SUN DRIED TOMATOES SANS THE SUN!
Making hay while the sun shines…? Well, I made sun dried tomatoes when the sun didn’t shine. Actually, the vegetable vendor had a bounty of the most luscious looking tomatoes one day… red, juicy & going cheap – Rs 10 a kilo (25 cents) for the beauties. 
Irresistible as usual, so I bought 2 kilos to make sun dried tomatoes, but the next 2 days were foggy & dreary as luck would have it, with worse weather forecast to follow.
Back to the ever dependable net, & browsing led me to a simple recipe for ‘How to make sun dried tomatoes without the sun’ on Channel 4. I even got a chance to use some fresh herbs from the garden which were just beginning to sprout – thyme & oregano. The recipe worked well, & the tomatoes got made beautifully, but am guilty of a carbon footprint… 
SUN DRIED TOMATOES WITHOUT THE SUNIngredients:
2 tbsps olive oil
2 tsps Castor sugar
5 sprigs of thyme
4 cloves of garlic peeled
500ml of extra virgin olive oil
Generous pinch of sea salt & black pepper
-
Preheat the oven between 50-60C.
-
Place the cut tomatoes on baking sheets lined with parchment, cut sides up, & drizzle liberally with olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt, black pepper & Castor sugar.
-
Place into the pre-heated oven & leave to dry for at least 7-8 hours or until most of the moisture has gone. Be careful to leave some moisture in them so they taste nice & juice when preserved. They should be roughly the consistency of raisins. If they are wet & sloppy, they are underdone; if they are dark & brown, they are overdone.
-
When you think they are done, remove the tomatoes from the oven & leave to cool until they can be easily handled.
-
While the tomatoes are cooling, you can sterilise the jar. Wash it in hot soapy water, & place it upside down in a preheated oven at 50C. After 10 minutes remove it form the oven & leave it to cool.
-
Sprinkle a little salt & pepper into the jar, add the peeled garlic cloves, the thyme & the chilies/pepper.
-
Place the tomatoes in the jar, & pour enough olive oil to fully submerge them. They should keep for six months in the fridge as long as they are always covered in oil.
-
Note: There is a word of caution re home preservation of tomatoes in oil from Greg at the bottom of this post. Do take a look at it. Thanks.
I received a note from a blogger, Greg @ GregCooks (see comments on this post). He had some words of caution re home reservation of tomatoes under oil, particularly when you add herbs or garlic to them. Though most of us would use the sun-dried tomatoes in oil within a week or two, I think Greg has a valid point. In his words, “I would caution people, though, that it is not safe to store food under oil at home. Botulism is a serious concern with this method. Commercial producers have ways to sterilize everything under the oil that is not possible to do at home. Let me add a few more words about botulism which comes from a common soil-born bacterium called Clostridium botulinum. Unlike other types of bacteria, this one thrives in low oxygen conditions and low acid conditions such as being submerged under oil. Commercially items preserved under oil are heated to 121 °C (250 °F) to kill the bacteria. Although the tomatoes are less prone to grow botulism due to its acid levels it can happen. It is more likely that it could grow on the other ingredients in oil such as the herbs and garlic. A week or two should be fine but I wouldn’t keep them longer than that.I think a better way to store your tomatoes for longer term is to wrap them tightly in plastic without the oil and store them in the freezer.But I think your dish wouldn’t be a problem in my home! I would eat them too quickly! “. So to be on the safer side, if you intend to keep them longer, keep them wrapped in plastic in the feezer sans oil.
Deeba @ PAB
About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.
33 Comments
Laurie
Those tomatoes look gorgeous and I love what you did with them! How beautiful. 🙂
Jeanne
Oh, I’s envious of those beautiful, properly rips tomatoes!! I also made slow-roasted tomaroes like this about a year ago and they are gorgeous, aren’t they? Try some o na pizza with goats cheese 🙂
Irene
Love the photos, and want to reach in and grab some of the tomatoes! The tomatoes around these parts are sad and dull these days.
Helene
They’re great. I love them on pasta.
Reeni♥
I made some of these last summer with tomatoes from my garden, do you know I ate them all in one night?! They were soooo good, I couldn’t help myself! Yours look beautiful!!
Elra
Good to know, and great recipe. Of course I’ll be making this, are you kidding? I can just let it go.
Cheers,
Elra
Nags
that’s awesome! i have to try this!
aquadaze
I’ve used the same recipe from channel 4, it is an absolute winner! And your pictures are gorgeous, as always
Sara
What a great idea, can’t wait to try this!
Vera
Deeba, what a fabulous idea! Somehow it never occurred to me to make these at home. I always buy and pay a lot 🙂 They must taste fantastic!
Nazarina A
Hi Deeba,
Hope you are well! I have been a little out of sorts but feel a little better especially going through your posts. This sun dried tomato tutorial is excellent and the pictures are beautiful!I was just enjoying all your Valentine’s endeavors and thinking that it is such a damn pity not to have you as friend living close by. I really mean that!!!
