How to Dry Tomatoes. Reduce Your Cancer Risk with Natural Tomatoes

Reduce Your Risk of Cancer and Other Diseases:

How do tomatoes reduce our risk of cancer and other diseases? Tomatoes are a power house of antioxidants, according to Northwestern Health Sciences University. Antioxidants actually help to prevent cancer and many other diseases, according to Well Beyond 100 at http://wellbeyond100.com/cancer.aspx. As a matter of fact, Well Beyond 100 states that antioxidants can actually help kill damaged cells which fuel malignancies.

Uses for Dried Tomatoes:

What do people do with dried tomatoes? Dried tomatoes are a great snack. They taste wonderful, and are not sticky or messy, and are very easy to eat. Place them into a ziplock snack bag, and you have a superior snack. Dried tomatoes are also great to put into chili, soups, stews, and salads.

Nutrition in Dried Tomatoes:

Surprisingly, one small custard cup (2.5 ounces) of dried tomatoes provides the following nutrition:
(Nutritional facts provided by the nutrition calculator at http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp)

Calories 132.3
Fat 2.1 grams
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 56.7 mg
Potassium 1,398.6 mg
Total Carbohydrate 29.2 grams
Dietary Fiber 6.9 grams
Sugars 0.0 grams
Protein 5.4 grams

*Percentage of daily vitamin/mineral requirements:
Vitamin A 78.5%
Vitamin B-6 25.2%
Vitamin C 105.0%
Vitamin E 11.9%
Calcium 3.2%
Copper 23.3%
Folate 23.6%
Iron 15.8%
Magnesium 17.3%
Manganese 33.1%
Niacin 19.8%
Pantothenic Acid 15.6%
Phosphorus 15.1%
Riboflavin 17.8%
Selenium 3.6%
Thiamin 24.8%
Zinc 3.8%

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Two Ways to Dry Tomatoes:

1. Sun Drying. To sun dry tomatoes, slice raw tomatoes into 1/4" to 1/2" thick slices. Place them into a shallow wooden box (wax paper lined). Cardboard box will do in a pinch, but could get moist from the tomatoes. Make sure the tomato slices are separated enough so that none of the slices are touching each other. Position a bug-proof screen over the top of the box so that the wind cannot blow it off, and allow the tomatoes to dry in the sun for one or two days (depending on air temperature and amount of sunlight). The tomatoes are adequately dry if they are no longer juicy. They do not have to be crispy or crunchy.

2. Electronic Drying. Food dehydrators, such as the one in the photo above, are available at discount stores for $30 to $40. The best ones (usually over $100) allow temperature controlling, which permits drying at a low temperature (106 degrees Fahrenheit) to preserve the live enzymes in the food, adding to its nutritional value. The $30 food dehydrators dry foods between 125 to 135 degrees Fahrenheit, but they get the job done.

For electronic drying, slice raw tomatoes into 1/4" to 1/2" thick slices and place them onto the food dehydrator's racks as provided, separating them so that no pieces are touching. Follow the manufacturer's instructions for drying tomatoes. An average dehydrator can handle anywhere from 15 to 30 tomatoes, depending upon the size of the dehydrator purchased.

One batch in an electronic food dehydrator takes anywhere from 8 to 16 hours, depending upon the temperature of the dehydrator.

Once tomatoes are dry (either sun dried or electronically dried), place them into ziplock bags and freeze them until they are ready to be used in salads, soups, stews, chili, or simply for snacking. They will last years in the freezer, but taste best if used within one year.