Abstract: Tomatoes are dehydrated by selecting red, ripe tomatoes and washing the selected tomatoes with a biocide and then rinsing with fresh water. The rinsed fruit is cut into approximately cubical chunks and blanched by heating the chunks to a temperature at or below the boiling point of water for a period of less than 10 minutes to inactivate the enzymes contained in the tomato. The blanched tomatoes are cooled to room temperature and then pulped. After removing skin and seeds to form a tomato juice from the pulp chunks, the juice is evaporated under vacuum to form a paste-like concentrate having a solid content from abot 20% to about 35%. Air trapped in the concentrate is removed. The concentrate is then formed into pieces and dried until the moisture content of the pieces is between about 3% and about 4%.