There’s nothing better than homemade spices and plenty recipes call for tomato powder. If you grow tomatoes in your garden, you will know that sometimes there are just too many tomatoes ripe at once. Don’t throw away your slightly old tomatoes. Turn them into natural tomato powder.
Tomato powder has fantastic health benefits. It is a rich source of vitamins A and C, which work to defend the immune system, and offer protection for your skin and eyes.
Tomato powder is also cholesterol free and low in saturated fats. Lycopene, a protective antioxidant, is richly present in tomatoes and it has been shown to reduce the risk of developing both prostate cancer and osteoporosis.
The first thing you need to do is place your tomatoes in a blender and mix them into a pulp.
Place fruit roll up sheets on the tray. You can also cut baking paper to fit. I use the ones designed for round dehydrators. These are used to avoid a messy spill in the dehydrator or oven.
Pour the mixture onto the roll up sheets, spreading the pulp thinly.
If you don’t have a dehydrator, use an oven and non-stick baking sheets.
Turn your dehydrator to 135°F/57°C and let it dehydrate for 5 hours. Let the dehydrator do its magic.
If you are using an oven, turn it to 180°F/82°C and switch on the fan. The oven door should be left slightly open. With an oven, it can take from 4-12 hours. You have to keep checking the trays regularly. It’s also recommended that you rotate and switch the tray positions so that the air circulation varies to give the tomatoes an even drying.
The dehydrated pulp should look like this.
When you take the paste out of the trays, they should look like discs.
Allow the dehydrated pulp to cool completely, preferably overnight. Break the disks into small pieces and put in a blender or spice grinder.
Store the powder in any airtight glass jar in a dark pantry or cupboard. This will give your powder a longer shelflife.
Funotic.com Where Fun Never Ends
