Hi guys,could you please advice on how to dehydrate tomatoes please ?
I have an Excalibur 9 tray dehadrator.
I would like to know on how do set the temperature and also how long are you running it for ?
I have read somewhere that for the first hour or two you can dehydrate on a high temperature because of the moisture trapped in the veg/fruit.
Also, how do you store the end product.
Appreciate your input. Regards, Peter

Here's one source for info on dehydrating tomatoes:

[stason.org]

However, it is my understanding that to preserve enzymes and nutrients, you'll need to keep the temperature around 115° or less when dehydrating.


My favorite raw vegan

The science behind the logic of keeping the dehydrator at 145 in the beginning is the fact that if an item is soaked with water, wet, it will never reach the ambient temperature until the water is all evaporated out. This is due to evaporative cooling effect. SO even if you put, for instance, a chicken in an oven. This chicken is not done until the inside reaches about 160 degrees. This takes so long because all that water is still keeping it from getting warm. same thing occurs in a dehydrator. the surface of your food can never get too warm until that surface starts to dry out. so even if you have your dehydrtaor at 145 for a couple hours, this is ok as long as the food is not drying out on the surface. Once the surface starts to dry, you will find that the surface is also starting to equal out with the ambient temp, this is when you should be cautious and turn down to 115 or lower.
Simply slice the tomatoes, lay em on the dehydrator, rock it at like 145 for about 2 hours, then turn down to 115 !!! once they are dry enough to take off the teflex sheet, do so, this will speed up the drying even more.

The Raw Lion 440 pounds to 225 pounds!

buy Roma tomatoes. They are your best bet and have the most meat and least seeds per tomoato. Seed the tomatoes before dehydrating and slice to 1/2 inch. Use a timer on dehydrator so you can walk away and have it turn off and the flip it and reset to ensure even drying. On temp, I don't know about the 145. Have heard that. I never go over 110 on mine, just to be sure. Good luck.

Paul

What is the difference in taste between sun-dried tomatoes, which so many recipes call for, and tomatoes dried in the dehydrator?

I have never noticed a difference in taste between sun drying or oven drying. Remember too that the sun can certainly heat foods to above 115, essentially cooking them. There's no way to regulate that!