Curses! My cases of tomato paste and sauce are going to have to go into my meal plans quickly then.
Thanks!
Edit: smoking is a good way to preserve meats as well. In my youth my father cold smoked salmon that had been soaked in a slurry of brown sugar and rock salt for ~3 days over alder until it became hard as a rock and translucent. In this way it would keep on a shelf at room temperature for ~6 months. If it got a skin of mold on it, you could just shave that off with a knife, like cheese. At least, in my poverty stricken neck of the woods we would.
You couldn't chew it, because it was indeed rock hard, but you could stuff a flake or so in your cheek and suck on it, which would eventually moisten it until you could, and the whole time you'd enjoy the delicious flavor. The natives called it Squaw Candy, and I can see why, because soaking it in a sugar slurry for days really made it sweet, the salt gave it electrolytic restorative properties, and the alder smoke just makes salmon delicious.
The sugar and salt also act as preservatives. Smoke houses were ubiquitous on homesteads back in the day for these reasons, since people didn't have refrigerators. The miasma of smoke keeps bugs away, so a smoldering fire of fragrant fruitwood or species like alder not only add flavor and carcinogens, but preserve food in the absence of refrigeration.
Sorry, I found out the hard way myself. You might dump the tomatoes into a jar, and pressure can them, but eating them is a good idea too!
I plan a smoke house, but I need to get out there first. Also tomatoes don't smoke well, LOL!
I have both sugar and salt in bulk for preservation use, already at the
homestead. We don't have salmon, but Lake Keystone has a lot of Big fish in it....
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Upon reflection, I think smoked tomatoes sounds like a delicious addition to novel recipes. You may be on to something there!
Could Make an unusual pizza I guess. It would be ake the right recipe for certain.
I wonder if tomatoes would make a good fruit roll up....
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