How to Ferment Food

I’ve been fermenting our garden surplus for years, but this is also a great way to preserve any bits of leftover raw veggies you have that you bought at the store or farmers market and are lingering in the the recesses of your fridge.

I just put my final jar of fermented cherry tomatoes away for the winter, so I thought I’d sit down and walk through the steps with you. While I’m showing you my tomatoes, know that you will follow this same process for any vegetable.

Fermenting fruit

You can also ferment fruit (in fact, I LOVE fermented fruit), but you follow a different method. Go here for:

Fermenting blueberries

Fermenting peaches

Fermented pears

But the recipe below focuses on fermenting vegetables.

Can I make fermented food at home?

Everyone can make fermented food at home. It’s much easier than you think, as long as you know the right details. Fermentation preserves food by changing the sugars that naturally occur in the veggie into organic acids. And you do that by using the right amount of the right salt (both details are very important… read on for more).

Also feel free to add spices and herbs if your fermenting recipe calls for that.

How does fermentation work?

Salt keeps all the bad microbes from being able to grow on your vegetables and spoil them. Even better, salt promotes the growth of the good bacteria that produce lactic acid. Lactic acid is the secret sauce of fermented food. It’s the magical conversion of sugars to acids.

And lactic acid helps with cancer prevention (ref.), decrease in cholesterol absorption(ref.), and reduction of food allergies (ref.).

And we know that butyric acid–the main energy source for the good bacteria in our gut–is produced while food ferments. ( source )

But that’s not all! Fermentation makes the nutrients that are present in vegetables available, a process called “bioavailability.”

A stark difference from canned vegetables, fermented vegetables retain all their nutrients and vitamins. In fact, their nutritional value increases! ( source )

You see, during fermentation, microorganisms are creating amazing nutrients, like vitamin C, B group vitamins (including the famous B12), and vitamin K.

Does fermenting add nutrients to your food?

Best-selling author, Kristen Shocke explains everything you want to know about fermenting on episode 185 of my show: the Simple Doesn’t Mean Easy podcast.

How to ferment vegetables

How to make a ferment brine

The brine concentration you should use for vegetables depends on the type of vegetable.

Today, I used 4% brine. My tomatoes weighted 41 oz, so that meant I added 1.7 oz of salt. (I measured that out. It was 3 TB.)

 

Can you use tap water for fermenting food?

• Filter it… Use a water filter, such as a charcoal filter or a filtering pitcher, to remove chlorine. 
• Boil it… Bring the water to a rolling boil for at least 20 minutes to allow the chlorine to evaporate. But make sure you let it cool completely before using it for your ferment. 
• Let it sit… Pour the tap water into a bowl and leave it out on the counter overnight to allow the chlorine to naturally evaporate from the water. 

How to make fermentation lids

All you need, in a fermentation lid, is to have a way to keep the bugs out but let the air in. I personally love this fermenting kit that works so nicely with any mason jar. The lid allows the brine to bubble out and the good bacteria in the air to get into my ferments, but it also keeps the bugs out.

Print

How to Ferment Vegetables

Instructions

• Clean your vegetables.
• Weigh your vegetables, then multiply that number by the percentage of brine you want to make (1.5-5%)
• Place veggies in jar.
• Add salt.
• Fill your jar with filtered water and shake gently to agitate the salt to start dissolving.
• Place weight on vegetables, to keep them under the brine. (I use this.)
• Place fermentation lid on jar. (I use this.)
• Let sit for at least 3 days, at room temperature.
• Taste daily. When it tastes the way you want, remove weight (or spring) and fermentation lid, add a high-gauge stainless steel lid that won't corrode from the brine, and place in fridge.

What you need to ferment food

More about Fermenting Food

How to ferment peppers

How to ferment cauliflower

How to make kombucha with a SCOBY

Adding nutrients to your food by fermenting (listen)

The post How to ferment food first appeared on Souly Rested.

I hesitated if I would like fermenting whole pears, but the organic ones I ordered from my favorite independent food supplier were the perfect size to be able to ferment 8-10 of them whole in a 1/2-gallon jar and I decided it would be an awesome treat on the dark cold winter nights to pull out a whole pear to enjoy, if it worked.

Man oh man am I glad I was adventurous and went for it. These are SO good.

They’re carbonated pears! You need to make these.

What do fermented pears taste like?

Fermented pears taste exactly like fresh pears, just a little mushier (it’s great to ferment slightly green pears if you want them less mushy) and quite carbonated. Seriously, who wouldn’t love bubbly carbonated fruit? (Do you see the bubbles bursting out of that jar above? Yeah, baby, bring it on.)

Why should you ferment fruit?

The main reason I ferment fruit is to keep it longer. I hate canning, and honestly it doesn’t produce results that are as delicious as when I ferment. 

I also love that fermented food is 1000x better for us than any processed food. (Not a scientifically baked statistic, but it’s definitely true.) And bonus, fermented food captures good bacteria in the air and then when we eat it we are helping our microbiome by replenishing the good stuff in it.

How do you store fermented fruit?

Typically, I store my fermented fruit in the fridge. When I’m fermenting peaches or fermenting blueberries, I separate the fruit from the brine when it’s time to store the fruit in the fridge, otherwise the fruit will become total mush. 

But with these whole pears, I’ll leave them in the brine, since they’re so large and won’t go mushy as easily. Since there are only 8-10 in a jar they won’t last more than a few days in my fridge anyway. But I could also store them separate from the brine.

For the whole pears that I’m going to store in my root cellar, they definitely have to be stored in the brine.

Fermented Pear Recipe

What you’ll need:

A large wide mouth jar. I used this one.

8-10 small sized organic pears. (I got mine from Azure Standard.)

1 tsp chopped fresh ginger 

1/4 cup sugar

1-2 TB kombucha starter tea (see notes)

Directions:

1. Wash your pears in water. No need to scrub them. We want the natural microbes on the skin to do their job and make some ferment magic.
2. Place them in the jar. I needed to spend a minute or two finagling them until I could fit the most possible.
3. Add your ginger, sugar, and kombucha starter tea.
4. Top with a ferment spring and lid (or anything you have that will keep the pears on the top submerged in the brine and bugs out of your jar).
5. Place your jar on a plate, to catch the brine as it bubbles out in the days ahead, as the lactic acid builds up.
6. After about 3-5 days, remove the fermenting spring and lid, replace with a standard lid, and place the jar in your refrigerator.

