Recipe: How to Make Sundried Tomatoes in Oven or Dehydrator

Hi Jayne,

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 with your bumper crop!

Betsy

From: Denise Gluck (GLUCKD@NYUACF.BITNET)
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

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From bs28@bu.edu (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

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Date: Mon, 18 Jul 1994 16:26:13 -0500
From: Lyn Belisle (belisle@TENET.EDU)
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

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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
pjt1@scigen.co.uk

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USING A DEHYDRATOR

From dfritz@rocketmail.com
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.

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From Patty Perkins (Pperkins@cris.com)
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.

END OF FILE

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