Oven dried tomatoes?

[Snadger]

I purposely grew a lot of plum tomatoes this year so I could dry them. It's a good way of storing them and I enjoy the intensified taste they give.
Up to now I've been drying them in the oven and storing them in jars of olive oil. Whilst they are ok and very flavoursome they are a wee bit chewy!
I asumed that the olive oil would soften them a bit but his is not the case.

Can I put them into brine and will this re-hydrate them a bit and make them less chewy? If so, how much salt to how much water and is a cold solution just poured over them?

At present, I've just dried a batch and I am just eating them as they are! I wondered how long they will keep once dried and how do I store them dry?

I could invest in a book which will supply me with this information (PRESERVED is on my Crimbo list!) but I know there are plenty of knowledgeable grapes on here who can enlighten me for the time being!

[Flummery]

Couldn't say Snadger, except that the ones you buy preserved in oil are chewy too. They're obviously meant to be like that. I like them chopped in a bread dough. Tomato bread is ace.

[Snadger]

Couldn't say Snadger, except that the ones you buy preserved in oil are chewy too. They're obviously meant to be like that. I like them chopped in a bread dough. Tomato bread is ace.

But there's chewy and there's CHEWWWWWY Flum! Mine are bit more chewy than the ones you buy but I suppose it could take a while for them to absorb the oil!

[Flummery]

Maybe they were dried slightly longer than the commercial ones. Could be a trial and error thing. PW dries his toms - where is he when you need him? If we said something rude he'd soon turn up!

[Hazel at the Hill]

Wellie dries them in the oven and stores in oil - they are DIVINE - and yes, Flum, sundried tomato bread is the bees nuts!

[Flummery]

Sure is - the muts knees even!

[lainey lou]

NIgella does Moon blush tomatoes:
Pre heat oven to 200 C
500g Toms sat cut side up in an oven proof dish sprinkle with 1tsp salt, 1/4 tsp sugar, 1tsp thyme and 30ml olive oil, place in oven and immediatly turn oven off leave overnight without opening the door. She claims they are "wonderful!"

[HeyWayne]

I'd love to have some to dry. My six plants have yielded about the same amount of tomatoes....

There's always next year.

Sundried toms in any pasta sauce adds something special to the taste.

[rustylady]

I'd love to have some to dry. My six plants have yielded about the same amount of tomatoes....

There's always next year.

Sundried toms in any pasta sauce adds something special to the taste.

You got more than me this year, Wayne. The few I did get didn't taste quite right either. As you said, roll on next year.

[Snadger]

I knew I would have too many to eat and I don't particularily like fresh tomatoes, so I did a tomato trial in two of my ramshackle greenhouses. What I found from my nine tomato types trial was:-

Roma plum tomatoes are great for drying but very late in maturing (still maturing now!)
Orange Banana toms are heavy croppers, late maturing and good for drying!
Old faithful, Gardeners delight are just that, but only eaten freshly off the bush...still on the go at mo!
Beafsteak toms including Marmande and Ponderosa pink were a waste of time.
Hartzfeur were very productive but a bit tasteless...useless for drying
A little yellow tomato called Ildi was very late but are also very nice just eaten from the vine!
I grew a couple of other varieties as well but the mere fact that I can't recall there names is in itself testament to how crap they were!

For drying it has to be the plum type!

[piskieinboots]

and almost two years later - here's one I prepared earlier

Wash, pad dry and half the cocktail tomatoes. Of course you can also use regular tomatoes, just slice them in quarters (or sixth). Some recipes recommend to discard the seeds, but I don't see the need to (at least with the smaller tomatoes).

Cover baking sheet or casserole with olive oil and arrange tomatoes cut-side up. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and if you like to, with garlic, dried and/or fresh herbs (like thyme, oregano...).

Dry in the preheated oven at 100 degrees Celsius (210 degrees F) for 4-6 hours. Times and temperature may vary (as indicated) based on your oven, the size of the tomatoes and of course your preference. Just try and find out what works best for you.

Kept in a jar with olive oil they last for days (if not weeks).

[OllieMartin]

Definately trying this method when mine ripen.

Did you resolve your chewyness problem Snadger?

[Snadger]

Definately trying this method when mine ripen.

Did you resolve your chewyness problem Snadger?

Sort of Ollie!

I have now gone all powsh and have a purpose made deydrator so I don't have to listen to OH complaining that she can't make the Sunday dinner cos the oven is full of chuffing tomatoes drying!

It takes about the same time in the dehydrator but doesn't tie up the oven.

What I've found is that if I dry them until there is still a softness about them, rather than them being like leather, the flavour is intensified and they are more easily digested.
The down side I suppose is that they won't store as long.

After much research have come to the conclusion that San Marzano are the best toms for drying.

[Sonata]

I'm so glad I read this thread. I had a 2L ice cream tub of Gardeners' Delights to use up and I'm the only one who eats them.

Thanks to Lainey Lou's Nigella recipe, I'm now addicted to dried tomatoes. They are to DIE for. I'm growing twice the number of tomatoes next year!

[mrdinkle]

These sound really nice! I can imagine them chopped in pasta and in some bread - yum yum.

I have a pile of san marzano that I need to use. Having already made a chutney mountain I am tempted to dry them.

If I do dry them, how long will they keep (in sterilised jars with olive oil?)

thanks