Gracie’s Garden: Growing Sun - Dried Tomatoes and more!

This is the brainchild of Jimmy, who is not here today. Do you like your little AI song there, Gracie? I have a lot of feelings about AI, but I love that Jimmy made it. Oh, he's so funny. He does that. He'll just cook up this little deal here with music, and he's been doing it. But yes, I like this song. I like this song. So we are on Fridays going to try to, and we talk. gardens with you because that's your really you're an expert in this area far from yes i appreciate i'm going to call you the expert because you're certainly more of an expert than me uh we have this segment now on friday 635 that we're going to talk to you after your new segment about gardening and so i threw it out to you and i said what should we talk about today and today you're you're talking tomatoes because is the is it peaking right now Right now it is peak tomato time in Minnesota, but mid-August is when it really ramps up. So I don't know about you, but we have a lot of tomatoes coming in from the garden. I've seen a lot of Facebook posts from friends, too, about trying out some of their heirlooms that have finally kind of come to fruition. And it's definitely that time. My sweet 100 plants are taller than I am. So I've got a new trellis arriving tomorrow. I'm going to stake those up and really get them supported to finish out the season. Okay. So when you look at, we've grown vegetables in the... past and sometimes they come in so fast. Yes, you think, what am I going to do with all this? You start giving it away. What goes through your mind about some of the things that you do? I know making sauces, but what are some of the things you do? One of the things I really want to try this year is sundried tomatoes. I love sundried tomatoes. We were talking about that off air. You do too. And they're just such a wonderful way to preserve that taste of summer all year long. Sauce is great. That's one thing, making your own concentrate. But I don't have romas this year, which are great for tomato paste. So. kind of figured, even with cherry tomatoes and some smaller ones, you can make sundry tomatoes. And you can choose to keep those out dry or you can put them in oil. So I think that that might be the route. But I'm curious if other people have tried that too. It's a first for me. I might try doing half in a dehydrator and half actually out in the sun. But we're going to have to see. And I think the nice sea salt is going to be employed with this one. We'd love to engage you if you're interested in telling us about if you're doing sundried tomatoes, 651, 460. So, okay, just stupid me here. Basic information with sun dried tomatoes. So you take the tomato and what is the process then? Describe it to me. I think you take tomato, cut and slice and kind of salt them generously to help because salt obviously is also a drying agent in addition to adding flavor. And I think you can literally set them out in something. In the sun? Seriously. You can do them, I think, in an oven or you can do them in a dehydrator. So I'm thinking of trying the true sun dried method and a dehydrator and kind of seeing what works. But ultimately, I probably will pack them in oil. I think that's my plan, an olive oil. Well, how do you do that? How long do you have to leave it out in the sun? Because the critters are going to get it. Well, that's my question, too, is I don't know how long. And I'm a little afraid of mold or something like that, too. So I'm kind of curious. It's definitely going to be an experiment. But that's the fun, right? Gardening is an experiment. Cooking is science. It's all kind of fun. Yeah, I like your attitude toward that. But the sundried tomato thing, to actually have fresh sundried tomatoes. I love it in oil. And you just can add it to anything like an omelet or whatever.

And it's really delicious. It's really delicious. It's just a little delicious flavor punch. And nothing will taste better in the winter than that. Well, and here's the deal. You fabulous gardeners who grow these wonderful tomatoes, I am so spoiled when I go out now. And if like a sandwich or something says it has a tomato on it, I say absolutely not because I just assume they're not going to have the fresh. kind of tomatoes, the good tomatoes that you grow in a garden. And it's just not as good. Some of the tomatoes, sometimes you can find them at the grocery store that are as good, but sometimes they just are just void of any real good flavor, like the ones you all have in your gardens. Well, and when they're pink or they're kind of white, it's just sad. It's just sad. I don't want a flimsy little thing on my meal. I would like a real robust tomato. And gosh, I am so beautifully envious of those people who have these amazing heirloom tomatoes, especially... Farmers Market seeing those, just the different colors, the different shapes and sizes. They're just beautiful. That's good. Oh, my gosh. Now, now here's, oh, here's a question for you. Okay, this is the weirdest thing. So, BLT, this is BLT season because of the tomatoes. Do you, this is something that people do? And my husband used to do this. Dip your BLT and ketchup. God, no. Oh, my God. But you can make a belt, which is a, what is it? With an egg. It's a belt. Big an egg, lettuce, tomato. And honestly, if I'm doing a BLT, I would rather use like arugula than lettuce. Yeah, a little more flavor with you. I would agree with you there for sure. But are you, why are people dipping BLTs and ketchup? I don't know, but I don't like that idea. I don't, that makes me uncomfortable. It's just like, seriously? I think ketchup is a little overused. Oh. It's just a tad. This texture says my tomato plants are producing nicely. My bean plants never got beans. Did they not pollinate? Okay. My beans failed too. Yeah. It's good. Well, hey, keep a comment if you have suggestions of topics on Fridays for Gracie to tackle. I know she says she's not an expert, but she loves this. That's what I love tapping into people who have interests in this area. And I hope to learn a lot from you, Gracie. Yeah. And I'd love to learn more too from folks as well. So let's do it. Okay. Sounds good. Gracie's garden. And she has. a song for goodness sake i mean jimmy jimmy got her a song so we got to go we got to do the darn thing exactly