Dehydrated tomatoes - Dining and Cooking

Hello Canning community first of all let me congratulate you all for all those incredible canning jobs you show in this sub first time here and I just spend a good amount of time checking your submission to the subreddit.

See I have some tomatoes in my garden and the harvest was pretty good so I decided to dehydrate some and canned in olive oil like I see in the supermarket.

Thing is I have noone yo ask about the process and to be honest Reddit didn't came to my mind so I went to the…. Yeah… IA…

Long history short I make the whole dehydration process, cleaned the jars with boiling water and then added some fresh garlic and fresh basil. Filled it all with olive oil and closed the cover and right to the refrigerator.

Checking out in the web I started to learn about botulism in home made conserves so I just throw the just made canned tomato and started again now without garlic nor basil and adding only dryed things like pepermint, and other stuffs that I don't know how to spell in english lol.

Now 5 days later I decided to try the food but the @#$_ IA strikes again and told me that I should boild again the tomatoes to be completely sure there is no toxic toxin on it.

The result was awful as you could imagine tomatoes lost its flavour with the boiling water. So I would love if you guys could share some opinions about my process and how to improve it.

Process:

Dehydrated tomatoes in the oven
Boiled jars
Boiled tomatoes with water and vinegar 3:1
Added tomatoes, olive oil, dryed herbs like garlic powder, peppermint, etc.
Closed the jars and sealed it boiling it in water
Put into the fridge

Today, 5 days later took some tomatoes into boiled water and ate.

Thank you very much everyone for reading it all and sharing your ideas I am a total noob in this cooking world and would love even the smallest opinions.

P.s. Apologize my english I am not native.

by MBVarc

_Spaghettification_ 2 months ago

See this askextension (eg safe) post:

https://ask.extension.org/kb/faq.php?id=720870#:~:text=If%20you%20dehydrated%20your%20tomatoes%20whole%20or%20halved%20with%20the,for%20up%20to%204%20days.

“This is an excellent question due to the risk of botulism in flavored oils made at home. Properly dried foods (See our publication Drying Fruits and Vegetables https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/pnw397) do not have risk of botulism since moisture is needed to grow, but changing the storage conditions may be risky. Tomatoes should be dried until they are leathery or crisp.
Risk conditions include: a low acid food in an anaerobic environment – no oxygen, stored at room temperature. Olive oil is an anaerobic environment where Clostridium botulinum spores can turn into toxin.

There are two ways you can make Tomatoes in Oil safely.

If you dehydrated your tomatoes halved (no more than 3/4-inch wide) with the skins removed you can make a safe product that is shelf stable. Dip the slices in bottled lemon juice, put them in clean sterilized jars, cover with your preferred olive oil, put on clean sterilized caps. No other ingredients may be added. Then use them after a week or so or cure them in a cool, dark, dry cupboard for one to two months to develop a lovely earthy aroma and flavor, and a brick red color with a chewy texture. With this method, tomatoes in oil can be stored safely for months. Over time, rancidity can occur, so test the aroma before you use them. Use the tomatoes first on pizza or pasta or on crackers with pesto or cream cheese. Use any remaining flavored oil in salads or stir-fry dishes. If you use some of the flavored oil it can drop the level of oil in the jar. This will result in some tomatoes that are exposed to the air and mold can develop. Do not use Tomatoes in Oil when spoilage is detected.

If you dehydrated your tomatoes whole or halved with the skins removed you can roll them quickly in a small bowl with bottled lemon juice, put them in clean sterilized jars, cover with your preferred olive oil, put on clean sterilized caps. Store them in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.They will plump up by the second day and have a bright red color. Refrigeration will solidify olive oil, so to use it, gently warm the jar in a saucepan with about 1″ of water until the oil liquefies. Cool and refrigerate any leftovers immediately. Unfortunately, the product will not develop the earthy aroma, taste and color with this short storage time.

Dried whole tomatoes with the skin on cannot be preserved in oil, safely. The skins are too dense for the acid to penetrate.

Our friends at University of Idaho recently completed research for safe preservation of shelf-stable Garlic and Herbs in Oil(https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/pnw664) with specific acidification procedures. Follow the directions exactly.”

3 Comments

AutoModerator 2 months ago
Hi u/MBVarc,
For accessibility, please reply to this comment with transcriptions of the screenshots or alt text describing the images you’ve posted. We thank you for ensuring that the visually impaired can fully participate in our discussions!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Canning) if you have any questions or concerns.*
pickledeggmanwalrus 2 months ago
If it’s going into the fridge and not being pressure cooked or steam bathed there shouldn’t be much risk of botulism I would think.
What would you use oil soaked dehydrated tomatoes like this for? What meals can you make with them?
_Spaghettification_ 2 months ago
See this askextension (eg safe) post:
https://ask.extension.org/kb/faq.php?id=720870#:~:text=If%20you%20dehydrated%20your%20tomatoes%20whole%20or%20halved%20with%20the,for%20up%20to%204%20days.
“This is an excellent question due to the risk of botulism in flavored oils made at home. Properly dried foods (See our publication Drying Fruits and Vegetables https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/pnw397) do not have risk of botulism since moisture is needed to grow, but changing the storage conditions may be risky. Tomatoes should be dried until they are leathery or crisp.
Risk conditions include: a low acid food in an anaerobic environment – no oxygen, stored at room temperature. Olive oil is an anaerobic environment where Clostridium botulinum spores can turn into toxin.
There are two ways you can make Tomatoes in Oil safely.
If you dehydrated your tomatoes halved (no more than 3/4-inch wide) with the skins removed you can make a safe product that is shelf stable. Dip the slices in bottled lemon juice, put them in clean sterilized jars, cover with your preferred olive oil, put on clean sterilized caps. No other ingredients may be added. Then use them after a week or so or cure them in a cool, dark, dry cupboard for one to two months to develop a lovely earthy aroma and flavor, and a brick red color with a chewy texture. With this method, tomatoes in oil can be stored safely for months. Over time, rancidity can occur, so test the aroma before you use them. Use the tomatoes first on pizza or pasta or on crackers with pesto or cream cheese. Use any remaining flavored oil in salads or stir-fry dishes. If you use some of the flavored oil it can drop the level of oil in the jar. This will result in some tomatoes that are exposed to the air and mold can develop. Do not use Tomatoes in Oil when spoilage is detected.
If you dehydrated your tomatoes whole or halved with the skins removed you can roll them quickly in a small bowl with bottled lemon juice, put them in clean sterilized jars, cover with your preferred olive oil, put on clean sterilized caps. Store them in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.They will plump up by the second day and have a bright red color. Refrigeration will solidify olive oil, so to use it, gently warm the jar in a saucepan with about 1″ of water until the oil liquefies. Cool and refrigerate any leftovers immediately. Unfortunately, the product will not develop the earthy aroma, taste and color with this short storage time.
Dried whole tomatoes with the skin on cannot be preserved in oil, safely. The skins are too dense for the acid to penetrate.
Our friends at University of Idaho recently completed research for safe preservation of shelf-stable Garlic and Herbs in Oil(https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/pnw664) with specific acidification procedures. Follow the directions exactly.”