Tomato Dust is powdered gold! You can add a pinch to soups and sauces to give it an extra tomatoey-zing, yet it also thickens because it is essentially a powered tomato paste. Add it to a spice mixture for a dry-rub marinade on meats, or use it as a seasoning to sprinkle over sautéed veggies. Obviously, you need a little jar of this in your spice cabinet! You can’t buy it, though, you have to make it yourself… which is always how it goes with the best stuff.
Tomato Dust
The next time you are working on a batch of tomatoes to sauce or can, save the skins! Peel the tomatoes by dunking them in boiling water, then quickly cool them with cold water, and the skins will just slide right off. Here are more detailed instructions.
The skins are coated with all that wonderful pulpy-goodness!
Preheat your oven to 185F, then arrange the skins on a cookie sheet.
Bake for a few hours, until completely dehydrated. Depending on the variety, it could take 2-4 hours.
Let them cool, then lift off with a spatula.
Use a blender to grind the tomato skins into a fine dust, and that’s it!
I’ve also made tomato dust from dehydrated cherry tomatoes, which is a little sweeter, but they take longer to dry.
Store the tomato dust in an airtight container in a cool, dark corner of your kitchen. Enjoy!
