~tUrnINg tOMatoEs INto DuSt~

I decided to take advantage of a local co-op that was delivering Georgia peaches for a good price. I chose #2 grade for the cheapest option with references from other folks who were pretty pleased with their previous orders. So I plunged into 75 pounds of fruit with my mother-in-law working away with me to successfully process 47 quarts of peachy goodness. Then I decided to do it one more time because the deal was so enticing... only this time I went for an even hundred pounds! But the quality was far from the first and wound up with about the same amount of quarts and with the badly bruised stuff I strained and made Spiced Peach Honey.

The two days of canning did not include *one* photo. It was labor intensive in terms of the constant flow of steps and, well, I just was not in a prettified way to encourage my hubby or boys to click away. Vain... don't judge me...

All this is explain why I DIDN'T can tomatoes. Yup. I was burnt out and just didn't want to. But the garden was yielding an ample supply and we just *couldn't* let them go to waste.

So I checked out this video from Bread Beckers and decided that dehydrated tomatoes turned to powder sounded interesting and... easy.

We gathered up our Amish Paste Tomatoes from the garden and sliced them about what we would do for sandwiches and laid them in a single layer on my two dehydrators. I didn't bother to skin them or anything. Just gave them a good wash - that's all! After letting them go for about 24 hours (on the back porch - didn't want to smell it) I let them cool down to room temp and then pulverized them!

There they go! The smell of the powder was so lovely. There were five trays per dehydrator and I wound up with 15 total trays that gave me 3/4 of a quart of tomato powder.

Pizza Sauce: 1/4c tomato powder, 1/2-3/4 cup of water, 1/2t garlic salt, oregano/basil to taste.

Add to soups. Makes wonderful Spanish Rice according one of my foodie friends. Add to anything to add a little depth of tomato flavor and will thicken a little as it cooks. That pizza sauce would make a great dip as well, don't you think?

Here's a resource for using the tomato powder and I'm guessing this is not at all exhaustive online! Go ahead... pulverize away!!!