Tomato Powder: A Pantry Staple

Why is this one of my favorite homestead spice hacks?

We don’t waste any part of the tomato (minus the stem which we feed to the chickens). Tomato powder is flavor rich and we can use if for so many dishes. Previously we discarded tomato skins/seeds. One of my large store purchases used to be all things tomato (diced, spiced, paste, sauce, salsa, and more). With tomato sauce and tomato powder, I can make any variety of tomato sauce I need.

Equipment

To make tomato powder we rely on four pieces of equipment: Weston Tomato Press & Sauce Maker, 7 quart Crockpot, Cuisinart SG-10 Spice Grinder , and the COSORI Food Dehydrator. We use an older version of the Weston Tomato Press & Sauce Maker, which you can purchase, but it may be a bit harder to find.

Ingredients

Tomato skins and seeds – any kind of tomato will work! We save and use all skins and all seeds from all tomatoes that we process in order to create tomato powder. There is NO waste whatsoever when growing tomatoes if you make tomato powder. You can freeze all skins/seeds until you have enough available to make tomato powder, so keep a freezer bag handy!

Directions

Step One

Pick the tomatoes and wash tomatoes if using fresh tomatoes. Or, if you froze the tomatoes (as we do) we thaw them overnight in our sink. Thaw your frozen tomatoes completely, otherwise they will freeze up your Weston Tomato Press and it will be necessary to disassemble it, clean it, and put it back together. Learn from our mistakes – do NOT try to process frozen tomatoes. It isn’t necessary to dry your tomatoes once rinsed. You do want to pull stems/leaves off. If you choose to use fresh tomatoes you will need to cut them into chunks that will fit through the funnel in the tomato press.

Step Two

First tomato pressing – you will push all tomatoes through your tomato press and be sure to have bowls ready for the tomato liquids and another bowl for the skins and seeds – all the remains of your tomato.

Second tomato pressing – you will run your tomato leftovers (skins/seeds) through the tomato press again, and you will be happy to see it was worth it. We always get more liquids out of our second press.

Step Three (Tomato Liquid – Making Tomato Sauce)

What to do with the tomato liquids? We make tomato sauce which we add to a recipe for pizza sauce, marinara, enchilada sauce, soups and more. To make tomato sauce, simply add your liquids to a crockpot and let the liquids cook down at a low temperature as much as you like. The longer it cooks, the thicker it gets. You can choose to cook it down to tomato paste, but just know it takes a ton of tomatoes and we don’t find it cost effective. We can our tomato sauce in mason jars when it has cooked down about one inch in the crockpot.

Step Four (Tomato Leftovers – Making Tomato Powder)

What to do with the tomato leftovers? Now we get to make the tomato powder! Take your tomato skin leftovers and evenly spread them on the metal trays that come with your dehydrator. We cover our trays with parchment paper, however, dehydrators may include an additional cover for the tray that is plastic with tiny holes in it for the air to breathe through. Feel free to use those if you choose. We dehydrate them at 130 degrees until they are dry and brittle, which can take anywhere from six to twelve hours. Dehydration time varies due to the thickness of your layers, choice of trays, climate, and so on.

When dry and brittle, grind in spice grinder and store in your air tight containers of choice. We use 4 oz glass mason jars.

What do I do with tomato powder?

This is where it gets really fun. Tomato powder is a great little bonus in your kitchen toolbox; it packs flavor and is a great addition to so many recipes. One of my favorite uses is to add it to tomato sauce to make pizza sauce – it thickens it and it really adds such a deep flavor that tomato sauce simply doesn’t possess. I shake it into omelets, potato salad, on meat marinades and more. Of course I use it in all pasta dishes that call for marina. I get so weary of cans of tomato paste with just a little left that molds in the fridge. I haven’t bought tomato paste in ages because I just add tomato powder as a spice to my tomato sauce to make it; it will thicken it up quickly! You will find yourself throwing tomato powder in all sorts of dishes just because it always adds a punch of flavor. And, when you run out of it, you’ll be sad, believe me. So, make a ton of it!!!!