Notes about fermenting pears

• Any fermented starter would work. If you make cheese, use some whey; if you make water kefir, use some of the liquid.
• If you don’t have a starter culture on hand, like kombucha or whey, you can still ferment your berries, just grab this 6-pack of starter cultures. You’ll only need 1/2 of 1 packet for this recipe.
• I used raw cane sugar instead of a more expensive all-natural sugar option like I normally use (like maple syrup or honey or one of the great options in this Ultimate Guide to Choosing Sugars). This sugar is just there to feed the good bacteria, it’s not so much for us.
• This fermenting kit has ingenious springs that do an amazing job keeping your food submerged in the brine and lids that keep your ferment breathing yet keep out what you don’t want in your ferment. I have 3 sets and need more.
• You can definitely also cut up your pears, into slices or cubes, before fermenting. I do that too.
• If you’d like to know how to make your own kombucha, I got ya covered with everything you need to know about Simple DIY Kombucha.

How to eat fermented pears

If I ferment my pears whole I like to eat them whole with breakfast, or for a mid-day treat or late-night snack. I will sometimes eat them without cutting them, but they are a little soft and messy that way, so more often I will cut them into fourths and enjoy them that way.

But fermented pears are honestly delicious to enjoy in any way you’d enjoy pears. They’re delicious:

• over oatmeal
• mixed in cereal and milk
• on top of a tossed salad
• on top of vanilla ice cream
• mixed in yogurt
• blended in a smoothie

More on Fermenting Food:

• Foods to eat for gut health (podcast episode)
• How to ferment blueberries
• How to ferment cherry tomatoes
• The Cost of DIY Kombucha
• Making sourdough without wasting discard

–> AND DON’T MISS THIS! … Go here to grab my FREE 8-page Pantry Checklist, loaded with discount codes on my favorite things in my kitchen. You’ll be glad you did.

“He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” Psalm 107:9

Pin this for later!

Click on the image below to pin this post.

The post Fermented Pears first appeared on Souly Rested.

I used to be afraid to admit that I hate canning. But, there, I said it.

The funny thing? Once I admitted my adversion to canning, that lead me into learning about dehydrating tomatoes. And then I started making tomato powder. Game changer.

It used to be a far-fetched dream of mine to not buy pasta sauce at the store anymore. It’s now been a full-blown reality for years.

So join me on the dehydrating side–there’s a ton less dishes and sweaty days spent slaving over hot stoves.

Should I dehydrate or can my tomatoes?

I should clarify. If you, somehow, just LOVE canning and want to can your tomatoes, I’m not here to tell you to stop canning. Ahem. I’m just here to tell you that dehydrating is objectively better, ha.

Canning tomatoes vs. dehydrating:

Canning tomatoes can be more convenient depending on how you look at it. It is really nice to just pop open a jar of tomatoes or pasta sauce and have that be the extent of your work when you’re cooking. Just heat your sauce and go.

Sometimes canning is also preferred because you’re less limited in how much you can make at a time. Especially if you have more than one canner, you can whip up really large batches of tomatoes and/or sauce to can, whereas if you’re dehydrating you are limited in how much you can preserve in one batch, then you’ll have to wait until one batch is dry before starting the next.

Dehydrating tomatoes vs. canning:

On the other hand, canning requires more preparation and equipment than dehydrating does. More than once I’ve gotten halfway through a canning project before realizing I didn’t have enough lids or ingredients to finish the batch. With dehydrating, you literally just need your dehydrator and you’re always good to go.

Dehydrating also allows you to work in batches, which can be a good thing. Last summer I got into a really soothing rhythm of starting a batch of tomatoes in the dehydrator before bed, checking them in the morning, and letting them run into the late morning until they were done. It’s refreshing to not have to cram all my preserving into a few huge, long, sweaty days.

Why dehydrate tomatoes instead of canning?

There are tons of upsides to dehydrating tomatoes, making dehydrating preferable to canning:

1. You avoid huge, messy, sweaty canning days laboring in a hot kitchen. To me, dehydrating is calmer than canning, requires a lot less focus and time, and is just more enjoyable in general.
2. Dehydrated tomatoes take less space to store than canned ones do. I stored all my tomatoes for the entire year in TWO flats worth of jars. If I had canned all those tomatoes, it would probably have taken up an entire shelf (or more) in my root cellar. Instead, I dehydrated them and saved a ton of space.
3. Tomatoes that are dehydrated preserve more nutrients than canned. All the processing, heating, and boiling involved in canning tomatoes leads to more nutrient loss. Dehydrating at low temperatures simply requires cutting whole tomatoes and removing their moisture in a dehydrator. In fact, according to this chart, canned foods can loose up to 80% of their nutrients, while dehydrated foods never loose more than 5%.
4. Using dehydrated tomato slices and powders is just so convenient. I store a jar of tomato powder in my pantry at all times, and when I need some pasta sauce I simply mix the exact amount I need by mixing hot water into my tomato powder. So simple, so easy, and there’s less waste because I can make exactly how much sauce I need, versus having to open a whole jar.
5. Dehydrating has a lower risk of spoilage (since the food has virtually no moisture in it), and is considered easier and safer than canning for beginners.

How to dehydrate tomatoes 101

There are several different ways to dehydrate tomatoes. My two favorites are to dehydrate tomato slices, and dehydrate tomato “leather” to turn into powder.

I love using the slices (rehydrated) on top of pizza, in soups/stews, and on top of salads. The tomato leather-turned-powder gets used as pasta sauce, tomato paste, and even tomato soup. It can get jazzed up or left plain, made as thick/thin as you need, and can even be used as a thickener for gravy. 

To dehydrate tomato slices:

If you mind skins on your tomato slices, you’ll want to start by peeling your tomatoes. If not, just leave the skins on.

1. Wash and ore your tomatoes, then set the aside. Make sure you don’t prep more than you can fit into your dehydrator in a load.
2. Slice your tomatoes as thin as you can (to reduce drying time), but most importantly make sure your slices are as uniform as they can be.
3. Place your slices either directly on your dehydrator trays, or onto silicone liners, depending on your machine. I find they dry faster directly on the trays, but they also stick more, which is why the liners are helpful. Make sure the slices are single layer and not overlapping.
4. Dehydrate your tomato slices at 135 degrees for anywhere from 6-12 hours, depending on how thick/thin your slices are. Flipping your tomato slices halfway through will significantly reduces your drying time and help them dry more evenly.
5. Check your tomatoes frequently to check for dryness. Fully dehydrated tomatoes should feel dry and leathery, slightly crispy. If they’re turning a dark color or overly crispy they might be overdone. If they’re soft or still feel moist at all, they’re not done yet.
6. Make sure your tomatoes are completely cool before sealing in an airtight container. Any heat left in the tomatoes can lead to moisture building up, which can allow them to go bad.
7. Condition your tomatoes for about a week by vigorously shaking them every day. I like to use a half gallon jar for this, filling it only 1/2-3/4 full to allow room for shaking. Conditioning is a really important step in the dehydrating process, so don’t skip this step. Almost 100% of the time when I hear of someone being discouraged with their dehydrated food, it’s because they didn’t condition it properly after dehydrating. See more about conditioning below.
8. Store your dehydrated tomato slices in an airtight container indefinitely. Especially if you’re planning on storing them super long-term, check them every so often to make sure there’s no signs of moisture or mildew.

