Make at home: sun-dried and oven-dried tomatoes

Fresh tomatoes from the garden are a delicious summertime treat, but by drying tomatoes at their peak – using either the sun or an oven – you can enjoy a taste of summer year-round. Here are tips on how to do it.

The key to success for this method is drying the fruit over a period of three or four uninterrupted sunny days.

• Make drying frames from four 1-metre (3-foot) lengths of untreated wood. Stretch nylon mesh or cheesecloth across the top and tack it to the underside of the frame. Reinforce the frame by tacking criss-crossed string underneath.
• Core Roma tomatoes and cut them in half.
• Place the fruit in a single layer on the frame and leave it out in the sun all day. Remove the tomatoes as they dry and bring all of them inside at night.
• Repeat this procedure for three or four days, as required. (If you use cherry tomatoes, they'll be ready in a day.)
• To destroy any insect eggs, spread the dried tomatoes on a baking tray and place it in an oven preheated to 100°C (200°F) for 10 to 15 minutes.

You can dry tomatoes in the oven as long as you use the lowest heat setting. This will prevent them from burning.

• Spread halved and cored Roma tomatoes, cut side up, on wire racks over oven trays.
• Sprinkle the tomatoes with salt and leave them in the oven at the lowest temperature for six to eight hours.
• Turn them regularly, until dried.

If stored properly, dried tomatoes can last for months.

• To store your dried tomatoes, pack them into sterilized jars, cover with olive oil and seal.
• Alternatively, use some airtight containers without oil and store them in the fridge.
• If you plan to keep the dried tomatoes for a long time, just freeze them.

By drying ripe tomatoes from your garden, you can enjoy fresh tomato flavours long after the summer has ended!

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