wanted to drop in and let you know that this was one of my featured post at the HomeAcre Hop this week!
Sandra
http://www.mittenstatesheepandwool.com
Hey…great minds think alike, Sandra! Your post is featured on my blog too 🙂 Thanks for being a part of The HomeAcre Hop, Melissa!
Great idea! Thanks for sharing over at the Homeacre Hop! Please join us again soon!
Mary 🙂
http://www.homegrownonthehill.blogspot.com
What a wonderful idea!!! We pinned it for our readers!
Thanks for the Pin!
Great Idea!! Never thought of using the skins like that.
A must try this year 🙂
Thanks, Sandra! It’s quick and easy! Especially when dealing with small batches 🙂
love this idea!!!
What a GREAT idea to use all of the tomato! Problem is, I use my skins in sauce, the blender is my friend. 🙂
I think this is a great idea, though! Brava!
Mary Ann, thanks to this comment I processed 18 pints of tomatoes in no time flat! The blender is my friend, too, now! Although, I do love me some good tomato powder 😉