Saturday, October 04, 2008

Sun-Dried Tomatoes

The end of the gardening season is near. I have been picking, the last of my beauties below. My rockin' oven has an incredible dehydrate option on it. I did some "sun-dried" tomatoes with today's crop. I put some of the stickier tomatoes in olive oil, but most of them I put in a plastic container because they were very dry and will keep for months on the shelf.
I did learn a few things:
  • Line the pan with "Wax paper", for easier removal of the sticky slices.
  • If the tomatoes are too thin they don't dehydrate as well; they almost disappear. An ideal thickness is 1/4 of an inch.
  • About 5 or 6 pounds of tomatoes shrinks down to mere ounces, but the flavor of the dehydrated tomatoes is outstanding.
  • It takes several hours to dehydrate anything. Mine took about 8 hours. No wonder they are so pricey in the store.



I have also been busy with some art. Batik art to be exact. I did these pieces while we were living in Malaysia, (you can click on the photos to enlarge them.) I entered them in a local art show and both were a delight to see on the wall. You can visit the gallery at the Provo Health Department and Judicial Building. I have been busy on other pieces as well, and I will be entering them in a Spring Art show with the city as well. I have had a busy, but fulfilling day. I always have a fulfilling day when I preserve food and push myself in unique ways.

2 comments:

Cari said...

It's so great knowing such talented people like you! Way to go on entering your art! It's got to be such a great feeling to see your work displayed in an art show. Very cool!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful! I had no idea you did this type of creative expression. It makes sense because of your creative cooking skills to also have other areas of creative outlet.

Good for you for pushing yourself into new and public areas with this gift!

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