How to make sundried tomatoes at home

Sun-dried tomatoes, if you are not already familiar with them, can revolutionize your mind and become one of your favorite dishes for the coming years. Usually, acquaintance with them begins with the purchase of a small jar in the store and, like any industrial product, they cannot be compared with a home-made delicacy. And don’t let the complexity scare you: making a dried appetizer is not at all that difficult, and in every home, as a rule, there are certain devices that can be used in this culinary process.

Introducing Italian Cuisine: Dried Tomatoes

Among the many preparations for the winter, this one enjoys unlimited popularity, primarily because it combines the rich taste of fragrant ripe tomatoes and oil infused with herbs. In addition, if the proper temperature regime is observed, vegetables retain not only the palette of taste sensations of summer, but also a set of useful elements contained in fresh fruits. And few people need to explain how important this is for the autumn-winter-spring period.

Although in Our Country this dish has fallen in love under the name “dried tomatoes”, in essence the fruits are rather dried, and therefore they can be stored, like most dried fruits (dry vegetables), in hermetically sealed containers or even paper bags. Oil pouring is just one of the common ways to prepare them for the winter, and in terms of taste, a specific dish is obtained as a result.

What to eat with and where you can add sun-dried tomatoes

The list of dishes in the manufacture of which you can use sun-dried tomatoes is inexhaustible.

• They are good in the form of additives to both meat and fish and vegetable dishes. Traditionally, pasta (pasta) and pizza are cooked with them.
• A variety of salads with the addition of sun-dried tomatoes are very tasty, especially if arugula is also present there.
• They are also good to mix into the dough when baking bread and focaccia – traditional Italian flatbread.
• Finally, sun-dried tomatoes are very tasty both simply as a snack and as a component of sandwiches with cheese, ham and herbs.

What varieties of tomatoes can be used for drying

You can use almost any variety of tomato for drying, just keep in mind that large and juicy fruits dry for a longer time. Therefore, it is rational to dry or dry dense fleshy tomatoes of small and medium sizes.

Usually, tomatoes such as cream or hollow varieties are used for these purposes. In the Mediterranean countries, where these recipes come from, San Marzano and Prince Borghese varieties are most often used.

Many varieties will not yield to Italian ones in taste, but they will have time to ripen in our cool climate. If you want to grow tomatoes suitable for drying, when buying seeds, take into account the following characteristics of the fruit:

• high content of solids and sugars;
• density;
• meatiness.

As an example of varieties ideal for drying, the following plum-shaped or pepper-shaped ones can be given:

• De Barao (black varieties are especially tasty);
• Scarlet Mustang;
• Moscow delicacy;
• peppery;
• Italian spaghetti;
• Bell;
• Roma;
• Kaspar F1;
• Shuttle;
• Khokhloma;
• Uncle Stepa;
• Chio-chio-san;
• Octopus Cream;
• Slavic woman.

Good as dried and orange-yellow varieties of tomatoes:

• Barrel of honey;
• Minusinsk glasses;
• Truffles are colorful.

They have a high sugar content, their taste is a bit like melon.

The so-called hollow varieties of tomatoes, which are traditionally used for stuffing, are also great for drying-drying:

• Philistine stuffing;
• Fig pink;
• Wood;
• Illusion;
• Sierra Leone;
• Yellow Stuffer (yellow hollow);
• Striped Stuffer (striped hollow);
• Bulgaria (Crown);
• Yellow Bell Pepper (yellow bell pepper).

List of Required Ingredients

The first and main thing you need for drying is the tomatoes themselves. They should be fully ripe, but not overripe, dense. To calculate the amount of fruit needed for cooking, keep in mind that they lose a lot in volume and mass. So, from 15-20 kg of fresh tomatoes you will get only 1-2 kg of dried (dry) fruits.

You will need more salt to cook sun-dried tomatoes. It is necessary to remove excess liquid from the fruit before and during drying. Be sure to use it when naturally drying tomatoes in the sun. In other cases, it is added as desired.

To soften the acidity of tomatoes that do not gain real sweetness in our northern latitudes, sugar is used; brown will give the tomatoes a spicy flavor.

When drying tomatoes, they most often take a traditional set of herbs from Italian cuisine:

• thyme,
• oregano
• rosemary,
• marjoram,
• basil,
• skillful.

