It happened while we were in the throes of canning the first tomatoes of the season. That part won’t surprise anyone who has ever had a completely kickass idea at the most inopportune time possible much like the funny quip you know you’re doomed to forget because you can’t find a pen.
We looked at the compost bowl full of tomato skins that had just been liberated from their innards and wondered aloud if there was a way to make them useful rather than just tossing them into the compost tumbler.
That’s when the wheels started turning and an idea was born. We were going to turn tomato peels into tomato paste!
The idea isn’t as crazy as you might think, but because genius is oft misunderstood, I ask only that you read on to see just how amazing it really is.
We started with a bowl full of tomato peels (see photo above) that had just been removed after a 60 second dunk in boiling water.
HINT: If you are canning tomatoes, use a sharp knife to cut an X through the skin on the base of the tomato. The skin will slide right off after blanching.
Then we placed the peels skin side down evenly on the trays of a dehydrator, turned it on and let the magic happen until the skins were completely dry.
The dried tomato skins take on a beautiful hue that reminded me of the tissue paper flowers I made in grade school. They are beautiful and quite fragile.
Thankfully I had no intention of keeping them intact so I peeled them away from the trays and collected the dehydrated tomato peel in a container to prepare for the next step in the process. What’s the next step, you ask? Don’t get ahead of me, I’m trying to tell a story here.
When I crumbled the dried peels, they started to resemble fish food flakes which doesn’t really mean anything other than I thought it was pretty cool. Don’t judge me.
When all of the tomato peels were collected from the dehydrator they were ready for the final stage of this journey in which I pulverized them into an aromatic and colorful powder using the trusty Magic Bullet. I could have used my beloved Vita-Mix, but there wasn’t enough to warrant getting out such a large piece of equipment.
A quick whirr in the Bullet was all it took to transform these tomato peels into something that you wouldn’t recognize at all.
From the looks of things, this experimental idea is going to do what we had hoped, but there is only one way to be absolutely sure. I measured out a teaspoon of my tomato powder into a ramekin and added an equal amount of water. When I stirred the mixture together well, I was left with exactly what I’d thought I would have.
Now I have a secret weapon in my cupboard. I can make tomato paste on the fly in any amount I need without having to open a can that I might not be able to use all of. We have used the entire tomato and created something useful and money-saving in the process. For those curious about the flavor, it tastes exactly like tomato paste and because it is dehydrated, it is completely shelf stable.
In the future we plan to use the idea to make seasoning mixes as well. We will follow the same process stopping short of creating a powder. By leaving the dried tomato in tiny flakes we can then mix them with sea salt, basil, dehydrated onion, garlic, and a host of other goodies to create one of a kind flavor mixes that will be ready in a shake.
{ 30 comments… read them below or add one }
Definitely a great idea! Will be trying this here once my tomatoes ripen enough to do some canning!
Brilliant idea! Thanks for sharing. :)
I hate wasting food and love your idea. All I have to do now is grow the tomatoes …. Can’t you can them with skins and then eat them?
well worth trying I love it when you have no waste thank you for the detailed post I’m going to give it a try
Yes, you can can (get it? I made a funny.). You can leave the skins on the tomatoes and can them but many people have an aversion to the texture of the peels.
Thanks, Annie! I look forward to your feedback when you have the chance to try this out. One of these days we’re going to get together and try some of these ideas out together!
Thanks for reading, Sharon.
Glad to hear it, Ellen. Please let us know how it works out for you!
A brilliant use for all these tomato skins..thanks!
What a smart idea!
Amazingly innovative. I plan to try this when I make sauce this week. Thanks for the post!
Hi mate. That is a good idea. I’ll definitely keep this in mind for the day I get a dehydrator.
If you *do* open a can of tomato paste and can’t use all of it, divide the rest into portions on wax paper and freeze them. Once they’re solid, cut the wax paper, wrap them up and put them in a plastic bag or container. The next time you need only a little bit of tomato paste, grab one of the frozen blobs and you’re in business without wasting another can.
Brilliant Idea! I love that it won’t have that “canned” taste.
While I don’t really consider feeding the chickens or compost “waste” exactly, this is a way cooler use than feeding the skins to creatures that would just as soon poop on it anyway (TOTALLY unappreciative creatures sometimes, those hens).
I agree! I can’t wait til we have chickens again. I miss them!
Hi Michael-
I was making my grandmother’s recipe for ketchup yesterday. I remembered this post, and put the skins-WITH THE SEEDS-into my dehydrator. Now I am wondering if I should have included the seeds…what is your opinion on this?
I just did a batch through the food mill and dehydrated the whole lot, skins and seeds and it worked just as well.
That is good to know, thank you! I am anxious to hear what you use this powder for (eventually) and how well it works…recipes? I am going to sprinkle it into anything I can, to get some extra nutrients into my teens. Reading through your post (I am judging you here) your remarks about the hue and properties of your dried skins are a sign of a creative and artistic soul, and I for one, enjoy reading them. :)
OMG, you are amazing. I too was wondering if there was anything else left in the skins. I hated to throw out that much. I canned a lot this last season and now i will have a way to preserve it all !!!! thank you so much
I am definitely going to try this, but I was wondering, I use a squeegie to make my tomato sauce, it separates the peel and the seeds, do you think I could use the use the seeds and the skin and dehydrate it? I’m thinking the seeds would grind up too? Just wondering if you or any of your followers have tried doing it that way?
I don’t see why not!
Yes you are a genius. Can’t wait to try. Thanks for the idea.
Thanks for posting this. I just canned 120 lbs of tomatoes with my mom and a few rugrats~ into stewed, chili sauce, and V6 juice. Gonna do another 2 bushels tomorrow plus zucchini. My mom and wife- looked at me like i’m crazy cuz i said – we can do something with these {skins} (besides feeding them to the 4 hens, since they already got a few pounds of yukkitoms), so i came and looked it up. I spread the skins out over 3 cookie sheets, a pizazz pan, and toaster oven pan. Sprinkled some Italian seasoning, garlic salt, pepper, and salt – and stuck it in the oven at 170, with the door propped open about 4 inches. When i wake up in the morning, it will be nice and dry- like fish flakes, i hope! So then i get to do the rest, plus some zucchini as well. The plants that are still green just got covered tonight because we’re getting a 29 ` freeze tonight here in SE SD. So thanks for the recipe and photos, will hopefully get about 5 qts or so of dried powder to enjoy with stewed tomatoes and halved/skinned jars. Appreciate the recipe- can’t wait to pour some over a cube steak and rice. Happy harvest!
Your site is very A-peeling to me … Your invention is Ah…maz…zing!
I love it that you are so innovative. And Thank You for bringing it out into the light of day.
Brilliant!! Thanks for the share!
brilliant !!
Great idea! I’d love to try this and make ketchup from it since ketchup from fresh tomatoes is such a laborious procedure, reducing and reducing to get it thick enough. Do you think the texture would work in ketchup?
I don’t think it would work well. The texture would not be very close to what most of us know as ketchup. That said, you never know…I just might try it!
Fantastic tip! We do a lot of tomato canning during the summer, and this will be very useful to us. Thanks!