Recipe: Homemade Sundried tomatoes

Dan, here is some information previously posted on The Recipe Link about making sun dried tomatoes at home. I hope this helps. And, have fun!

Title: Recipe: How to Make Sundried Tomatoes in Oven or Dehydrator
Posted By: Betsy at TKL
Date: 1997-09-02 03:31:48
Board: TKL Cooking Club



This is a popular topic right now. I went into
the Usenet newsgroups and pulled together
a few messages with good info on drying
tomatoes.

Have fun!

Betsy

From: Denise Gluck
()
Subject: RECIPE: sun-dried tomatoes

Rebakah asked how to make her own
sun-dried tomatoes. Here goes:
Start with perfect, ripe tomatoes- preferably
Roma, but cherry or even regular slicing
tomatoes will do in a pinch. Cut in half from
stem end to blossom end (for Roma or
cherry) or in 1/2" slices (for slicing toms).
Place, cut side down, on baking sheets
lined with parchment paper and sprayed
very lightly with Pam. Place in 200-degree
oven until dried, turning two or three time in
the process, which may take eight hours,
depending on juiciness of tomatoes. Store
in sterile jars in a cool place, as is or
covered with olive oil.

Denise Gluck

-----------------

From (Bethany Shorb)
Newsgroups rec.gardens

A great oven recipe for those of us without
dehydrators. a
very slow oven (lowest temp it'll go) for 12
hours with thickly sliced
tomatoes works wonderfully. it is time
consuming, but you can just do it and
forget about 'em for a while...but not TOO
long. ;)

they are especially good when put into
extra virgin olive oil afterwards!

-bethany

-----------------

Date: Mon, 18 Jul 1994 16:26:13 -0500
From: Lyn Belisle ()
Subject: Re: Sun-dried tomatoes

On Mon, 18 Jul 1994, Rebecca Ashmore
wrote:

It is so easy -- we do it all the time. We
pick Roma tomatoes, slice
them in half lengthwise, and salt them
lightly. Then we put them on one
of those "disoposable" pizza pans that you
can buy at most grocery
stores. They are made of aluminum and
have holes all over them.
We put them in a 150-175F oven and leave
them overnight. the next
morning, they should be leathery but not
crispy. Some I keep just as
they are, but I also pack some in olive oil
with garlic and rosemary.

Lyn

-----------------

Date: Tue, 19 Jul 1994 10:35:40 BST
From: Piers Thompson
Subject: Sun Dried Tomatoes

I have a quicker way to dry tomatoes than
those already posted. It is from
"Keep it Simple" by Alastair Little.

Take some ripe tomatoes (I use plum
tomatoes) and cut in half if small, quarters if
large. Using a small knife, remove the pips
and pulp so just the flesh is left. Oil a
baking tray with olive oil and place
tomatoes on it, cut side up. Sprinkle with a
little sugar and salt and drizzle over some
olive oil (omit all of these if you like). Bake
in a 120C (250F) oven until dried but still
soft (about 3 hours but depends on your
oven).

I think this method is quicker than the
others because the pulp is removed
before the tomatoes are dried and so there
is less moisture to evaporate. They
seem to have much more flavour than
shop-bought sun dried tomatoes.

Piers-----------------

USING A DEHYDRATOR

From
Newsgroups rec.gardens

I have found one secret to using a
dehydrator is to check the progress
of each tray periodically..on mine, the tray
nearest to the heat
source dries faster, while the top tray is still
real moist. I restack
the trays and/or take out the things that are
dried, leaving the
others to finish.

Also, don't load the trays too full..it makes
things dry unevenly and
make sure whatever you dry has been
sliced/cut into uniform thickness.
That makes a big difference.

I use a mandoline (sp) slicer to cut the
tomatoes, put one layer on
each tray and then check them every 6-8
hours. I also use the oven
method that was posted here recently and
find that works great
too..but again, you have to dry only one
"layer", per pan, at a time.

----------------

From Patty Perkins ()
Newsgroups rec.food.preserving

Since it is the 'season', and I did have a
couple of people
ask, here is the recipe from Cook's
Illustrated last fall that
followed their investigation on the best way
to dry
tomatoes in your oven. I didn't include the
whole article
here; just the final results. If someone want
to really read
the whole thing, let me know and I'll try to
type the whole
thing up.

One more note --- I think I initially
referenced that the idea
of using a melon-ball tool to remove the
seeds came from
the CI article. Now that I have dug this
article back out,
I musta picked up that particular idea
somewhere else.
My apologies, but it does work well.

PattyHOMEMADE OVEN-DRIED TOMATOES

Makes about 1 1/4 ounces dried tomatoes,
depending on
the degree to which the tomatoes are dried.

Because these tomatoes need at least
several hours in
the oven, dry as many as possible at one
time. Depending
on your oven size, you can multiply the
recipe, keeping in
mind that drying times may increase.

2 pounds of plum tomatoes, as uniform in
size as possible

Wash and dry each tomato. Halve and core
the tomato,
going doen two inches from the stem end to
release all of
the core and white pith.

Scoop out all of the seeds and gelatinous
matter with a
teaspoon; if any seeds remain, they will
prevent even
dehydration from taking place.

Prick each tomato half six to eight times
with the tip of
a sharp knife on the rounded, skin-covered
side.

Adjust oven racks to the middle and low
positions; heat
oven to 200 degrees. Line large tray or
cookie sheet
with aluminum

Place tomatoes, cut side down, on large
wire rack.
Set wire rack on middle oven rack and
foil-lined tray
on the lower rack. Dry, oven door closed,
until
desired texture is attained, 3-4 hours for
plump
tomatoes, 5-6 hours for leathery-textured
tomatoes,
and 7-8 hours for completely dehydrated
ones.
When dry and cool, place in airtight
containers.
(Completely dried tomatoes can be stored
at room
temperature up to 1 year, leathery-textured
ones can
be refrigerated up to 6 months, and plump
ones for
1-2 weeks.) If any off flavors or smells
develop in the
leathery or completely dried versions during
storage, it
may be due to mold or other bacteria; throw
away
the entire batch.

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