David Lohrentz
TVWBB Pro
I wanted to experiment to see how much smoke and what type of smoke would be optimum for smoke-drying tomatoes. I set up both the kettle and WSM for cold smoking, applied apple smoke to one and pecan to the other. I put tomatoes cut in half with a little salt and pepper on the top rack. I pulled some tomatoes off at 30 minute intervals and then finished them in the food dryer. The longest smoke application I tested was 150 minutes.
The winner was the apple smoke at 90 minutes. It had a nice smoke flavor that was not overwhelming. Pecan also had a nice smoke flavor at 60 minutes, but started to get a little bitter at 90 minutes and was more pronounced after that. Apple was a little more forgiving as it went past the ideal application point.
By the way, if you intend to finish smoke dried tomatoes in a dehydrator, you will want to have your food dryer outside, unless you want your whole house to smell like smoke.
The winner was the apple smoke at 90 minutes. It had a nice smoke flavor that was not overwhelming. Pecan also had a nice smoke flavor at 60 minutes, but started to get a little bitter at 90 minutes and was more pronounced after that. Apple was a little more forgiving as it went past the ideal application point.
By the way, if you intend to finish smoke dried tomatoes in a dehydrator, you will want to have your food dryer outside, unless you want your whole house to smell like smoke.