You can also use any other aromatic herbs and spices of your choice:

• celery,
• coriander,
• stare,
• cardamom,
• black pepper and chili
• ginger,
• barbarys,
• caraway,
• hops-suneli,
• garlic.

If you are using dry spices, they can be ground into a powder, mixed with salt, and used to sprinkle tomatoes before drying. When using fresh spices, they must first be poured with vegetable oil, insisted in it, and only then mixed with tomatoes.

It is best to choose refined oil, preferably olive oil. However, high-quality sunflower, corn, or grape seed are also suitable.

The main thing, perhaps, is to choose a method for drying tomatoes. Drying itself can take place both in the open air, in the sun (the cheapest, but also the longest process), and with the help of a variety of kitchen appliances: ovens, electric dryers, microwave ovens, convection ovens, multicookers. Usually choose the unit that is available. Features of the manufacture of sun-dried tomatoes in each of them will be detailed below.

Dried tomatoes in the oven: recipe with photo

The oven, gas or electric, is the most popular place for drying tomatoes.

It’s good if the convection oven is capable of maintaining a temperature of 40-60 ° C, otherwise you will get not classic sun-dried tomatoes, but rather baked ones. Either way, they will be delicious.

How to cut tomatoes depends on their size. Small and medium-sized tomatoes are usually cut into two halves, sometimes into quarters. Larger fruits are best cut across into slices about 6–8 mm thick.

A lot of controversy arises as to whether it is necessary to cut the center of the tomatoes from the seeds before drying. It is in it that the maximum amount of liquid is concentrated, and without it, the tomatoes will cook much faster. But the seeds often give an additional piquant taste to the finished dish. So it’s up to you to choose. Keep in mind that removing the middle from chopped tomatoes will also take you quite a lot of time and effort, but the drying process itself will be about twice as fast.

Sliced ​​tomatoes are placed open side up on baking sheets or wire racks. The latter can be covered with baking paper to make it easier to remove the finished fruits later. After placement, the tomatoes are sprinkled with a mixture of salt and sugar, to which chopped dry spices are often added. The ratio of salt, sugar and black ground pepper is 3:5:3. The amount of spices used is determined solely by your taste.

The cooking time for sun-dried tomatoes depends solely on the capabilities of the oven and your own choice.

• Long, but sparing (preserving all useful substances) will be heating the oven to 50–60 ° C and drying the tomatoes for 15–20 hours.
• If the minimum temperature in the oven is 100–120 ° C, then for many this is the optimal mode, since tomatoes can dry out in 4–5 hours.
• At a higher temperature, drying takes just a couple of hours, but you need to monitor the tomatoes more carefully: they can burn easily, and the beneficial substances evaporate at the same rate.

When choosing any drying mode, the oven door must be constantly slightly ajar for ventilation.

In addition, if you are drying tomatoes for the first time, then you need to constantly monitor the process and check the condition of the fruit almost every hour. Since it is impossible to specify the drying time exactly, you should focus on the condition of the dried fruit. Tomatoes should wrinkle, become darker. But bringing them to the state of chips is also not recommended. They should remain slightly elastic, bend well, but not break.

To increase the amount of sun dried tomatoes, you can use as many trays and racks as you have available in your kitchen. But keep in mind that with an increase in the number of simultaneous loads, the drying time can also increase by 30-40%.

The presence of a convection mode in the oven allows you to reduce the cooking time of sun-dried tomatoes by 40-50%.

How to cook Sun Dried Tomatoes in the Microwave

In the microwave oven, sun-dried tomatoes are baked, not sun-dried, but this method is unparalleled in terms of speed. Use it if you are short on time.

It is better to take small tomatoes for drying; cherry tomatoes and cocktail varieties are perfect.

The fruits are cut into two parts, the middle is taken out with a spoon or knife. Lay the halves on a flat plate, sprinkle with oil, lightly salt, pepper and add a little sugar, as well as seasonings as desired. Place in the oven at maximum temperature for 5-7 minutes.

Then open the door, release steam, drain the resulting liquid and let the tomatoes stand for about 15 minutes. Then they put it back in the oven for 5 minutes, after which they leave it to stand in the microwave with the mode turned off for about 10 minutes. This procedure should be repeated 3-4 times, each time checking the tomatoes for readiness so that they do not dry out.

