Dehydrating123: How To Make Tomato Sauce Powder
Tomato sauce powder is a great base for many backpacking dishes as pasta, pizza, bread, and stews. It’s adding more colour and enriches the flavour of meals. Can be also used as a thickener for soups and stews.
How to make tomato sauce powder
Buy a jar of good tomato sauce from grocery shop or make your own from scratch. There is my favorite tomato sauce recipe. This homemade sauce is delicious and super-easy to do.
You’ll need:
1 tsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1 can (800g/280z) diced tomatoes
Salt
Sugar
Pepper, freshly ground
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried marjoram
Method:
Step 1
Heat the olive oil in a saucepan; add onions and garlic. Sauté for about 5 minutes until softened.
Step 2
Add the tomatoes and bring to the boil. Season to taste with salt, sugar and freshly ground pepper. Add dried herbs and mix well. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Step 3
Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
Step 4
Spread sauce on the dehydrator trays, covered with non-stick sheets or parchment paper.
Dry at 125F/52C for 8-10 hours until brittle.
Step 5
Brake down tomato sauce bark into small chunks; then grind them in a coffee grinder or food processor into a powder.
Store tomato sauce powder in an airtight container in a cool, dark place.
To rehydrate sauce, use 1 part of tomato sauce to 2-3 parts water.
There are some recipes for dehydrated backpacking meals where tomato sauce powder has been used:
Pasta Marinara
Tomato Seafood Chowder
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Has anyone ever freeze dried canned tomato sauce? I was thinking of trying it with a #10 can of sauce.
how much does this make? I need to have 3/4 cup.
Usually sauces loose about 80% or more of their weight. So you can calculate how much you should take in order to get 3/4 cup
Could I just dehydrate all the ingredients separately and then powder them and mix the powders together or do I have to cook the sauce first? Have you ever tried that or seen a recipe that did it that way?
Yes, you can.
Just a general newbie question: if a general rule is not to dehydrate food with oils and fat, would it be better to cook it without the olive oil, or does it not matter in this case? Thank you!
If you plan to stock your food or keep for a longer period, avoid to add any oil or fat during cooking.
How long is the powder good for?
Depends on storage conditions ( up to 1 yest of was properly dried? vacuum-sealed and stored in freezer). I usually use mine in 3 month period.
What is a good ratio of sauce powder to spaghetti?
2-4 tablespoons of tomato powder to each portion of spaghetti.