To dehydrate tomato leather/powder:

Dehydrated tomato slices are great, but my absolute favorite (and easiest) way to dehydrate tomatoes is to turn them into a tomato leather, then blend that leather into a powder. It completely eliminates the slicing step! The only caveat to this method is that you do need to have some form of liners for your dehydrator, or else the tomato puree will just run right through your trays. You can try using parchment paper instead of “real” liners, but it sometimes rips/leaks.

1. Dump all your washed and cored tomatoes into a blender. (Don’t tell the experts, but I will even leave my cores in…)
2. Blend those into a liquid-y tomato smoothie (my daughter has been known to call it “vomit” because it… well… does have a resemblance, even more so depending on what kinds/colors of tomatoes you’re using… I grow a lot of yellow and orange tomato varieties).
3. Carefully pour your tomato puree onto your lined dehydrator trays and spread it out with a spatula. DON’T pour more puree than will fit on your trays. You’ll want to leave about 1/2-1 inch of space around the edges of your trays to allow it to spread and settle a bit without leaking off the trays.
4. Dehydrate at 135 degrees for 8-12 hours. You’ll know they’re done when the tomato “leather” breaks into pieces when you try to break it in half, rather than bending.
5. Once your tomato leather is all dry, stuff the cooled leather into a DRY blender (again) to blend it into a powder.
6. Condition your tomato powder in the oven. Don’t skip this step or you’ll have a tomato brick in a few months. Preheat your oven to 150 degrees and TURN IT OFF. Place your powder on parchment paper, on a cookie tray, and place the tray in the turned off oven for ½ an

   hour.

7. Store your tomato powder in airtight jars or containers until you want to use it. If you want my exact recipe for turning your (plain) tomato powder into ready-to-use pasta sauce powder (just add water!), see this recipe.

Why condition dehydrated tomatoes?

Conditioning dehydrated food is a super important step of the process. 9 times out of 10 when I get a message about someone being discouraged dehydrating, it’s because they were never told to condition their food.

Conditioning is essentially just shaking your dehydrated food at least once a day for about a week. After that week, your food should be good to go.

Shaking your dehydrated tomatoes allows you to check them for any moisture and quickly see and remove any parts that aren’t 100% dry. It also helps prevent your tomato slices from sticking together, preventing you from having one large, sticky ball of sorta-dehydrated tomatoes. If, during the conditioning process, you do find some sticky, not fully-dry tomato slices, just stick those ones back into your dehydrator until they’re fully dry.

Conditioning tomato powder makes sure than any heat/moisture caused from re-blending the tomato leather into powder is removed. And it keeps you from having any large clumps in your powder.

What types of tomatoes are best for dehydrating?

For a full list (with more details) of my favorite tomatoes for dehydrating, see this list.

While literally any tomatoes can be dehydrated very easily, these are some of my favorites. If they made this list, it’s because they’re easy to slice, not too watery so they take forever to dehydrate, and taste good re-hydrated. This is by no means an exhaustive list (obviously), but just the varieties I’ve grown that I’ve found be be extra good for dehydrating.

If you’re making tomato leather/powder, the variety doesn’t matter much. This list (in descending order, with my favorite first) is more for dehydrating slices than leather. I even throw any extra cherry tomatoes I have lying around into the mix when I’m making tomato leather.

• Golden Queen
• Blue Beauty
• German Pink
• Black Cherry tomatoes (sliced)
• Hillbilly

How to use dehydrated tomatoes

I’ve gotten so used to using dehydrated tomatoes and tomato powder that I forget it isn’t normal for everyone. There are a million ways to use dehydrated tomatoes, and I’ll share a few of my favorites, but the list is really endless.

1. Use dehydrated tomato powder as a natural thickener in gravy, soups, stews. It’s better for you than cornstarch, and works like magic.
2. Re-hydrate tomato slices to use as a pizza topping, or on salads or sandwiches. 
3. Enjoy dehydrated tomatoes as they are for a snack. You’ve heard of snacking on dehydrated fruits, why not tomatoes?
4. Make pasta sauce with dehydrated tomatoes/powder. This is my #1 favorite way to use dehydrated tomatoes, since we LOVE a good red sauce–spaghetti, lasagna, with meatballs, you name it. Find my full recipe for pasta sauce made with dehydrated tomato powder here.
5. Add dehydrated tomatoes to soups, stews, crockpot meals, and literally anything calling for diced or canned tomatoes. Just re-hydrate your tomato slices, chop them up if needed, and you’re golden.
6. Sprinkle tomato powder on eggs or popcorn for pizza goldfish vibes.
7. Add dehydrated tomato pieces straight into bread dough for sundried tomato flavor.

Print

Dehydrating tomatoes

Equipment

• dehydrator
• Blender (if making leather/powder)

Ingredients

• Ripe, garden-fresh tomatoes

Instructions

For making dehydrated tomato slices:

• Wash and core your tomatoes, then set them aside. Make sure you don't prep more than you can fit into your dehydrator in one load.
• Slice your tomatoes as thin as you can (to reduce drying time), but most importantly make sure your slices are as uniform as they can be.
• Place your slices either directly on your dehydrator trays, or onto silicone liners, depending on your machine. I find they dry faster directly on the trays, but they also stick more, which is why the liners are helpful. Make sure the slices are single layer and not overlapping.
• Dehydrate your tomato slices at 135 degrees for anywhere from 6-12 hours, depending on how thick/thin your slices are. Flipping your tomato slices halfway through will significantly reduces your drying time and help them dry more evenly.
• Check your tomatoes frequently to check for dryness. Fully dehydrated tomatoes should feel dry and leathery, slightly crispy. If they're turning a dark color or overly crispy they might be overdone. If they're soft or still feel moist at all, they're not done yet.
• Make sure your tomatoes are completely cool before sealing in an airtight container. Any heat left in the tomatoes can lead to moisture building up, which can allow them to go bad.
• Condition your tomatoes for about a week by vigorously shaking them every day. I like to use a half gallon jar for this, filling it only 1/2-3/4 full to allow room for shaking. Conditioning is a really important step in the dehydrating process, so don't skip this step. Almost 100% of the time when I hear of someone being discouraged with their dehydrated food, it's because they didn't condition it properly after dehydrating. See more about conditioning below.
• Store your dehydrated tomato slices in an airtight container indefinitely. Especially if you're planning on storing them super long-term, check them every so often to make sure there's no signs of moisture or mildew.

