How To Make Sun-dried Tomatoes | Is it poisonous? The Europeans thought so! What do you think?
Only the poor would eat it!
The Tomato
History
Its roots can be traced back to the Aztecs in 700 AD. However, the tomato didn’t become popular until the 1700’s with Europeans. The British were afraid to eat the tomato because it resembled a wolf peach which was poisonous. And did you know that the rich used flatware made of lead during that time? Using this flatware to eat any acidic food would cause the lead to leach from their food resulting in lead poisoning and even death. On the other hand, because the poor used wooden flatware they suffered no ill effects from eating tomatoes! As a result the tomato was only eaten by the poor (especially Italian’s) until the 1800‘s.
A Fruit or a Vegetable?
This is a debated topic between the botanist and the horticulturist! The botanist would say the tomato is a fruit because a fruit is classified as flesh covered with seeds. While the horticulturist would simply say the tomato is a vegetable plant. So you choose!
Fast forward to today
We all know the tomato is a popular vegetable. We use tomatoes in salads, sauces, smoothies and juices. The tomato is rich source of Vitamin C, K, and potassium. And, did you know the tomato is 95% water with 22 calories per tomato?!
How many of you buy Sun Dried tomatoes?
Sun dried tomatoes are tomatoes dried with spices and used in pastas, pestos, fused in oils, and eaten as a snack!
But they’re expensive!
Today I’ll show you how to make your own!
That way when tomato season rolls around and you have canned, made salsa, made sauce….and still have tomatoes coming out of your ears you have another option!
It’s so easy you will ask yourself what you’ve been waiting for!
Ingredients:
• Ripe Tomatoes
• Fresh or dried Oregano
• Black Pepper
• Salt
Slice tomatoes ¼” thick and place on dehydrator trays. Do not allow tomatoes to touch one another. Fill all trays. If you have empty trays you will still want to include them in the dehydrator when drying.
Chop fresh oregano and sprinkle on tomatoes. Salt and pepper lightly.
Place lid on dehydrator and process on Vegetable temperature setting. Process 20-22 hours. Tomatoes will be done when crispy.
Voila!
After they are completely cooled, seal in airtight jar or airtight bag.
As I said, these are wonderful in soups, sauces, pesto’s and great as a snack. My daughter loves to eat them as “potato chips.”
Super easy indeed. I use my oven for this but I really should try to use the sun... but then there are the bugs hehe!
Yes, the bugs do pose a problem. I was able to pick this beauty for $49. Totally doable compared to my last one. (I've gone through a few lol) I suppose if my screen cage hadn't been taken by the hurricane, I too could actually "sun" dry! Oven works too right?
Is it heavy? Might order one and ship it to Belgium and bring it with me to Cambodia when I go visit my godchild later this year. He will come to the world in less than a month from now! It is so hard to get thing shipped to Cambodia and then there are so many important taxes... if it arrives in the first place.
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Another great use for the dehydrator! But maybe I should figure out the fruit roll ups first before tackling this haha. Have you ever tried drying tomatoes in the sun?
You know I have, it does work but as @amy-goodrich mentioned above the bugs can be a bit of a nuisance. I was able to pick up my current dehydrator for about $49...it works well. I know the oven works but my oven's lowest temp is 200. I fear the drying would be to quick. I think you could leave the door cracked a little? Maybe test it out a bit. I have a lot of things I dehydrate. Yogurt is an amazing item...I'll post that one soon! The kids love the fruit roll-ups...if the fruits aren't in season you can still use frozen if you have to!
Thank you!!
Thanks! We do have a dehydrator, I was just wondering if the sun was better for those times when you have a million tomatoes all at once :) but yes, the bugs would be rather problematic. How long do they keep for? Like you mentioned in the article, I like the idea of preserving some tomatoes this way for when I can't keep up with them via canning!
A dehydrator is on my kitchen wish list! Some day I will get one. :)
You should try to get one....I can't tell you how much I have used it over the years. I can tell you it certainly has paid for itself! I think I paid $49 for this one, not too bad. You won't be sorry! Thank you!
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