My favorite thing!
Marked down veggies from the produce department can be a
fantastic savings. Ranging from 29¢ to 49¢ per package (not pound) for fresh
tomatoes is a fantastic bargain in anybody’s book.
I found a fantastic buy on plum tomatoes. But because they had been marked down, I knew
they wouldn’t last long in the fridge. They needed to be processed
quickly. I decided that puree would be
the way to go. First, I washed them, then got my handy-dandy puree machine set
up.
This is one of my favorite gadgets. Because it is hand
cranked, it is quiet. No roaring motor to drown out the sound of my favorite
radio program while I’m working. The corkscrew inside pushes the tomato pulp
through a fine cone sieve. Skins are spit out the end of the machine. Now what
could be easier?
Here you can se it really going to town. I dry the skins separately and powder them
for later use.
Thirty minutes later, all those tomatoes are turned into
delicious puree. I do not season this
plain puree, I simply dehydrate it as-is.
That way, I can use it in whatever recipe I want without having to worry
about whether the seasonings will compliment the dish I’m making.
Ready to go into the dehydrator.
A few points to remember:
- lightly mist your dehydrating racks to prevent sticking.
- Dry at 115 at least overnight.
- I turn each plop over and continue drying.
- Sometimes, if it seems to be taking too long, I remove it from the fruit leather trays and finish drying on the racks to insure thorough drying.
- The finished product will look a bit on the black side and be fairly leathery.
How do you use it then?
ReplyDeleteYou can use them in soups and stews, seasonings for any recipe that calls for tomato sauce or tomato puree. Sometimes I take the crumbled bits and use them as salad sprinkles.
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