October 12, 2021

First Try at Tomato Powder

Have you ever made tomato powder? Lots of people have, usually with tomato skins reserved from canning projects. Since I use a Roma juicer to process tomatoes for sauce, I don't end up with skins. So I've never tried making tomato powder. This year, however, I have so many cherry tomatoes, that I decided give it a try. 

Matt's Wild Cherry Tomatoes. Very prolific.

First, the cherry tomatoes had to be dehydrated. Powdering dried foods requires that they are very crispy to rock hard. Because of our humidity, however, dried food goes from hard to soft as it absorbs moisture from the air. 

It took several days to get the tiny tomatoes thoroughly dried.

Experience has taught me that to powder things, I need to get them into the blender as soon as they have cooled to room temperature. 


I don't have the best blender in the world, but I was pleased that everything, including skins and seeds, powdered pretty well.

First jar of powdered cherry tomatoes.

I put them in a jar, which I vacuum sealed for pantry storage. I plan to try them in soups, stews, dips, and salad dressings. Since properly dehydrated and stored foods keep for years, this seems like a good thing to do with all those extra cherry tomatoes.

Those of you who use tomato powder, do you have any recipes to share?

28 comments:

Judy said...

My biggest problem with storing tomato powder was the jar absorbed moisture/humidity. Then, I had a tomato brick I had to chip out of the jar. Never found a good solution for it, either.

Sherry said...

I've seen people I follow do this more and more this year. I hadn't had a chance too, but hope I will next year. They used it to make tomato paste, thicken soups, stews and to make sauces from. have a Blessed day.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

I make tomato powder too. I like you don't get that many with my sauce maker, but when I make salsa or freeze tomatoes, I save the skins and dehydrate them.

Leigh said...

Judy, I have that problem with powdered garlic and onion. I use those little moisture absorbers that come in vitamin bottles and they help. For the tomato powder, vacuum sealing should resolve that issue. Check out the link in the post!

Leigh said...

Sherry, it certainly seems like a useful thing to do, doesn't it? I reckon the true test of success will be in how it tastes!

Leigh said...

Kristina, you post so many good recipes on your blog, I'll have to go see what you've got with tomato powder!

daisy g said...

It's such a great way to preserve food. Hope you enjoy your stash!

Toirdhealbheach Beucail said...

I continue to learn all kinds of new things - I have never heard of tomato powder before. Used like other dehydrated items for soups, etc?

Judy said...

I don't have a garden anymore, but I am wondering if I had had access to Mylar bags if that would of helped. (I found Mylar bags worked better for vacuum sealing than the vacuum bags on a roll.) You could flatten out the tomato powder or any powder, really. If it turned in to a brick no-big-deal you could break/cut off what you needed and carry on with your recipe. And I didn't think of the moisture absorbers as I was struggling to keep my dehydrated powders from turning into bricks in my jars.

Goatldi said...

Good post. So far it seems that my cherry tomatoes are more prolific than my standard sized ones and up to now I’ve just been freezing them and throwing them as you said into soups that type of thing.
this is a very good idea and I am going to try this at some point down the road. I need a new blender basically because not only do I not have an old one that doesn’t work very well I don’t even have the old one anymore .As I parted with it when I moved.I decided maybe the pressure would be on to make a decision and buy a new one. Unless it’s a blender that does 1001 things they’re still pretty inexpensive kitchen appliances to be honest even the upscale ones. So I believe this will be on my winter to do list. Buy new blender as my Christmas present to myself. 🎊

wyomingheart said...

Well, am I ever happy I saw your post today! Like you, I had a plethora of cherry tomatoes this year. I froze them and just got the lot out last weekend, and made ketchup with them. I love using tomato powder in soup and chili, as it intensifies the flavor a lot! Thanks for this post, and once again…totally indebted to your knowledge, Leigh! Have a great week!

Leigh said...

Firstly, I'm going to apologize for the chaos in the order of the comments. I got an email from someone who couldn't leave a comment, and past experience has taught me that this is usually because of embedded comments. So I switched it back to pop-up. We'll see what happens!

Daisy, thanks! Now I just have to remember to use it, lol.

TB, I'm guessing it's used like other powdered veggies, but I'll have to experiment some. I'll report on the results!

Judy, I would think mylar bags would work. I believe they are easy to vacuum seal. It would be worth a try, although I confess to really liking my little hand vacuum pump.

Goatldi, thanks! I think a new blender would be a wonderful Christmas present to yourself! Maybe the goats and dogs could chip in, :). What I'd really like is a VitaMix blender, although these are way out of my price range. Still, I'm happy with what I've got.

