DIY: Sun-dried Tomatoes… in the Oven

So you did it: you grew a bumper crop of tomatoes.  If you are like me, you may have grown a few too many (at least for the consumption level of two-person household).   So now, you are looking into preservation options.  You can can your tomatoes and make salsas or sauces, but why not dry your tomatoes, an easy method that doesn’t require dozens of glass jars or complicated pressure cookers.  Dried tomatoes: all you need is an oven and a day.

Sun-dried, oven-dried or dehydrated tomatoes; the concept and the result is basically the same: flavor-packed tomatoes that can be preserved and used in salads, as a snack, reconstituted into sauces for pasta, or baked in breads for added flavor.

You can dry tomatoes outside using the heat of the sun, however this process can take several days and is sometimes interrupted by undesirable weather conditions.  

This season, I have already dried several batches of tomatoes using an oven, and I believe that it is the easiest and simplest technique to dry tomatoes.  The only drawback is having to keep the oven on all day (however, I was able to dry large batches at once while baking cookies as well… so on all fronts, you’re getting great, tasty results, without much work).

Steps to Oven-Dry Tomatoes

1. Select a tomato variety that is either cherry, grape, or plum-sized.  I chose to use a “Ropreco Paste” tomato, which is shaped like a plum and traditionally used in sauces.  These types of sauce tomatoes can pack a punch of sweetness when dried.
2. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.
3. Slice your tomatoes in half, lengthwise; place them on tin foil (optional), on a large baking pan (pans are better to use than cookie sheets because they prevent any possible spills).
4. Drizzle the tomatoes with a touch of olive oil, then sprinkle them with salt.
5. Bake (dry) the tomatoes in the oven for 6-8 hours.  Begin to check on the tomatoes after about 5 hours.  Your tomatoes may dry at different rates if they vary in size, water content, etc.  So, at this time, you may need to begin pulling some tomatoes out, as they reach a desirable level of dehydration.

ABOVE: Step 3 – Slice your tomatoes in half, lengthwise.

ABOVE: Step 5 – Dry your tomatoes in the oven for 6-8 hours.  Pull individual tomato halves out once they are dried.

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Shelf Life of  Dried Tomatoes

Oven-dried tomatoes should be stored in an air-tight container (jar or plastic bag) and placed in the refrigerator or freezer.  They will be good for 6-8 months.

Other Helpful Hints for Drying Tomatoes

• It is best to let the tomatoes fully ripen on the plant before harvesting them for the drying process.  This ensures a sweeter end product because the tomato has the maximum amount of time to get natural sugars and nutrients while still on the plant.
• You can dry your tomatoes for as long as you want.  If you dry them for a longer period of time, less moisture remains in the fruit, so they will most likely last longer in your refrigerator.  Chewier dried tomatoes are really great to snack on, however they shouldn’t be kept for longer than 2-3 months.

ABOVE: End Product!  Store your dried tomatoes in a jar or a plastic bag, in the fridge or freezer.

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 Helpful References

http://www.pickyourown.org/tomatoes_sun_dried.htm

Posted in Grown in the City