Dried tomatoes in a slow cooker

To cook sun-dried tomatoes in a slow cooker, you must use the “baking” mode. The preparation of fruits is similar to that which was done for drying in the oven.

It is better to combine all the components in advance and sprinkle them with the spread out slices of tomatoes.

Tomatoes are laid out both on the bottom of the multicooker, previously covered with baking paper, and in a container for steaming dishes (to increase the yield of the finished product). After sprinkling with spices, all pieces of tomatoes are sprinkled with a small amount of olive oil. It can be applied with a brush.

Cooking sun-dried tomatoes in a slow cooker at about 100 ° C takes about three hours. This is usually sufficient for drying small fruits. Large tomatoes will need more time – 5-7 hours. If your multicooker model has a valve, remove it so that moisture can escape.

How to air-dry tomatoes in an air fryer

In an air grill, you can get a pretty good version of sun-dried tomatoes. The fruits are selected and prepared in the same way as in the previous recipes. They are drying

• or at a temperature of 90-95 ° C from 3 to 6 hours;
• or first 2 hours at a temperature of 180 ° C, and then the tomato slices are turned over and dried for another 1-2 hours at 120 ° C.

The blower turns on strong.

It is advisable to lay baking paper on the grates so that the finished pieces of tomatoes do not fall through the rods and do not stick to them.

Dried tomatoes in a vegetable dryer

The experience of many housewives shows that the best results in the manufacture of sun-dried tomatoes can be achieved using electric vegetable dryers, especially those called dehydrators. They do not require rearrangement of pallets during the drying process, since the airflow is even. In the dryer, you can cook a significant amount of sun-dried tomatoes at a time. Since the temperature regime in it starts, as a rule, from 35 ° C, the drying of fruits can be done in very gentle conditions with the preservation of all useful substances.

The drying time of tomatoes at a temperature of 40-50 °C is about 12-15 hours, at a temperature of 70-80 °C – 6-8 hours. Under such conditions, it is almost impossible for tomatoes to burn, and after the first portion, the process can be started automatically, without controlling it and without worrying about the result.

How to dry tomatoes in the sun

The best and most delicious sun-dried tomatoes are obtained by exposure to the sun, but this method is long in time and is suitable only for southern regions with an abundance of hot and sunny days. If the weather forecast promises a temperature not lower than + 32-34 ° C for the next week, then you can try.

You will need trays or baking sheets that are lined with paper. They are laid out in the usual way processed quarters or halves of tomatoes. In this case, it is desirable to remove the pulp after all.

Place pallets with tomatoes in the sun, be sure to cover the top with gauze from insects. In the evening, before sunset, the pallets are removed into the room or greenhouse to maintain the temperature regime. In the morning, they are again placed in the same place. During the day, it is advisable to turn the tomatoes at least once, but you can not do this.

Tomatoes can be ready in 6-8 days and are best stored in regular paper or cloth bags, or in glass or clay containers with lids.

If there is a greenhouse and free space in it, the drying process is somewhat simplified, since the tomatoes can not be brought into the room at night, but only close all doors and windows.

Recipe for Sun Dried Tomatoes in Oil

An interesting taste is obtained from the finished dish, if the tomatoes are lightly marinated in an oil solution before drying.

Cook

• 0,5 kg of tomatoes;
• a few tablespoons of olive oil;
• sprigs of fresh basil, rosemary and thyme;
• salt, sugar, pepper to taste.

Tomatoes are washed, scalded with boiling water, the skin is removed from them and cut into halves, while removing the seeds with excess juice from the middle.

Transfer the tomatoes to a bowl, adding oil, herbs and spices. In this form, they are aged for about an hour. After they are laid out on a baking sheet, on baking paper, and the remaining herbs are placed on top.

The oven turns on at 180 ° C for 20-30 minutes, then the temperature drops to 90-100 ° C, and the tomatoes are left with the door ajar for several hours. After 4 hours of drying, all moisture, as a rule, evaporates. If you need softer fruits, then the drying time can be reduced.

Dried tomatoes with basil for the winter

There is also the option of not just soaking, but cooking sun-dried tomatoes in oil. This recipe can hardly be called traditional, and it will require a significant amount of oil. Tomatoes are prepared in the usual way and laid out close to each other in a baking sheet with high sides.