Ivy
Wow Deeba!! Thanks for sharing this with us. I never thought that you could dry the tomatoes in the oven. We get tomatoes year-round and they are even cheaper during the winter. I have bookmarked your recipe and I would like to give these a try.
Happy cook
Bautiful and delicous, can you please send me the whole bottle 😉
Akal's Saappadu
lovely tomatoes as you say! that is interesting, has come out good, as if they were sun dried!!!
as we don’t have enough sunny days here, I hurried to see the recipe!
going to try making these “tomatoes séchées sans le soleil”
Ben
Sun dried tomatoes without the sun? LOL amazing! Here we are starting to have longer days and soon spring and summer will bring us lots of sun and tomatoes. I will have to sun-dry me some! :-p
Greg
These look so good! I would caution people, though, that it is not safe to store food under oil at home. Botulism is a serious concern with this method. Commercial producers have ways to sterilize everything under the oil that is not possible to do at home.
Greg
Thanks for stopping by my blog. Let me add a few more words about botulism which comes from a common soil-born bacterium called Clostridium botulinum. Unlike other types of bacteria, this one thrives in low oxygen conditions and low acid conditions such as being submerged under oil. Commercially items preserved under oil are heated to 121 °C (250 °F) to kill the bacteria. Although the tomatoes are less prone to grow botulism due to its acid levels it can happen. It is more likely that it could grow on the other ingredients in oil such as the herbs and garlic. A week or two should be fine but I wouldn’t keep them longer than that.
I think a better way to store your tomatoes for longer term is to wrap them tightly in plastic without the oil and store them in the freezer.
But I think your dish wouldn’t be a problem in my home! I would eat them too quickly!
Sara
Those look fantastic. How delicious- and gorgeous pictures! I love sun-dried tomatoes. I discovered how to do them in the oven last summer when I had an overload from my garden. My life has been changed forever! lol.
Hanaâ
Great pictures, Deeba. Brings me back to summer of last year. I used the same recipe back then when we had a lot of tomatoes left after using them for the usual stuff like salsas, canning, and just eating them plain.
Lydia (The Perfect Pantry)
I make slow-roasted tomatoes like this every summer, and keep them in the freezer. Then, in the middle of winter on a cold, dreary day, I can have the taste of summer from my wonderful tomatoes!
Lisa
I eat sun-dried tomatoes regularly. Thank you so much for this informative post. I am going to try to make my own as soon as I have the time.
A_and_N
I love sun dried tomatoes and I have a recipe too to make it. I should do it too!
BTW that red tomato pic? You should consider it for Click’s Tomato contest if ever they decide to have a tomato contest 🙂
Superchef
Ive tried making this once wen i was in india..but sadly i was working then and the crows ate them! :(:( n here in seattle theres hardly any sun…so i guess i will have to resort to this method!! thanks a bunch for sharing! 🙂
The Blonde Duck
I’m impressed! I couldn’t have done that!
Lorraine @NotQuiteNigella
I adore sun dried tomatoes and these look amazing! I wish I had seen your recipe a few days ago when I bought a huge 2kg bag of tomatoes though. Ah well, next time!
Bharti
I love that stuff. It tastes amazing mixed with a little cream cheese on top of crackers.
Nicisme
I make a ton of these from the glut of tomatoes we get in the summer. I must say that I usually freeze them in a single layer and then pop them into a freezer bag for later use.
Yours look vibrant and delicious!
Yasmeen
the recipe sounds perfect for some one like me living in a sun-deprived cold place,thanks!
Yasmeen
the recipe sounds perfect for some one like me living in a sun-deprived cold place,thanks!
Sylvie
essence of summer indeed. It’s winter here in Virginia, and I am glad that I sun-dried and oven-dried tomatoes this past summer. It’s wonderful to have them know with their sweet slightly tangy concentrated tomatoe flavors: in salads, in dressing, in sauce… yum!
Hope many follow your advice!
Sylvie
essence of summer indeed. It’s winter here in Virginia, and I am glad that I sun-dried and oven-dried tomatoes this past summer. It’s wonderful to have them know with their sweet slightly tangy concentrated tomatoe flavors: in salads, in dressing, in sauce… yum!
Hope many follow your advice!
Kevin
Oven dried tomatoes are so good! I like the sound of keeping them with garlic and herbs.
sana
dear deeba,
hi this si the first time i am seeing ur blog. it is superb. now i will nt go and surf anyother sites. must appreciate the kind of rsearch u do for the recipies. are all the recipie tried and tested. had a dodt for sum dried tomatoes do we have to leave then for 7-8 hrs in oven at 50 c ,canntwe leave in sum. it summers here. i am in hyderabad. do give su the recipie of baked vegetables and chicken. keep up the excellent work. hope to u here from. take care.
sana