For making dehydrated tomato leather/powder:

• Dump all your washed and cored tomatoes into a blender. (Don't tell the experts, but I will even leave my cores in...)
• Blend those into a liquid-y tomato smoothie (my daughter has been known to call it "vomit" because it... well... does have a resemblance, even more so depending on what kinds/colors of tomatoes you're using... I grow a lot of yellow and orange tomato varieties).
• Carefully pour your tomato puree onto your lined dehydrator trays and spread it out with a spatula. DON'T pour more puree than will fit on your trays. You'll want to leave about 1/2-1 inch of space around the edges of your trays to allow it to spread and settle a bit without leaking off the trays.
• Dehydrate at 135 degrees for 8-12 hours. You'll know they're done when the tomato "leather" breaks into pieces when you try to break it in half, rather than bending.
• Once your tomato leather is all dry, stuff the cooled leather into a DRY blender (again) to blend it into a powder.
• Condition your tomato powder in the oven. Don't skip this step or you'll have a tomato brick in a few months. Preheat your oven to 150 degrees and TURN IT OFF. Place your powder on parchment paper, on a cookie tray, and place the tray in the turned off oven for ½ an hour.
• Store your tomato powder in airtight jars or containers until you want to use it. If you want my exact recipe for turning your (plain) tomato powder into ready-to-use pasta sauce powder (just add water!), see this recipe.

More like dehydrating tomatoes 101:

• How to ferment cherry tomatoes
• Make homemade pasta sauce without canning
• Dehydrated dandelion flowers… how & why
• Check out Dehydrating Academy & use code “soulyrested” for a discount!

The post Dehydrating tomatoes 101 first appeared on Souly Rested.

I’ve been doing this for many years, using tomatoes that I sliced, and then dehydrated, and then powdered and added seasoning. More about that dehydrated tomato powder here.

Then I discovered the hack that rocked my world. Seriously.

Make homemade pasta sauce without canning

I’ll just say it. I hate canning.

But I reserve a special disdain for canning pasta sauce. I hate slaving over a large boiling pot of tomatoes aaaall day. Man those tomatoes take forevah to boil down.

But, I’ll be honest, it also takes a lot of time to thinly slice a counter-full of tomatoes and line the slices up on dehydrator trays. So, while meticulously slicing hundreds of tomatoes beat out canning them, it was still time-consuming.

Then it rocked my world when Kayla asked me a question this summer…

She had seen me dehydrate strawberries over the years, watching me run the berries thought my blender and dehydrate the liquified berries. So she–very wisely–asked “why couldn’t you puree the tomatoes instead of slicing them?”

Can you dehydrate pureed tomatoes?

Kayla’s simple question rocked my world… not to mention freed up many hours of my time this summer. I tried it hesitantly, but it worked beautifully. I’ve never looked back, and I’ve never again stood at the counter slicing dozens of tomatoes super thin.

To puree your tomatoes before dehydrating them, simply wash them and remove any stems and cut off any bad spots. Then toss them, as whole tomatoes (no need to cut them at all) into your blender. If you have a vacuum sealed blender like mine, you’ll have the most nutritious tomato sauce possible, since zero nutrients will be lost by the agitation of the blender.

Then pour your pureed tomatoes onto your dehydrator trays, lined with a dehydrator tray mat. The first time I did this I thought for sure the pureed tomatoes would slide right off the tray, but as long as you control your pour, your trays will hold it just fine.

Dehydrate your pureed tomatoes at 125 overnight or until crisp and peelable. This is the dehydrator I will use most often. (Code SOULYRESTED saves $$)

What tomatoes make the best pasta sauce?

I grew 92 tomato plants this summer, more than a dozen varieties, and with this method of making tomato sauce I can tell you that genuinely every variety of tomato works well. If you’re boiling your tomatoes to can them, you want to stick with a few specific varieties so they boil down faster for you, but this method of dehydrating pureed tomatoes opens the door to using genuinely ANY tomato varieties that you’d like.

Because I love a gorgeous tossed salad and homemade pico de gallo, I love to grow ALL colors of tomatoes.

This does mean that my powder and resulting pasta sauce will sometimes be an unusual color… and my tomato puree is often an odd yellowy orange color… but wow, it tastes delicious.

Are cherry tomatoes good for dehydrating?

Typically I’m not a huge fan of dehydrating cherry tomatoes. Only because they take f-o-r-e-v-e-r to dehydrate, even if you’re cutting them in half before placing them in the dehydrator. 

But if you’re pureeing them first, then dehydrating them as a “sheet” of pureed tomatoes, cherry tomatoes work great for dehydrating into tomato sauce.

How do you use dehydrated tomato powder?

Before sharing my recipe for tomato sauce, I want to point out the straight up dehydrated tomato powder is amazing. I will always keep some of my tomato powder plain so I can use it in other ways, not just for making tomato sauce.

10 ways to us dehydrated tomato powder:

1. sprinkle on scrambled eggs
2. add to homemade broth
3. use it to thicken up a soup
4. thicken up gravy
5. make a V-8 kind of kombucha
6. add it to a salad dressing
7. include some in your homemade lazagna noodles
8. sprinkle it on your soup when serving, like this squash soup
9. make tomato-flavored homemade tortillas
10. sprinkle it on your veggies before serving, like garlic pepper Brussels sprouts

Dehydrated pasta sauce

INGREDIENTS

1 cup dehydrated tomato powder learn how here

1 tsp dehydrated pepper powder

1/2 tsp dried basil

2 tsp oregano

1 tsp salt

4 tsp coconut sugar 

1 tsp onion powder

DIRECTIONS

Mix all ingredients well.

Spoon into a container with an air-tight seal and keep for up to 1-2 years.

To make sauce, use 1 part tomato mix with 2-4 parts water (less for paste, more for sauce).

Notes on using your dehydrated pasta sauce

• I will use 3-4 TB of the powder mix to make enough sauce for one pizza.
• And 3 TB of the powder for one plate of pasta.
• 12 TB of the powder makes 3 cups, or about the amount of sauce in a jar you purchase at the store.
• I shared an alternative recipe here: Pasta sauce with dehydrated tomatoes

Print

Tomato sauce without canning

Ingredients

• 1 cup dehydrated tomato powder
• 1 tsp dehydrated pepper powder
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 2 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 tsp coconut sugar
• 1 tsp onion powder

Instructions

• Mix all ingredients well.
• Spoon into a container with an air-tight seal and keep for up to 1-2 years.
• To make sauce, use 1 part tomato mix with 2-4 parts water (less for paste, more for sauce).

Notes

• I will use 3-4 TB of the powder mix to make enough sauce for one pizza.
• And 3 TB of the powder for one plate of pasta.
• 12 TB of the powder makes 3 cups, or about the amount of sauce in a jar you purchase at the store.
• Learn how to make tomato powder here: How to make dehydrated powder
• I shared an alternative recipe here: Pasta sauce with dehydrated tomatoes

The post Make homemade pasta sauce without canning first appeared on Souly Rested.

