My favorite ways to preserve tomatoes (without bottling)!

I hate to bottle or can my extra harvest.  There, I said it.  I am a modern day (wanna be) homesteader with all the interests in self reliance and home produced foods but without the drive to get out the water bath, and worse yet, make sure all the bottles are freshly steamed and ready to go.  I also don't like the thought of losing so much of the nutrition through the high heat process.

Almost time!

So... What do I do with my abundant harvest of garden fresh tomatoes?  Anything else I can.  I LOVE the taste of a fresh garden tomato.  I love it so much that I don't eat them any other time of the year and have vowed to never buy them off season (again) after having the real thing this summer.

My plants are starting to steadily produce lots of red tomatoes now that the weather has turned just a bit in anticipation of fall.  They are out there waiting for me but alas... I am busy!  Are you busy?  Am I the only one who lays in bed at night and thinks about the fruit threatening to rot while on the vine before I get to it?  Here are 3 of my new favorite ways to preserve the harvest and my sanity:

Tomatoes, basil, garlic, olive oil and sea salt ready for roasting

This idea comes from the book The Homemade Pantry by Alana Chernila.  Once you have assembled your halved or quartered tomatoes, whole garlic cloves, and fresh basil just drizzle with olive oil and sea salt then roast at 275 degrees for 5 hours.  Once cooled, these can go straight into the freezer to wait for you when you want sauce.  All you have to do is sauté an onion and add in the thawed roasted tomatoes.

Sun Dried Tomatoes in olive oil

Every Friday (when I'm on my game) we make sourdough pizza.  One of our favorite combinations is sun dried tomatoes with garlic oil and feta.  This year I made my own bottle by cutting the tomatoes in half (roma tomatoes work best for this but any will do) and dehydrating until "rubbery" with no moist spots.  From this point you can just fill a clean jar and cover with olive oil.  These can store on your shelf for a few months, just make sure that the oil covers the tomatoes completely to avoid spoilage.

*It's important to note that heat destroys nutrients and enzymes so in order to maintain as much nutrition as possible set your dehydrator to between 118-140 degrees.

I learned this last trick from a friend of mine.  Did you know that you can powder your dehydrated tomatoes and then use them later for sauces, pastes and soup?  Just make sure that you dry them until crispy and then throw them in a high power blender to powder.  You can store the powder in a air tight jar on the shelf for several months.  Check out more of her tips here on her blog.  

All loaded up and ready to go in the dehydrator

Here's a recipe for spaghetti sauce mix found in my Excaliber dehydration guide.

1 Tbl. dried onions
3 tsp. cornstarch (or arrowroot powder)
1 1/2 tsp. dried garlic powder
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1 c. tomato powder
1 Tbl. dried parsley
1 Tbl. dried green peppers
1 tsp. sugar (or sucanat)
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/4 c. dried, sliced mushrooms

Mix all ingredients and store in a tightly sealed container.  To prepare sauce, add 3 cups of water to mix and simmer until thick.  Serves 4