john_Show_me, Even in the fridge, I have had my raisinlike cherry toms develop mould. Only the occasional batch, but it made me SO sad to lose such yumminess, even occasionally, that I store all my dried toms in the freezer now. You could try conditioning the toms --- put in a sealed jar and see if there is any condensation --- and if there is any, then I wd recommend a Ziploc and the freezer. (I find it easier to just put 'em in the freezer than to bother checking.) The great thing with using cherry toms is that they are so small that they thaw out in no time. I pop them still frozen into hot pasta, or let them sit out for 15 minutes before adding to salads, or give them 15 seconds on half power in the microwave and then just EAT THEM, especially those sweetie sungolds... mmmm... just had my first few ripe ones the past few days.... Good luck, Z

Last year I powdered some of my dehydrated tomatoes in a spice grinder under they were completely powdered, then stored them in vacuum sealed containers. Now, when a recipe calls for tomato paste, I put equal parts water and tomato powder in a small dish, and it's instant tomato paste. It sounds like you have a large quantity, so powdering in a small spice grinder could be tedious. I'm no expert, but once something is completely dehydrated, I think the shelf life is pretty long and they should be OK, especially since you dehydrated them to the point of no return :)

I found some really heavy Roma tomaotes at the Farmers' Market to try this recipe. I sliced the tomatoes into 1/4" rings. I even behaved myself and only used cheap-ish Merlot to soak the tomato rings. I dried copious amounts of basil, parsley and oregano -- herbs dry here overnight on the counter. After soaking I found that the skins were literally peeling off the rings... so I took them off. After drying in the dehydrator I had rings that weren't much more than a circle of string.... no body at all. I was soooo disappointed! The herbs were fine, so I tossed them into my mixed herb pot for future reference. So, what should I do next time so I have a more traditional dried tomato?

plllog- It sounds like you are describing freeze-dried food, which unfortunately, CAN'T be duplicated in a dehydrator. Freeze-drying is a commercial technique that forms a vacuum while the food is freezing. Stored properly, freeze-dried food has a much longer shelf-life than home-dehydrated, and freeze-dried foods are much higher in nutrients than those made at home, and freeze-dried foods rehydrate in a fraction of the time as home-dried foods. I store and use both home-dehydrated and freeze-dried. jennieboyer, Home\-dehydrated foods need to be used fairly quickly because they don't have any preservatives, and the nutrients degrade quickly \- even if they still "look" fine, and may even taste fine, after years on your shelves. Recommended storage times for home\-dried foods range from 4\-months to one year because the quality is affected by oxygen, temperature, and light. Most dried fruits can be stored for one year at 60\-degrees F, or six months at 80\-degrees F. (room temperature is considered 70\-degrees F.). The cooler the storage temperature, the longer the shelf\-life, and this is true for all stored foods. For each 10\-degrees above room temperature (70\-degrees F) the faster food degrades (nutrients are lost, color and texture may change). Because home\-dehydrated vegetables don't have as much natural (or added) sugar as fruit does, vegetables have about half the shelf\-life of fruits. I consider home\-dehydrated foods pantry foods which need to be rotated and used quickly. Unless you are 100% sure a home\-dehydrated food has 10% moisture or less, don't vacuum\-seal it because if any bacteria is present, it could potentially grow into a toxin \- even in the oxygen\-free container. In order to know the amount of moisture, you have to weigh the food before and after dehydrating. For more specific information on the subject, I suggest getting the book "How To Dry Foods" by Deanna DeLong. You can often find this book at the library and used book stores. As a general rule fruits dried at home normally have about 80% of their moisture removed and vegetables \- 90%. Only a small percentage of foods dehydrated are done until they are crispy dry. I do crispy apples for snacks (which store longer), and leathery apples for cooking/baking, which get used quickly. In my case, unless the dehydrated food is being used, they are stored in a dark, cool, food storage room in the basement. I always try to store enough apple slices for a year, but that's the only item I plan on doing that. Even foods that seem bone dry can still have some moisture in it. Each time you open a container of dehydrated foods, it will reabsorb moisture from the air, so make sure you don't leave the lid off a container any longer than needed, and use more small containers (pint and quart jars). The same problem of reabsorption occurs after the dehydrated food is done drying. Once the food is dry, allow it to come to room temperature, then place it in a container/s and be sure to condition it (an important step many people skip and find they have moldy food) before placing it in storage. If you pack warm food into a jar, moisture will continue to be expelled from the warm food and can be trapped in the jar, causing the food to mold. I would avoid using a timed dehydrator because it is possible for the food to sit for a long period of time after the timer has gone off, and it will most certainly have reabsorbed a lot of moisture, especially in a place where there is high humidity. I typically don't store home\-dried foods in large batches \- especially potatoes which are notorious for molding. Crispy apples destined for snacking I place in a snack\-size zip\-lock bag, then place the bags of apple slices in a quart jar. This way each time the jar is opened there is less chance any of the apple slices will reabsorb moisture from the air. There is an alternative method called dehydrofreezing where only about 70% of the moisture is removed, however, these foods MUST be stored in the freezer to prevent microbial growth. There are some advantages to dehydrofreezing \- the food has better flavor and color than traditional drying, and they reconstitute in about half the time it takes for traditionally dried foods. They also take up less space in the freezer than fresh\-frozen food. If you don't have plastic fruit leather sheets you can use plastic wrap to cover the trays, or you could try a produce bag with some cutting required to make it cover the round trays (both will require some over\-lapping). Caution \-\-\- do NOT place the food on the printed side of the bags because the ink is NOT food\-grade. I will also bet once you use a plastic bag or plastic wrap for this process, you will find the stiff plastic fruit leather sheets much easier to use and well worth the money. \-Grainlady