But I had an abundance when I ordered 20 pounds of fresh peaches from Azure Standard this month and I knew I didn’t want to can them. I hate lugging out the canning equipment and doing all the prep work and getting the kitchen so hot while the food processes and then after all of that sometimes the seals fail and I have to eat a jar or two right away anyway.

I knew I LOVE fermenting blueberries, and fermented pears are amazing.

In fact, I ferment a lot of other foods–my top shelf of my fridge has a lot of jars of fermented foods filling it up right now–so it was a no-brainer.

Hesitation or not, I was going to try fermenting peaches.

What do fermented peaches taste like?

The short answer is DELICIOUS. Fermented peaches are a salty, slightly tangy version of fresh… peaches 2.0 honestly. They will be a little mushier than fresh peaches, but truly delicious.

Why would you ferment fruit?

The primary reason I ferment fruit is to preserve it. Canning is too much of a pain, and honestly doesn’t produce results that are as delicious as when I ferment. Not to mention that fermented food is 1000x better for us than any processed food. And bonus, fermented food captures good bacteria in the air and then when we eat it we are helping our microbiomes by replenishing the good stuff in it.

Do you need special equipment to ferment food?

The equipment you will need to ferment food:

• some sort of container to hold the food while it is fermenting (I love using mason jars)
• something to keep bugs out (it can be as simple as a piece of fabric held on to your container by a rubber band)
• a weight, to hold your food under the ferment brine (this could be a rock that you have cleaned and sanitized)

While you can seriously use almost anything around the house for these simple pieces of “fermenting equipment” (a lot easier than canning, yes?), I gotta shamelessly plug my absolute favorite fermenting kit here because it’s that awesome.

There’s no plastic involved, and it adjusts to work with any amount of food I’m fermenting–just a tiny bit or so much I need to squish it in. In fact, these fermenting springs allow me to ferment more food at a time because they compress the food under the brine. If you do purchase a kit, make sure it is a high-grade stainless steel (this one is) or it will corrode over time.

How long does it take peaches to ferment?

Fruit ferments quickly. You want to start tasting it after 24 hours and store it away as soon as it tastes perfect to you. (Keep reading for how to store your peaches.)

How do you store fermented fruit?

Once your fruit tastes perfectly fermented (usually this is right around 24 hours of fermenting for me, but you can let it go 2-3 days if you prefer a more tangy taste), you need to separate your fruit from the brine, otherwise the fruit will become total mush.

Store your brine and your fruit in two separate, sealed containers in your fridge.

Can I save leftover brine?

Always save your brine from your fermented peaches (or any ferment really). I love to use my peach brine to make the most amazing kombucha. Simply add about 1/4 cup of the brine to a 1/2 gallon second ferment of kombucha.  Unbelievably delicious and bonus EXTRA good for you.

If you don’t make kombucha, dive into my free kombucha resources and recipes here and get started! Better yet, take my Simple DIY Kombucha master class and be an overnight fermented drink pro. You’ll eliminate all soda from your family’s diet and improve their gut health in one fell swoop.

You can also add a few tablespoons of your peach ferment brine to a tall glass of ice cold seltzer water. Delicious!

What do you do with fruit after fermentation?

There are so many ways to thoroughly enjoy fermented peaches and all fermented fruit…

• straight up eat it. seriously. it’s a great midnight snack.
• enjoy it on your breakfast cereal. (This might be my favorite way.)
• use the brine, combined with a favorite seltzer flavor, to make a refreshing electrolyte drink. (Ok, maybe this is my favorite way.)
• toss some on a side salad.
• cover a bowl of ice cream with them.
• mix a spoonful in your bowl of yogurt.

Fermented peaches, and fermented blueberries, are truly two of my favorite treats to have on hand. Go here to download my 8-page Pantry Checklist to check out all of my favorite foods and ingredients and enjoy discount codes on many.

Can you accidentally ferment fruit?

If you’ve ever had fruit or jam turn odd tasting it could be you’ve accidentally fermented fruit, but that’s not the way to go…  because there is yeast and good bacteria in the air at all times and because fruit is naturally sugary, accidental fermentation can happen, but trust me you want to do it on purpose… keep reading…

Fermented Peaches

Fermented Peaches Ingredients:

• 1.5 tsp salt*
• 6 tbsp of sugar
• 9 tbsp of filtered, warm water
• 6 tbsp of kombucha (See notes below for alternative)
• 2 1/2 – 3 cups of fresh, sliced or diced peaches

* for the best results, weigh peaches and make a 2% salt brine, based on their weight. My 2 1/2 cups of peaches weighed 15 ounces. I multiplied 15 by .02 (since I want a 2% brine) and got .3, so I knew I needed .3 ounces of salt. Now the math gets a little harder… I know that 4 3/4 teaspoons of salt weighs about 1 ounce. So I multiply 4 3/4 by .3. The answer is 1.4. That’s how many tsps of salt I need for my exact amount of peaches. But you should be fine in the range of 1-1.5 tsp of salt for 2 1/2 cups of peaches.

Fermented Peaches Directions:

1. In a bowl, add cut up peaches, salt and sugar. Mix and let sit for 20-30 minutes.
2. Transfer peaches to a jar. (I used one of the tall, narrow mason jars linked below.)
3. Add kombucha.
4. Add enough water to fill jar.
5. Weigh down peaches with a fermentation weight that fits inside your jar. I love this kit. All the fruit must stay below the brine.
6. Add your ferment kit lid to the jar (or a loose lid, or a secured piece of fabric, if you don’t have this fancy kit).
7. After 24 hours, taste a few times a day until your ferment reaches the desired taste. It won’t take long. (Fruit ferments faster than veggies.)

Notes on Fermenting Peaches:

• Any fermented starter would work. If you make cheese, use some whey; if you make water kefir, use some of the liquid.
• I use this salt, for the bonus minerals; use code SOULYRESTED for 15% off every order, every time.
• I used raw cane sugar; I have to research if I can use maple syrup next time.
• This fermenting kit has ingenious springs that do an amazing job keeping your food submerged in the brine and lids that keep your ferment breathing yet keep out what you don’t want in your ferment.
• If you don’t have a starter culture on hand, like kombucha, you can still ferment your berries, just grab this 6-pack of starter cultures. You’ll only need a little from one packet for this recipe.
• If you’d like to know how to make your own kombucha, I got ya covered with everything you need to know about Simple DIY Kombucha.

My Favorite Fermenting Tools:

More on Fermenting Food:

• Foods to eat for gut health (podcast episode)
• How to ferment blueberries
• How to ferment cherry tomatoes
• The Cost of DIY Kombucha
• Making sourdough without wasting discard

–> AND DON’T FORGET! … Go here to grab my FREE 8-page Pantry Checklist, loaded with discount codes on my favorite things in my kitchen. You’ll be glad you did.

