Sun Dried tomatoes….or tiny concentrated flavor bombs as I like to call them are a family favourite!
They can be used as fillings in sandwiches, cooked with pastas, tossed in salads or as toppings for pizzas. You can even make tomato pesto and serve along side your fav crackers.
In short possibilities are absolutely endless!
Making your own sun-dried tomatoes…has been on my to-do list for a long time. So this sumner, when my tomato produce was ready, I decided to finally give it a go!
Making sun-dried tomatoes involves..
Deciding the type of tomato you want to use…I used the 2 types I’m growing in my kitchen garden this year, large cherry tomato and an heirloom Indian variety called shorba tomato.
Cleaning and slicing them according to their size and end use.
If you are fussy about the seeds, you can remove them using a spoon.
We tried both with and without seeds…and felt that the effort was not worth our while!
Placing them on parchment paper/dehydrator sheets with the skin side down
Setting them to dry in the sun.
Or you can dry them in a dehydrator or oven too, by gently baking them at 140F.
If you like you can also sprinkle the tomatoes with salt, pepper and herbs while they are drying. Though, I prefer to season them after drying.
I have found that its a good idea to flip the tomatoes midway…
as this results in even drying.
The drying process is long and tedious and is bound to test your patience. Since I have a multi-tray dehydrator… the process becomes somewhat easier.
I like to dry the tomatoes till they become somewhat leathery but not crispy dry.
Once ready you can enjoy them….
As a healthy snack, that is so delicious that it can get addictive!
Or pack them in good quality extra virgin olive oil.
Either way these dried tomatoes are absolute flavor bombs that are worth every bit of trouble that they incur!
By packing dry tomatoes in olive oil, we can extend their life to many months.
The process I followed was…
Take an air tight glass container, and place layers of sun-dried tomatoes inside….drizzling extea virgin olive oil generously between layers.
Also sprinkle salt, pepper, dried oregano in between layers.
If you like you can also add sprigs of rosemary in between.
Make sure that the oil comes right up to the top of the container….or the tomatoes might spoil!
Pack tomatoes tightly, so that they absorb the flavors of the oil, herbs in spices better.
Lastly make a big big batch…as I found, to make one small bottle, I used 5 trays, almost 5 kgs of raw tomatoes!!
