Preserving Tomatoes

Wow! What a load of tomatoes I grew this year! I have been trying to lacto-ferment most of them because I love the taste but too many came in at once. I decided to dehydrate them and make tomato powder. That will be more useful and take up a lot less space, right?

I have an Excelsior Dehydrator and love the thing. I cut the tomatoes into wedges and used every other rack because the tomatoes are skin side down. They are going as I write this.

I still had a load of tomatoes so I filled up one of my 2 liter Pickl-It lacto fermenter jars with salsa and a smaller one with just tomato wedges. Lacto fermenting food is the easiest way to keep your probiotics in line. Well, maybe a pill is easier but it doesn't taste great.

The salsa is super easy to make. I use a food processor for most of the tomatoes and such.

Here's the recipe:

Lacto-Fermented Salsa

• Tomatoes (about 1.5 liters)

I wing the amount. I process what I think will be a little than I need then after it is in the fermenter I add wedges to fill to the shoulder of the jar. You may want to keep it about a half inch under the shoulder because the first day is really active!

• 1 Purple Onion
• 1 Yellow Bell Pepper
• 1 or 2 Jalapeno peppers
• 4 cloves of Garlic
• 1 bunch Cilantro
• zest and juice of 1/2 lemon or lime (I prefer lime).
• Optional ingredients are 1/2 tsp cumin and1/2 tsp oregano. I don't use these.
• 5 grams (1 tbls) good quality sea salt. I have been using pink himalayan salt but am currently trying plain old sea salt from the grocery.

Chop and mix the ingredients in a bowl then transfer to your fermenter. Place in a dark corner or cover with a towel and allow to sit at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. Shorter if it is warm, a little longer in colder climes. Stir it daily and taste it to see when it is ready. When you like the taste transfer the fermenter to the fridge for a few days to slow the ferment. Transfer salsa to clean jars and keep the in the fridge.

This is the best salsa I have ever eaten and I have eaten tons of it. I'm pretty sure this is how the original salsa was made.

I hope you enjoy and feel free to ask any questions. I'm pretty loosey goosey with recipes.