“He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” Psalm 107:9

Pin this for later!

Click on the image below to pin this post.

Find out why SoulyRested was considered to be one of the One of the Top Homesteading Blogs.

Glance at my Resource Page if you’d like to get a glimpse of all the supplies I use and recommend for everything from gardening, to homeschooling, to chicken care, to nature journaling, to maple syrup making.

The post Fermenting Peaches first appeared on Souly Rested.

Are Homemade Fruit Roll Ups a Thing?

Are Fruit Roll Ups Good for You?

• Blue 1
• Red 40
• Yellow 5
•  Yellow 6
• “natural flavoring”

Is This a Good Way to Preserve Strawberries?

After a few wonderful hours of picking (and eating) fresh strawberries, I pureed 1 tray full of berries this way.  (I’m talking those long rectangular berry trays they give you at the strawberry far, for picking, pictured above)

Because I want to preserve all the nutrients in the fresh-picked berries, I invested years ago in this vacuum blender. It’s not cheap, but quickly paid for itself, with all the smoothies, shakes, peanut butter, and dehydrated powders I make it in. I love knowing that these are all as high-powered in antioxidants as possible.

When you remove the oxygen before blending, you preserve the fragile enzymes that feed your body. And, bonus, I’ve never owned a blender that makes things so wonderfully smooth. Vacuum blending helps you create silky smooth results because there’s no more separation of the items you’re blending.

But, you can truly use any old blender at all. They’ll all make fruit roll ups that are 1000x superior to the processed and packaged ones.

Is it Easy to Make Homemade Fruit Roll Ups?

The best part of this amazing snack is how easy it is to make. If you’re using organic, clean berries, you can simply toss the entire berry–leaves, stems, and all–right into your blender. Seriously, no need to hull those berries. You’re welcome.

So once I blended up all those berries that filled that picking tray, I was left with more berry juice than would fit in my dehydrator, and my dehydrator is surprisingly roomy for it’s small footprint on my kitchen counter… it has 11 large trays (I love it cause it saves me so much time and electricity, filling it up once with most things I’m drying and being done.)

After filling my 11 trays, I had roughly 6-7 cups left over. which I put that in 1/2 gallon mason jar in fridge until I was ready to dry those separately, in the next round.

Six hours in the dehydrator and you have shear, amazing homemade fruit roll ups. With zero food coloring. Zero chemicals. Only strawberries. Now if your kids don’t think you have super powers now, well, you need to make sure they realize it.

Homemade Fruit Roll Ups

Use fresh, organic, clean strawberries for the best results. You won’t believe how easy this is…

1. Fill blender with whole strawberries (leaves, stems and all).
2. Puree until smooth.
3. Smooth out puree (removing any fruit chunks that may remain) on sheets like these on you dehydrator trays. (See notes.)
4. Dehydrate at 125 degrees for 5-6 hours.

Notes about Making Homemade Fruit Roll Ups

• For my dehydrator, Roughly one cup of berry juice fills one tray. (To be exact, 7 cups of puree fills 6 trays.)
• If you don’t have special tray liners, I’m told you can use parchment paper. I’m not overly confident of this, so please let me know your results if you try!

Making Strawberry Powder from Fruit Roll Ups

If you want to turn your roll ups into dehydrated powder, simply pulse the roll ups into powder in your blender (I highly recommend this vacuum blender). My 1 large tray of strawberries yielded 15 leather sheets, which then yielded 11.5 oz of powder (or 2 pint jars, both 3/4 full).

Go here for more details: How to Make Powder out of Dehydrated Foods.

How to Use Dehydrated Powder Made from Fruit Roll Ups?

Honestly I bet you can think of soooo many ways to use this powder but here are my favorite places to sprinkle my strawberry powder:

• oatmeal
• yogurt
• cakes
• icing
• biscuits

Yep. You Have a New Super Power.

Why & How I Mill My Own Fresh Flour

Delicious Strawberry Pie

Tools I Wouldn’t Want to be Without in my Farmhouse Kitchen

---

“He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” Psalm 107:9

---

Pin this for later!

Click on the image below to pin this post.

Find out why SoulyRested was considered to be one of the Top 20 Must-Read Homesteading Blogs of 2018 and then one of the Top Homesteading Blogs of 2021 as well.

Glance at my Resource Page if you’d like to get a glimpse of all the supplies I use and recommend for everything from gardening, to homeschooling, to chicken care, to nature journaling, to maple syrup making.

 

I’d love to connect!

To find me in some other neck of the woods, just click any (or every!) icon below:

The post Homemade Strawberry Fruit Roll Ups first appeared on Souly Rested.

Family pizza night

How to make powder from dehydrated tomatoes

You can actually make powders from many different dehydrated veggies. But dehydrated tomato powder is my favorite, with pepper coming in a close second. I broke down how to make powders from dehydrated foods in a previous article. So if that’s step one for you, go check that out first, then meet me back here.

I’ll wait.

Why I love sauce made from tomato powder

It’s versatile

It’s practical

No fridge real estate required

Pasta Sauce with Dehydrated Tomato Powder

INGREDIENTS

• 1 part tomato powder
• 2-3 parts water (use less if you want a thicker sauce, more for thinner)
• a little vinegar (1/2 tsp for every 1 TB powder you’ve used)–optional
• Spices, herbs, and sugar to taste.

I like oregano, basil, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and coconut sugar. If you’d like to know my personal preferences, I share a more exact recipe for this sauce here: Make homemade pasta sauce without canning

DIRECTIONS

I’m kinda a hero

The Best Tomato Varieties for Dehydrating

How to ferment tomatoes

Why & How I Mill My Own Fresh Flour for my pizza dough

Tools I Wouldn’t Want to be Without in my Farmhouse Kitchen

---

“He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” Psalm 107:9

---

Pin this for later!

Click on the image below to pin this post.

Find out why SoulyRested was considered to be one of the Top 20 Must-Read Homesteading Blogs of 2018 and then one of the Top Homesteading Blogs of 2021 as well.

Glance at my Resource Page if you’d like to get a glimpse of all the supplies I use and recommend for everything from gardening, to homeschooling, to chicken care, to nature journaling, to maple syrup making.

 

I’d love to connect!

To find me in some other neck of the woods, just click any (or every!) icon below:

 

The post How to Make Pasta Sauce with Dehydrated Tomato Powder first appeared on Souly Rested.

My dehydrator is my best friend these days. The garden surplus is overwhelming and I hate heating up the kitchen all day long to can tomato sauce. In fact, I have never been a fan of canning tomatoes. I felt like I boiled them down all day long and my final product was never quite right.

But dehydrating? Yes, please!

The dehydrating process completely retains a food’s original nutritional value! Most food preservation decreases a food’s nutritional content, but dehydrating retains all the protein, fat, carbohydrates, fiber, and vitamins. Amazing, right?

