Finally my combined food Dehydrator and Smoker is ready for its test run.

The principle behind it is you place the food you want to smoke in the chest on the table which for the purposes of my public demonstration at the Enfield Food Festival in a few weeks time I have fitted with a Perspex door, so for this experiment I am smoking two different types of tomatoes. In the bottom of the top unit I then have a smoke cube filled with maple sawdust which gives a nice sweet smoke to give flavour. The second box on the floor contains a small charcoal fire and the heat is drawn up through the pipe by the fan on top of the upper box passing through the tomotoes and drying them out.

I am using Small cherry tomatoes which I am hoping will become smoke dried tomotoes, my version of sun dried tomotoes but with extra flavour. I then have larger brown tomotoes brought in France last week which I will dry until there crisp which I can then turn into smoked tomotoe powder. I am salivating already.

Its all been going for about an hour and the first signs are that its working but you never know. I anticipate it will take approx 6-8hours and as you can see by the hammock I am prepared to concentrate give this my undivided attention a without any thought to my own personal safety. It’s a tough job but someone had too do it.

Success. Smoke dried tomotoes…