Homemade “Sun Dried” Tomatoes

I found myself this weekend with an unexpected quantity of tomatoes. It’s normally something that happens during the summer, but for some reason I had 4 tubs of them in the fridge! So I dug out the dehydrator from storage and made some homemade “Sun Dried” Tomatoes in Olive Oil ready to be used in recipes.

Sun Dried Tomatoes

Sun Dried tomatoes are traditionally laid out in the sun and dried, they are then packaged in olive oil to preserve then and used in dishes. However, drying them like that in the UK Is near impossible so I always rely on my trusty dehydrator and it’s so simple to do.

There is also a further consideration for us. With the store bought sun dried tomatoes in olive oil the tomatoes stay in a liquid form in the fridge. The first time I put my homemade “sun dried” tomatoes in olive oil in the fridge the olive oil solidified. So it dawned on me what other things are in there that keeps the olive oil liquid.

Ingredients for Making Homemade Sun Dried Tomatoes

• Tomatoes
• Salt
• Olive Oil
• Italian Dried Herbs

How to Make Homemade Sun Dried Tomatoes

1. Cut the tomatoes in half and into a bowl.
2. Add some salt to the tomatoes around a teaspoon is what I used and mix together.
3. On your dehydrator rack lay the tomatoes with the open side up.
4. Put on the dehydrator at around 160C and allow the tomatoes to dehydrator to a leathery like state. This was around 10 hours with the bigger tomatoes and slightly less with the smaller.
5. Once dehydrated put in a glass jar and cover with olive oil add in the herbs and stir,
6. Store in the cupboard and use as needed.

More Homemade Recipes from our Kitchen

• Homemade Butter
• Apple and Cinnamon Muffins
• All Butter Cherry Scones