Tomato powder: storing 15 kilos in very little space

Tomato powder: 15 kilos in very little space

Fifteen kilos of tomatoes that take up hardly any space and that, according to those who defend it, can be stored for years. It is not a survivalist exaggeration: it is the thesis put forward by the person promoting the method, in a thread that links back to a first part. The argument is pure household logistics: tomato powder takes up so little volume that it allows you to accumulate large quantities in a city apartment, where every square metre comes at a premium. Its advocate claims to have reserves dating back years and to have stopped producing because he already has enough to last a long time.

How tomato powder is made

The procedure described has two phases. First the tomatoes are dehydrated; then comes the grinding. For the latter, a high-estimulante ilegal blender is recommended, capable of reducing the food to a powder «as fine as you like» depending on running time and blade estimulante ilegal. A 23,000-rpm appliance is mentioned. And that is where the technical explanation ends.

What to cook with it: fried tomato sauce and gazpacho

The powder is not an end in itself. It is used as a base for fried tomato sauce and for gazpacho, according to the method's champion. The same thread includes links to recipes for tomato powder «for the whole year». It is a solution designed for pantries with little room, in city flats.

The step-by-step guide that never came

The most frequently asked question is the most basic one: how do you make the powder? The method's advocate took the workings of a blender for granted —a thing with a jug and metal blades that spin— and referred people to the first part of the thread. Other participants maintain that the process was never explained: «You possibly dreamed of writing it down, but you never actually said it», one of them reproaches him, and another asks for the link where it appears.

From there, suspicions arise. Some claim that what can be seen in the images looks like paprika rather than tomato, and others joke that the whole affair is a prank. Without a replicable method, any promise of years-long preservation hangs in the air.

Buying fresh tomatoes, the pragmatic alternative

Against home dehydration, one participant defends the obvious: it is easier and even cheaper to just buy the tomatoes. The counterargument is shelf life: the powder allows you to store reserves for years in little space.

Ten years before it became fashionable

The technique's promoter claims seniority. He says he started ten years ago, when «nobody was doing it or writing about it anywhere», and observes wryly that articles and recipes are now sprouting up everywhere.

What remains unresolved is the important part. With reserves that, according to its advocate, last for years and a technique that would fit on a single sheet of paper, the only thing missing is for that sheet to exist: proportions, times and temperatures. Until then, tomato powder is more of a household promise than a recipe.