When you are leave with a lot of love apple at the end of garden time of year , why not preserve them and make sun dry out tomatoes ? It is a great way to relish the taste of your refreshed pick garden tomatoes even in the middle of wintertime .
If you are lucky enough to be in a spicy and ironic locating , you may use the sun to desiccate Lycopersicon esculentum . But for many of us who live in humid , showery , or colder climates , we are go to take a little more than the sunlight to aid us maintain the tomatoes .
Therefore , technically they are n’t actually ‘ sun dried ’ but they will become dehydrate with the help of a kitchen gadget . Therefore , no matter where you live , by following the instructions below , you could make your own dehydrated Lycopersicon esculentum that smack incisively like sun dry love apple .
And in force of all , it wo n’t take several days to do so ! In fact your ripe tomato can be exsiccate in less than a 24-hour interval time when you practice an oven or dehydrator .
It is a fantastic way to preserve your tomatoes when you already have enough cannedsalsa , alimentary paste sauce , tomato juice , diced tomatoesand more !
What To Do With Sun Dried Tomatoes
Once you have dehydrated tomato plant readily available , you will find all sorts of uses for them . They are the thoroughgoing addition to a variety of recipes .
They can easily be added to salad , soup , pastas , pizza pie , sandwich , pesto and more . If you want to add them on top of a pizza pie or sandwich , rehydrate them by soaking them in blistering weewee or hot tomato succus for 10 minutes until they plump up .
Or if you are using them in recipe that already contain hot liquid , such as my favoriteCreamy Tuscan Chicken recipe , just bring the shriveled tomato plant to the sauce and let them cook until tender .
However , did you know that they make for a great snack as well ? Pop a few of them in your sass when you get that sweet tooth after dinner party .
It is a much healthier choice than cookies , bar , Proto-Indo European and more .
Type of Tomatoes To Use
Before you make sun dry tomatoes you must first determine what type of tomato to practice . Because our cherry love apple works seems to grow early on and often , they are an idealistic prospect to become sun dried .
Although you may also use grape , Campari , or glue tomato as well . However , the little and meatier the tomato , the better it will turn out once dehydrated .
Because we always terminate up with a draw of cherry tree tomatoes throughout garden time of year ( See:5 Things To Do With Cherry Tomatoes ) , I be given to desiccate them most often . Which is a salutary thing because the small the tomato the less preparation that is required .
merely slice the tomato plant in one-half and remove the effect and most of the seminal fluid . For cerise tomatoes I simply squash them until the seeds precipitate out .
However , if the Lycopersicon esculentum are smashing than 2 inches in size , you will call for to be cut them into small sections . Then remove the core and seeds and begin the dehydrating process .
Now that you know how to use them and what character and size of the tomatoes that are required , let ’s get to the literal outgrowth .
How To Make Sun Dried Tomatoes
Because we live in a humid environment , the weather is not idealistic for making true dried tomatoes on the rooftop or on a backyard terrace . Therefore , we have two options for dehydrating tomato .
1. Oven Method
A vulgar method for dehydrate Lycopersicon esculentum is to place them in a humble temperature oven for a farsighted full stop of clip .
Prepare the tomatoes by cut them in half or small part if you are using spread Lycopersicon esculentum . Then remove the seeds and kernel . Set them aside .
Turn your oven to a low temperature , somewhere between 200 - 225 ° F(93 – 107 ° atomic number 6 ) . Then place your tomato half on a parchment paper or silicone seamed bake flat solid , cut side up .
come out the baking sheet in the oven for 4 - 5 hour until the tomatoes are shriveled and dry . The actual Captain James Cook time will vary depending on the oven that you practice and the humidness in the strain .
Therefore , keep a close eye on the tomatoes at the 4 hour home run . transfer any tomato that are hard and curt and rent the others stay on fix until totally dehydrate .
Although the oven method acting for making sun dry out tomatoes works bang-up , the only downfall is that it does require you to turn your oven on during the hot summertime month .
So what is another alternative ?
2. Dehydrator Method
Although the most common method acting of dehydrating love apple is in the oven , because everyone has an oven , I favor to make them in a dehydrator .
First of all , I love the fact that I do n’t have to heat up kitchen when using adehydrator . Although you could use your dehydrator on the kitchen counter , I often secure it into an outdoor outlet and let them dehydrate on our back terrace .
I hear that there are many advantages of using the dehydrator outdoors when I madeHot Pepper Powderfrom the peppers from the garden . First of all the fumes of the hot peppers are able to escape without sate up the house with noxious fragrance .
In addition , the hum of the dehydrator can be nettlesome to some people . However , with it being post outside , it does n’t seem to disoblige anyone .
So how do you make sunshine dried tomatoes in a dehydrator ? Depending on the make and model of your dehydrator you will set your temperature to the low mise en scene .
On fashion model that have an literal temperature guide , program it to 140 ° F ( 60 ° C ) for 5 - 8 hours . Dehydrators need a lower temperature because they are plan to release moisture much quick than when in the oven .
Again , begin checking the tomatoes at the 5 hour brand and remove any that are teetotal and crispy . Continue to lease the others desiccate until the full wad is done .
Storing Sun Dried Tomatoes
So now that you have it away how to make Sun Dried Tomatoes , how do you store them ?
As presently as they cool down , store them in an melody - tight container . Then target them in the refrigerator and utilisation within a week .
If you require them to last a lilliputian longer submerge them in extra virgin Olea europaea oil colour . They should last up to 3 - 4 weeks when lay in totally submerge in an air tight container at room temperature , or even longer in the refrigerator .
Finally , our preferred method of stash away homemade sun dried tomato : immobilize them ! Frozen sunlight dry out tomatoes will last over a year when stash away in an air - tight container in the freezer .
Just be sure to ostentate stop dead them in a individual bed on a baking sheet before adding them to the deep-freeze container . This avoid them sticking together in one prominent clump when frozen .
Then whenever you require a few for a recipe or snack , just draw them out the the deep-freeze and rehydrate !
Mary and Jim
Jim and Mary Competti have been writing gardening , DIY and formula article and Word for over 15 years from their 46 Akko Ohio farm . The two are frequent loudspeaker system on all things garden and love to move in their plain clock time .
How To Make Sun-Dried Tomatoes
The gentle and warm methods to construct sun - dried tomatoes . Check out how to dehydrate in an oven or dehydrator .
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Because all tomato and contrivance vary , begin checking your Lycopersicon esculentum at the 3 hour Deutsche Mark for the oven and the 5 time of day mark in the dehydrator .
Store in an zephyr - tight container in the refrigerator for up to a week . Or store in olive petroleum in the refrigerator for up to 3 workweek . Or block them on a parchment lined baking sheet until frozen and then transfer them to an aura - tight container and store in the Deepfreeze .
Recipe courtesy of Old World Garden Farms
Nutritional Information is to be used as a general guidepost only . Nutritional computing will vary from the types and brand of the products used .