1. Take a bunch of fresh basil (it is better to use a mixture of several varieties), three cloves of garlic and peppercorns.
2. Just before cooking, chop everything thoroughly, mix and sprinkle the tomatoes with the resulting mixture.
3. At the end, vegetables are poured with olive (or other) oil so that they are covered by ¾.
4. The oven is heated to 180-190 ° C, and the baking sheet is placed in it for 3-4 hours.
5. If the oil level decreases, then it must be gradually added.

After spreading the pieces of tomatoes in sterile jars, pour the same oil and roll up. Such an appetizer can be stored all winter without a refrigerator.

Recipe for sun-dried tomatoes with garlic and spices

Prepare the tomatoes for drying in the usual way and separately make a mixture of various spices, peppers, salt and sugar. Cut 3-4 cloves of garlic into thin slices across.

Put a piece of garlic in each half of the tomatoes and sprinkle with a mixture of spices. Arrange the vegetables rather tightly on a baking sheet and place in the oven at 90-110°C for 3-4 hours.

To save ready-made tomatoes for the winter, you can apply the following recipe. Prepare small jars, from 300 to 700 g. Sterilize them, put a few peas of black and white pepper, mustard, rosemary sprigs on the bottom and fill them tightly with dried tomatoes, sprinkling with additional spices if desired. At the last moment, fill with heated, but not brought to a boil, oil and seal the jars.

Dried Tomatoes with Balsamic Vinegar

So that your preparation with sun-dried tomatoes in oil can be stored under normal room conditions and acquire additional savory flavors, you can use balsamic vinegar when pouring. Its taste goes well with tomatoes and herbs.

For a 0,7 liter jar, it will take about two tablespoons. After all the ready-made tomatoes with spices are tightly packed in jars, pour balsamic vinegar on top, and fill the remaining space with oil.

15-20 minutes before the end of the drying of the tomatoes, the oil with herbs can be placed in the oven (at a temperature of about 100 ° C) to warm up. In this case, your preparation with sun-dried tomatoes in oil will be stored even without a refrigerator. Keep in mind that from 5 kg of fresh tomatoes, one 700 g jar of sun-dried tomatoes in oil is usually obtained.

Dishes with sun-dried tomatoes: recipes with photos

The most common dishes with the addition of sun-dried tomatoes are various pastas and salads.

Dried Tomato Pasta Recipe

For 200 g of boiled spaghetti (paste), take 50 g of sun-dried tomatoes, a clove of garlic, 2 young onions with herbs, 50 g of Adyghe cheese, a sprig of parsley, salt, black pepper to taste and a little olive oil.

Boil spaghetti, at the same time heat the oil in a pan, add chopped garlic and sun-dried tomatoes to it, then onion and cheese. Fry for a few minutes, add parsley and boiled spaghetti at the end. Stir for a few minutes, decorate with a sprig of greenery.

Salad with avocado and sun-dried tomatoes

To prepare this tasty and healthy dish, take 150 g of lettuce leaves (arugula, lettuce) and sun-dried tomatoes, 1 avocado, half a lemon, 60 g of cheese and spices to your taste.

Put lettuce leaves on a dish, add diced avocado, pieces of sun-dried tomatoes divided into parts. Sprinkle all this with spices and cheese, sprinkle with lemon juice and the oil in which the tomatoes were stored.

How to store sun dried tomatoes at home

Tomatoes dried in the sun in natural conditions are best stored dry in cloth bags in a cool place. In the same way, tomatoes dried to an almost brittle state using other kitchen units are stored well. You can use glass jars with vacuum lids for storage.

A popular way to preserve sun-dried tomatoes in oil. It has been described in detail above. If the oil was preheated well, then the workpiece can be stored without a refrigerator. If you’re using fresh garlic and fresh herbs, it’s best to play it safe and store jars of sun-dried tomatoes in the refrigerator or cellar.

For use in dishes, sun-dried tomatoes are easiest to soak overnight in water.

Conclusion

Sun-dried tomatoes are only gaining popularity. Perhaps, over time, this dish will turn into the No. 1 preparation of tomatoes, since it combines a delicious taste and versatility of use, and also retains all the beneficial properties of vegetables.