Given that scientific studies have shown that eating tomatoes decreases risk of cancer (source), not to mention all the other healthful reasons to enjoy veggies, dehydrated tomatoes are my new favorite thing.

And it’s so easy to slice up the tomatoes, fill the trays, and turn the dehydrator on. That’s it. And I’ll have amazing tomatoes all winter long. I list the many ways to use dehydrated tomatoes right here.

Which Tomatoes are Best for Dehydrating?

I grew 6 varieties of tomatoes in my garden this year and I can definitely tell you they are not all created equal when it comes to dehydrating. Some varieties of tomatoes are definitely better for dehydrating than others. But I should add that you can do a bang-up job dehydrating absolutely any tomato, so if you have a less-than-ideal variety on hand, don’t be discouraged, your results will still be fantastic.

I’m going to break down the 6 varieties I dehydrated this year and share the results with you.

Golden Queen

Golden Queen tomatoes are not only a gorgeous orange color (I love using them–and Lemon Boys–in salsa), but they’re wonderfully meaty, with not a lot of seeds. This means they’re less watery than most tomatoes and great candidates for nice, efficient dehydrating.

Not to mention that fresh-sliced Golden Queen tomatoes have been the backbone of some of the best BLTs all summer long around here.

Blue Beauty

This was my first year growing Blue Beauty tomatoes, but I’m in love. They’re so pretty on the vines, almost looking like large, gorgeous plums. The tops are deep blue and the bottoms a pretty pink/purple color. While the tomatoes are average with amount of seeds/juice when you slice them, they slice so evenly and nicely. The fact that they make firm, easy, uniform slices made them my favorite to dehydrate this year.

And, bonus, they retain their gorgeous skin color after they’re dehydrated.

Lemon Boy

I love the flavor and surprising color of a Lemon Boy tomato. They’re my favorite tomato addition to both tossed salad and pico de gallo. But they’re my least favorite tomato to dehydrate. They’re very watery and have a good amount of seeds, so they seemed to take longer in the dehydrator than most other varieties and they final outcome was more fragile and flimsy than many others.

German Pink

I love a perfect sized tomato that offers a generous, meaty slice to make the perfect tomato sandwich or BLT. These German Pink tomatoes have never let me down. So I was very happy to find out how wonderfully they dehydrate as well. They’re pretty efficient at dehydrating and easy to slice uniformly too. It may be a drop-dead three-way tie between German Pink, Golden Queen, and Blue Beauty, honestly.

Hillbilly

I’ll be straight out honest about this variety. I saw the name of it years ago and wanted to grow it immediately, just because it was a nod to my daddy, my gardening inspiration who always referred to himself, without reservation, as a hillbilly.

It turns out this Hillbilly tomato is a good tomato. A little seedier and juicier than is ideal for dehydrating, but it yields a nice result. It just doesn’t get as dry as I would like, as quickly as a meatier variety.

Black Cherry Tomatoes

These Black Cherry tomatoes are my favorite cherry tomatoes. I love their large size that makes them so easy to chop up quickly for pico de gallo. Yet they’re not too big to pop in your mouth in one large bite of an antioxidant-ladden snack. It turns out they dehydrate well too, as far as cherry tomatoes go.

Cherry tomatoes, by their nature, take a much longer time to dehydrate than large slices of less seedy, less watery tomatoes. And I guess you could say these extra-large cherry tomatoes are a little more of a hassle to prepare for the dehydrator trays than smaller cherry tomatoes, which simply need to be cut in half. To reduce the dehydrating time, I like to slice out the middle section of these, creating two halves along with the middle slice.

Cherry tomatoes shrivel up to tiny little dehydrated tomatoes, but these extra-large ones are still a nice little size. And their dark, almost black, color sure makes a pretty dehydrated tomato.

In an upcoming post I’ll break down the details on how to dehydrate tomatoes. And in my last post, I listed 10 ways I love to use dehydrated tomatoes.

What is the Best Dehydrator?

I have tried many different dehydrators over the years, trying to save money with lower priced ones. I’ve also dehydrated many herbs by hanging them to air dry and many veggies by spreading them out on baking trays on the dashboard of my car on a hot sunny day.

While there are many ways to dehydrate without fancy equipment, and many lower priced dehydrating machines on the market that are fine, I can tell you I will never go back to any other way now that I have found the top echelon of dehydrators.

This is my dehydrator and I whole heartedly recommend it to anyone who asks.

Listen in to More About my Dehydrator

Other Articles You’ll Enjoy:

10 Ways to Use Dehydrated Tomatoes

How to Ferment Peppers

Our favorite kombucha flavors

The Tools I Use the Most in my Farmhouse Kitchen

 

Talk to me!

If you have any questions, leave a comment below. And please tag me on ig to show me your delicious dehydrated food @souly.rested.

 

Pin this for later!

Click on the image below to pin this post.

“He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” Psalm 107:9

 

Find out why SoulyRested was considered to be one of the Top 20 Must-Read Homesteading Blogs of 2018 and then one of the Top Homesteading Blogs of 2019 as well.

 

I’d love to connect!

To find me in some other neck of the woods, just click any (or every!) icon below:

The post Which varieties of tomatoes are best to dehydrate first appeared on Souly Rested.

To start, today I’m sharing how I use my dehydrated tomatoes… Join me over on instagram for lots more real food deliciousness, from dehydrating to fermenting; from free ranging chickens to pasture-raised pork… I share about it all, daily, and hope you can join me there.

And be sure to catch the new, upcoming season on my Simple Doesn’t Mean Easy podcast, all about Real Food.

Benefits of Dehydrated Food

Dehydrating food can save you money, help you preserve food instead of wasting it, and even speed up your cooking time. You can also add seasonings to food as you dry it, or leave them completely natural. Either way, with dehydrated fruits and veggies, you have lots of healthy, easily portable snacks on hand.

But maybe the best part of dehydrating food? The dehydrating process completely retains a food’s original nutritional value! Most food preservation decreases a food’s nutritional content, but dehydrating retains all the protein, fat, carbohydrates, fiber, and vitamins. Amazing, right?

So if you have a surplus of any fruit or veggies in your kitchen right now, roll up your sleeves and start slicing them and filling up your dehydrator trays today, guys.

For me today, it’s tomatoes that have taken over my counters and kitchen table. Which I happen to be very happy about.

In future posts I’ll outline the details of the dehydrating process for tomatoes, and how to turn dehydrated tomatoes into powder, as well as which varieties of tomatoes are best to grow if you want to dehydrate them to preserve them, but for now let me inspire you with the many ways I will be using a stockpile of amazing dehydrated tomatoes…

How to Use Dehydrated Tomatoes

Drying tomatoes is, in my opinion, the best, easiest, and most nutritious way to preserve an abundance of summer tomatoes.