Wyomingheart, well, we'd better call my "knowledge" more of an experiment, lol. I haven't tried it out yet! And I think ketchup is a great idea! I'm having trouble keeping up with all the cherry toms, but I may put in some extra picking effort to make ketchup.

Retired Knitter said...

Hello! And Yeah!! I can comment now. Thank you. Not that my comments are all that stunning or anything. LOL. But it is nice to keep in touch.

Your Tomato Powder is new to me! I don’t have a garden and I don’t preserve food, but tomato powder would be a wonderful additive of flavor to some dishes. I will need to look for it.

tarpsuk said...

nice

Ed said...

This is something that never crossed my radar. I assume you would use powder similar to paste to intensify tomato flavor? I make quite a bit of paste but it is quite time consuming and a lot of work and powder sounds a bit easier.

By the way, the last two batches of tomatoes I have done with skin instead of removing the skins via boiling water first. My stick blender does okay emulsifying them but I end up with all these small rolled up pieces of skin which depending on use, aren't the most appetizing texture wise. Since I've been making tomato soup, I've strained everything out but if I was making a sauce for pizza or lasagna, I probably would leave it in anyway. I probably should go ahead and just use the blender which I'm sure would do a better job but it dirties up the blender and another pan post puree and I tend to be lazy sometimes.

Leigh said...

RT, yay! I'm always happy to see your comments! I'll have to hunt around for some recipes for tomato powder, but I'm assuming I could use it to make tomato sauce and tomato soup.

Tarspuk, thanks!

Ed, you're in good company, I tend to find the easiest way to do things too. I don't think, though, that I would like those skins in my tomato sauce or soup. I'm curious as to how well the skins blend up.

I find that a good alternative to boiling water, is to freeze the tomatoes first if you have room in the freezer. When they begin to defrost, the skins peel off easily. I found it preferable to dealing with a pot of boiling water, especially in summer.

Glen Filthie said...

Fascinating. Have you thought of mixing the powder with other herbs and spices and storing them as a unit, Leigh? Like some kind of seasonings that you buy?

Mama Pea said...

Another "new" idea you've come up with that never occurred to me! (There sure are many, many things I've never thought of but if I keep reading blogs like yours, that very thing may insure I never run out of things to do!) I couldn't tell by the picture of the tomatoes in your dehydrator, but the time to dry them thoroughly seems a bit much. It might be a painstaking job with the Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes ('cause they're so small), but did you cut them in half before starting the dehydrating process?

Leigh said...

Glen, that's a really good idea. Sort of an instant soup mix. It would be very handy!

Mama Pea, I can't take credit for the idea, other than having it occur to me to try the cherry toms. And no! I didn't cut them in half. That would have been more work than I wanted to put into it. :) It took several days in the dehydrator, but it worked just fine with them whole.

Rosalea said...

I dry cherry tom's to re-hydrate and put on winter pizzas for a pop of flavour. Making tomato powder will be on my list for next year! Your powder looks lovely, and bet it has a good tomato flavour. I am interested to hear what you think of it when you use it.

Leigh said...

Rosalea, that's a good idea too. I'll have to report back after I've had a chance to experiment with the powder.

the canned quilter said...

I buy small tea bags off amazon with drawstrings and fill them with rice and place in my tomato powder. Helps prevent moisture absorption and caking of my tomato powder. Just a suggestion.

Dani said...

Leigh - if you want to try an additional method of preventing moisture from affecting the tomato powder try "wrapping" a teaspoonful of uncooked rice grains in a bit of muslin or old pantihose and placing that in the jar with the powder. As soon as the rice grains appear to be losing their dehydrated state, change them out for another teaspoon of rice.

Leigh said...

Canned Quilter and Dani, thank you so much for the tips! Very much appreciated!

Nancy In Boise said...

I've been to hydrating quite a few Tomatoes lately since I froze quite a bit already. I might try that! I am planning on using the dehydrated tomatoes and soups and stews Etc but I can see the powder would have some other ways to use

Leigh said...

Nancy, I've always been intrigued with powdered vegetables, especially for flavoring soups and stews. Also a good way to sneak veggies into various recipes for increased nutrition. But tomato powder might be a good way to make tomato sauce. Less storage space! I'll have to experiment.

Mariann said...

Tomato powder is great. I have even made it blended with onion, garlic, and peppers, all oven roasted then milled, some went to sauces, the rest was dehydrated and powdered. Here is how to reconstitute it:

To make tomato sauce use 4 parts water to 1 part powder. For tomato paste 2-3 parts water to 1 part powder. Lastly for tomato juice use 6 parts water to 1 part powder. If its to thick thin it down to a desired consistency.

Cheers!

Leigh said...

Mariann, thank you! Great information! Much appreciated. :)