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Its easy to make your own sun-dried tomatoes at home with no special equipment. 

Sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil, seasoned will add a wonderful gourmet touch with great flavour to many dishes and salads and are a great saving as the prices at the supermarket or store can be very exorbitant!  The quality can be better than any you’ve bought as well. They make excellent gifts too. 

This method is so easy, anyone can do this!  It’s a great thing to do with your kids! 

Tomatoes  

Any quantity, ripe, but not over ripe are what to use firm. The yield varies considerably depending upon the moisture content of the tomatoes, which depends upon the type of tomato and the weather and how ripe they are.  

I like to use Roma (Italian) tomatoes and they have low levels of seed and have lower moisture when they are just ripe. 

Typically yield is 2 cups of dried tomatoes from 2 kg (4.4 lb) of tomatoes. 

Ingredients 

2 kg (4.4lb) Roma (Italian) tomatoes

1 tsp each of thyme, oregano, rosemary and basil mixed together

Coarse salt

3 cups red wine vinegar

Extra virgin olive oil, about 500-600 ml (2 1/2 cups)

Method 

Preheat your oven to 100 degrees Celsius (210 degrees F) 

Check all the tomatoes and remove any bruises with a sharp knife. 

Wash, pad dry, remove the stems and half the Roma tomatoes. Of course you can also use regular tomatoes, just slice them in quarters if they are large. *Scoop out most of the seeds and sprinkle with salt and leave them skin side up so that the excess liquid from the tomatoes can drain out. Let this sit for about 15-20 minutes. Drain off any moisture that has gathered in the tomato halves. This gets rid of the moisture and reduces the time in the oven. 

Cover a large baking tray (sheet) with olive oil and arrange tomatoes cut-side up. 

Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and if you like to, with dried herbs. I use  thyme, oregano, rosemary and basil to give them an Italian taste. 

Dry in the preheated oven for 4-6 hours. Times and temperature may vary based on your oven, the size of the tomatoes and of course how moist they are. Just try and find out what works best for you. Check tomatoes after a couple of hours to see how the progress is going. As you check after about 4 hours remove any that are dry as you don’t want to over dry. Even though they may all be about the same size some may dry faster than others. 

Note:  Its very important that once the tomatoes are placed in the oven that you do not touch them with your hands. Use clean thongs as required. This is a safety against the tomatoes getting contaminated. 

Once all the tomatoes have dried heat the red wine vinegar in a large pot to a boil  and blanch the dried tomatoes for 1 minute. Remove the tomatoes with a slotted spoon and drain well. The vinegar acts as a preservative and gives added flavour to the tomatoes. 

The vinegar bath made a lot of sense, since the Botulinum bacteria grow well in anaerobic, that is to say oxygen free, and low acid environment. Giving the dried tomato pieces a bath of boiling vinegar not only sterilizes the dried tomatoes to kill surface bacteria, but also raises the acidity level of sweet tomatoes to lessen the chance of Botulinum growing in the jar later. 

Layer the tomatoes into warm sterilized jars. Slowly pour warm olive oil into the jars, pressing down on the tomatoes slightly with a wooden spoon. Make sure that the tomatoes are completely submerged under the oil at all times, or they will be exposed to air and potential bacteria growth. When you are packing them in the jars make sure you do not touch them with your hands, use tongs or a spoon.

Cap the jars tightly and place them in a cool spot overnight. The next day, check the level of the oil and add more to the jars if the tomatoes are poking out of the oil. Check the jars two or three more times, adding more oil if necessary.

Recap the jars and store them in a cool place for 2 weeks before using. Refrigerate after opening and bring the tomatoes to room temperature before serving. 

Keep the tomatoes in the fridge and use within 4 weeks. I make batched as I am getting to the end of the previous batch. 

If you’d really like to do it the sun-dried way then you can leave it in the sun for up to two days, taking them in at night. 

* To seed a tomato, cut it in half lengthwise, push your thumb into the cavity and force the seeds of the tomato. This is best done over a compost pail or sink with a garbage disposal.

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