Dehydrated tomatoes have a wonderful, concentrated, sweet tomato flavor, that is a fantastic addition to so many things in the kitchen…

1. Serve them with cheese, meats, and crackers for an amazing charcuterie board
2. Chop up and add as a boost of amazing flavor (and nutrition) to almost anything (think soup, dips, sandwiches, pasta salad)
3. Use as a pizza topping
4. Toss in some cut up dehydrated tomatoes in your sautéed veggies
5. Enjoy them in any savory breads or baked goods
6. Add small pieces to fresh green salads
7. Reconstitute and marinate them for amazing tomatoes to add to any recipe (see directions below)
8. Make tomato powder that you can shake on any dish at all for seasoning and nutrition
9. Reconstitute tomato powder for pizza sauce (Go here for the full directions on making pizza sauce with powder.)
10. Enjoy them as a flavorful little snack, just as they are

How to Reconstitute Dehydrated Tomatoes

If you’d like to reconstitute your dehydrated tomatoes, it’s super easy. Simply soak the dehydrated tomatoes in a bowl of warm water for an hour or two. They will be very similar in size, feel, and taste to a fresh tomato and you can use them in the same way.

You can also soak dehydrated tomatoes in high-quality olive oil to serve as an extra special side dish.

TIP: For added “umph,” soak dehydrated tomatoes in wine or broth instead of just water to rehydrate them.

How do you reconstitute dehydrated tomatoes?

You won’t believe how easy it is to reconstitute dehydrated tomatoes. Simply soak them in a small bowl with just enough warm water to cover them. Let them sit for at least 10 minutes, but an hour is best. They’ll be a mushier consistency than fresh-picked, firm tomatoes, but they’re great to use in so many ways and they taste amazing.

Can you cook with dehydrated tomatoes?

If you want to add your dehydrated tomatoes to a liquid-y recipe, like a soup or a roast, no need to reconstitute your tomatoes first, otherwise just soak them in water, as explained above

How to Rehydrate & Marinate Dehydrated Tomatoes

If you would like to add your dehydrated tomatoes to a salad, or any non-heated dish really, soak them in warm water with a little vinegar for about an hour to rehydrate them. After draining them, mix them with olive oil, fresh minced garlic, and fresh basil leaves, and marinate overnight. Wow. You’ll love the results and find yourself thinking of all kinds of ways to use this deliciousness.

Do dehydrated tomatoes need to be refrigerated?

Dehydrated tomatoes are shelf stable for years, no need to refrigerate or do anything special. I keep mine in a glass jar, with a stainless steel lid that has a great seal, in my root cellar. But any dark, cool location will work (if it is consistently the same temperature year-round, that is ideal).

What is the Best Dehydrator?

I have tried many different dehydrators over the years, trying to save money with lower priced ones. I’ve also dehydrated many herbs by hanging them to air dry and many veggies by spreading them out on baking trays on the dashboard of my car on a hot sunny day.

While there are many ways to dehydrate without fancy equipment, and many lower priced dehydrating machines on the market that are fine, I can tell you I will never go back to any other way now that I have found the top echelon of dehydrators.

This is my dehydrator and I whole heartedly recommend it to anyone who asks.

It is an investment, but the way it churns out high-quality food for my family on a regular basis, and the high-quality parts and stainless steel trays, make it very worth the investment for me. Plus, it’s paid for itself many times over.

Listen in to More About my Dehydrator

Other Articles You’ll Enjoy:

How to Make Sauce With Tomato Powder

The Best Tomatoes to Dehydrate

How to Ferment Peppers

8 Gardening Tips, Inspired by the Pros

The Tools I Use the Most in my Farmhouse Kitchen

 

Talk to me!

If you have any questions, leave a comment below. And please tag me on ig to show me your delicious dehydrated food @souly.rested.

 

Pin this for later!

Click on the image below to pin this post.

“Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.” Isaiah 55:2

 

Find out why SoulyRested was considered to be one of the Top 20 Must-Read Homesteading Blogs of 2018 and then one of the Top Homesteading Blogs of 2019 as well.

 

I’d love to connect!

To find me in some other neck of the woods, just click any (or every!) icon below:

The post 10 Ways to Use Dehydrated Tomatoes first appeared on Souly Rested.

Fermenting Blueberries

Fermenting blueberries is a simple process that produces truly delicious results.

It is done in a sugary brine and both the berries and brine are delicious to use in so many ways. Add the immense benefits to your gut health and you really can’t resist these amazing little guys.

[ez-toc]

Fermented Blueberries

Ingredients:

• 2-2 1/2 cups of blueberries (about 300 grams)
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 tbsp of sugar
• 9 tbsp of filtered water
• 6 tbsp of kombucha (See notes below for alternative)

Directions:

1. In a jar, add sugar and salt. (I used a tall, narrow mason jar.) Pour in warm water and stir to dissolve, then allow water to cool.
2. Add kombucha and berries.
3. Weigh down blueberries with a fermentation weight that fits inside your jar. I love this kit. All the fruit must stay below the brine.
4. Add your ferment kit lid to the jar (or a loose lid, or a secured piece of fabric, if you don’t have this fancy kit). After 24 hours, taste a few times a day until your ferment reaches the desired taste. It won’t take long. (Fruit ferments faster than veggies.)

Notes about fermenting blueberries

• Any fermented starter would work. If you make cheese, use some whey; if you make water kefir, use some of the liquid.
• I use this salt, for the bonus minerals; use code SOULYRESTED for 15% off every order, every time.
• I used raw cane sugar; I have to research if I can use maple syrup next time.
• This fermenting kit has ingenious springs that do an amazing job keeping your food submerged in the brine and lids that keep your ferment breathing yet keep out what you don’t want in your ferment.
• If you don’t have a starter culture on hand, like kombucha, you can still ferment your berries, just grab this 6-pack of starter cultures. You’ll only need 1/2 of 1 packet for this recipe.
• If you’d like to know how to make your own kombucha, I got ya covered with everything you need to know about Simple DIY Kombucha.

Find out more about fermenting kombucha in this video:

Can you lacto ferment frozen blueberries?

I’m asked this a lot and I just need to try it, honestly, so I know for sure… I’ve only ever fermented fresh berries, but my hunch is that frozen will work almost as well. I assume frozen blueberries will be a mushier consistency but taste just as delicious.

What do lacto fermented blueberries taste like?

Fermented blueberries are a wonderful combination of sour, salty, and slightly sweet. I love them.

Other Recipes You May Like:

Fermenting peaches

Melt-in-Your-Mouth Blueberry Cake

Fermented cauliflower

Lilac Blueberry Kombucha

Talk to me!

If you have any questions, leave a comment below. And please tag me on ig to show me your delicious fermented fruit @souly.rested.

The post Fermenting Blueberries first appeared on Souly Rested.