A garden in August produces more tomatoes than anyone can eat. Freeze-drying slices or halved cherry tomatoes turns them into light, sweet-tart crisps, and grinding those into powder is a space-saving way to store sauce: a few spoons plus water makes tomato paste.
Tomatoes are about 95% water. Ten pounds of fresh tomatoes give roughly half a pound of finished slices. The yield planner shows how many trays a harvest will take.
Prep and loading
- Wash and core. Slice ¼ inch thick, or halve cherry tomatoes and set them cut side up.
- Lay on a lined tray; tomatoes release a lot of juice.
- Pre-freeze if possible.
- Season with salt or Italian herbs before loading if you want snack chips.
How to tell it’s done
- Slices are papery and snap; cherry tomato halves are hollow.
Not sure? The weight check compares two weighings and the expected dry weight for tomatoes.
Problems and fixes
Powder clumped in the jar
Tomato powder pulls moisture fast. Store in small jars with an absorber or a food-safe desiccant.
Rehydrating and storing
Rehydrate: Grind to powder; mix with water for paste or sauce. By weight, 100 g of dried tomatoes takes back about 1840 g of water to return to fresh weight; the rehydration calculator does any amount.
Store: Slices in mylar or jars; powder in small jars, all with oxygen absorbers.
Ways to use it
- Tomato powder for paste and sauce
- Snack chips
- Soups and chili
- Seasoning blends
How much fits per batch
At a normal single layer, tomatoes load at roughly 2.2 lb of fresh food per square foot of tray. That works out to:
| Machine | Fresh per batch | Dried per batch |
|---|---|---|
| Harvest Right Countertop 360 | 5.5 lb | 4.5 oz |
| Harvest Right Small | 6.6 lb | 5.5 oz |
| Harvest Right Medium | 10.3 lb | 8.5 oz |
| Harvest Right Large | 16.9 lb | 13.9 oz |
| Harvest Right X-Large | 34.4 lb | 1.77 lb |
Sources
- USDA FoodData Central: tomatoes, red, ripe, raw (water content)
- Utah State University Extension: Can I Freeze-Dry That? (2026)
- Penn State Extension: Let’s Preserve: Freeze-Drying
- National Center for Home Food Preservation: freezing (blanching times)
- Iowa State University Extension AnswerLine: Preserving by home freeze drying
Water content rounded from USDA FoodData Central (tomatoes, red, ripe, raw). Cycle times are typical ranges at default settings; thickness, load and your room change them. How we put these together.