How to Smoke Tomatoes

I know what you’re thinking, “enough with the tomatoes already.”
Believe it or not, it’s December but I still go out every day and pick tomatoes off the vine and eat them. They still taste great.

The skins of my tomatoes started to crack as the weather turned cold and the days became shorter. So I stopped watering them about four weeks ago—and they stopped cracking. I learned this trick from my brandywines.

We had an abundance of large cherry tomatoes. I didn’t feel like making a sauce with all these little tomatoes so my husband and I decided to do what we used to do every year at our old house—smoke them. I know what you’re thinking now: Aren’t they hard to keep lit?

Smoked tomatoes are delicious, but very labor intensive. Trust me though, they are worth it. It’s easy for me to say this because usually my husband does the labor. I just supply the tomatoes.

First, the best tomatoes to used for smoked tomatoes are large sweet cherry tomatoes, about the size of walnuts.

You harvest them when they are at their peak of ripeness.

Rinse them and cut them in half.

You then slide 14 or 15 halves onto a bamboo skewer.

You then place them on the racks of your smoker.

You then add a couple of pans of apple chips (we have an apple tree) to the smoker and set them in that good smoke for a couple of hours.

Carefully remove the tomatoes from the skewers and lay them on the rack of a food dehydrator for 12-24 hours.

After they are dry, place them in mason jars and store at room temperature.

They are great in sauces, on pizzas, in cream cheese spreads, or just plain.

They are packed with sweet smoky goodness, and you can’t buy them in stores.

Comments

[Yolanda Elizabet]

Mmmmmmmmmm, that sounds delicious, unfortunately I don't have a smoker. I dry my tomatoes in the oven and then preserve them in olive oil with lots of herbs and garlic. That's very yummy too!

[Annie in Austin]

Oh, Chigiy -those look good - but having an oversupply of tomatoes here would be a miracle. A couple of years ago we bought some smoked tomatoes from an Austin organic farm. They only sell them at their farmstand.
http://www.boggycreekfarm.com/

What a great way to enjoy them all year!

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

[Aiyana]

These do look good! Have you ever tried to do sun dried tomatoes?
Aiyana

[chigiy]

Yolanda,
Your dried tomatoes sound delicious.
The good thing about smoked tomatoes is you don't have to worry about preserving them in anything. The smoke is a great preservative.

Annie,
Thank you for the link.

Aiyana,
I have dried tomatoes in the dehydrator but not in the sun. I have dried apricots in the sun before.

[Carol]

"Aren't they hard to keep lit?" That's a classic!

They look good, very good.

Carol, May Dreams Gardens

[chigiy]

Carol,
They are yummy, and hard to keep lit.

[Genie]

This sounds incredible, Chigiy. I don't have a smoker, but honestly, I would consider getting one just for this purpose.

And can I just mention how jealous I am that you're still harvesting tomatoes? Because I am extremely jealous. Really.

:-)

[judi leaming]

Blue Mesa restaurant in Austin, TX smokes the tomatoes and then uses them to make incredible salsa!