Day 110

Tomatoes and Olives

I love the look of this abundant car boot ex -Willunga

I spend All Day in the kitchen

  

I bought a 10kg box of tomatoes from the the Willunga Farmers market and sliced them up in approx. 5mm sections as per dehydrator instructions. The book says 11 -12 hours, I say some took more like 24hrs! I am taking no chances with mould this time! So I am not bottling until they are crisp, no spongeyness.

I put the dried tomato in a jar and layered with garlic. I wanted to add herbs but was not sure if they needed to be dried too? I took no chances and found some dried herbs in pantry, not sure what they were - no label.

As I started to pour in the extra virgin olive oil. I started to think about the cost of the oil, and decided to put them in a smaller jar - less oil. I don't think squashing them in should be a problem?

 

These babies are reluctant to dry out, the last of the bunch, they are the ends of the tomatoes (thickest slices) so are taking much longer than the rest.

I am determined to try one jar with no oil, just to see if it works, they are very crisp, and I am making sure they are completely cooled down before I seal the jar! The last lot are still drying as I write.

Dehydrator Musings

I am not too impressed with the speed of this machine. I am starting to wonder about the economics here. The dehydrator is 1000 Watts, so it is similar to a toaster, and I am leaving it on all night/all day. I freak out about the thought of leaving the toaster on all night but Michael says it would cost about $2. (It goes up to $5 during the day - using the solar power we would otherwise export). Then I think about the cost of the olive oil, the tomatoes, garlic etc, and I guesstimate it costs about $10 for this jar (then there is my labour ontop) - it sounds a lot at first, but then I am not sure how much sun dried tomatoes cost for that sized jar? It does make me think that dehydrating is possibly not as sustainable or cost effective as bottling with the Fowlers Vacola kits.

Fowlers Vacola Kit

They can use water only (no salt or sugar needed) and the cooking process takes one hour, as opposed to 12/24. I found some second hand jars at the local second hand shop for $1 each, and I have found a source for new lids and rubbers, so all I need now is a preserving kit. There are the stove top types (the old metal ones) which I prefer, but they need watching as they don't have a thermostat or thermometer, and they need to be kept at the correct temperature to be effective. The new plastic ones sound more idiot proof as they come with inbuilt thermometer, and timer, and they plug in, so they can be set off in the shed or laundry, freeing up kitchen space. Personally, if I can possibly avoid plastic, I like to, but the other extra features are swaying me. Also the food does not come into contact with the water or the plastic, and I presume that you can re-use the water.

More Preserving

 

2.7kg of tomatoes chopped and cooked to make tomato sauce

When tomatoes are pulpy, press through sieve to catch the soupy liquid (I can't bear to give the pulp to the chooks, so I reserve it and add it to the pasta sauce).

I used a muslin bag with almost the last of the pantry's foreign spices - cinamon, all spice, cloves, paprica, with vinegar, honey, and red wine, to spice up the tomato sauce.

I also made a pasta sauce of zucchini, capsicum, olives, onion, garlic, basil, bay, oregano, rosemary, and the tomato pulp.

The results of my labour: tomato sauce & pasta sauce. The tomato sauce is quite runny, I think maybe because I substituted honey for sugar? I am hoping it may thicken up with time. The preserving expert from the Save the Children Op Shop in Willunga said that these jars would be OK for preserving as long as they have rubber under the rim of the lids, the jars and the sauces are hot, and they are filled to the very top. Fingers crossed!

 

My garden beauties!