What's a good tomato for drying?

[Andy J]

Never dried any tomatoes before.What's a good variety for this purpose?I'm in east central Mississippi,zone 8.

Any suggestions welcome.

Thanks,Andy J

 

[lesa]

I have never tried drying any of the large tomatoes (they go into sauce). The cherry tomatoes are great dried!! The yellow pear variety are especially tasty. They are so sweet, it is unbelievable. I use them on pizzas, in sauce, wherever you would add fresh tomatoes in cooking. I do remove the seeds before dehydrating, which is a huge pain in the neck- not sure that is necessary...

 

[curly_kate]

I've found paste tomatoes to be good for drying. Last year, I dried Romas & Milanos in my dehydrator. I left the seeds in - didn't know you were supposed to take them out. It didn't seem to cause any problems, so you might want to save yourself the trouble & leave them in next time, Lesa.

 

[Ariel301]

I dry Romas pretty regularly. They come out very nice, lots of good flavor. The dried tomatoes are wonderful in homemade bread...or just as a snack!

You can make them even yummier before drying if you put them sliced up in a bowl and mix them in garlic powder, a little salt, and some dried basil and oregano and rosemary, get them nice and coated and then pop them in the dehydrator. Better than potato chips, I think!

 

[wifezilla]

I dried black plum tomatoes last year. They are delicious!

 

[barefootgardener]

Well I know you are in zone 8 Miss., but a great all around paste tomato for drying is Opalka. It is a mid-season paste/canning/slicer with medium size elognated shaped fruit, Meaty, few seeds and pretty good producer in most years/climates..Also has really good flavor..The fruits are heavy for the size and few seeds are what you might want in a good drying tomato .(although I do dry other varieties that have more seeds and I leave them in.it does not bother me....). Love this for drying...The ratio for drying is around 20# fresh fruit for 1# dry..That is why it is important for a tomato to have weight..meat per size of fruit..

I also dry Carol Chykos Big Paste..Late season variety, Indet..Large and blocky in size and meaty w/few seeds..but a little more juicy..terrific flavor ..Great Production if it has cooler nights..otherwise production could be just avg..

Federle: Midseason, Indet..red, medium size fruit for paste and cooking...Good flavor..Pretty good production.. This one was new to me last year, and I really liked it as a dried tomato..But I had few seeds to start..so had few plants to try..

Amish Paste is a dual purpose tomato for me..pretty good for drying although you have to make sure you have the original strain of seeds...The original strain are larger in size and for me avgd about 8-12 oz. Fruit is blocky/plum shape..Indet..Excellent production and great flavor...Keep in mind they are more juicy and have a good ratio of juice to meat..Not considered a real paste...But I love it and cook it down into sauce and use to dry, it just takes longer..

Also keep in mind, you dont have to stick to paste types for drying...You can try and dry many varieties of heirlooms big and small..but sometimes non pastes types might have more flavor, but also might have more moisture as well..and it could take up to 35# per 1# drying ratio...

HTH

Ginny

 

[Greenthumb18]

I think any variety of tomato that has more solids and less liquid in the tomato should be fine. You should try making sun-dried tomatoes instead of a dehydrator, I dried figs from my backyard in the sun last summer, worked pretty good for me.

 

[Ariel301]

I think any variety of tomato that has more solids and less liquid in the tomato should be fine. You should try making sun-dried tomatoes instead of a dehydrator, I dried figs from my backyard in the sun last summer, worked pretty good for me.

Might not work so great in Mississippi, since it's so humid there. They might get moldy before they would dry.

 

[vfem]

I think plum and cherry varieties are the best and easiest to dry. I do the chocolate cherry tomatoes. I also do the sun dried tomatoes in my car!

I have the whole thing documented on my blog from last August.

http://fromseed.blogspot.com

 

[barefootgardener]

I think plum and cherry varieties are the best and easiest to dry. I do the chocolate cherry tomatoes. I also do the sun dried tomatoes in my car!

I have the whole thing documented on my blog from last August.

http://fromseed.blogspot.com

Just want to say I put your blog in my fav's..Nice.. (Your Stuffed Crescent French Toast looks to die for!)