DRY YOUR OWN TOMATOES

Home-made dried tomatoes are delicious in a salad, in a quiche, on a pizza, or with cold meats and cheese. Ina Paarman explains how…

• Use only top-quality fresh tomatoes – the drying process won’t improve tomatoes that lack flavour. Roma tomatoes dry the best thanks to their thick, dense flesh.

• Process the tomatoes as soon as you have picked them. They can be dried peeled or unpeeled, and in halves, quarters or smaller pieces. Small or fairly thin pieces usually produce the best results.

• Most fresh produce have to be treated before you dry them. We use a solution of 10ml ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and 50ml salt in 500ml water. Drizzle this over the tomatoes to prevent discolouration.

This is how

Preheat the oven to 150˚C. Halve each tomato and remove the seeds and pulp. Arrange the tomatoes, cut sides up, on baking trays. Sprinkle with a little salt and caster sugar, and drizzle with olive oil. Roast the tomatoes until most of the moisture has evaporated. Depending on how many you dry at a time, this could take up to an hour. Move the fruit around occasionally to prevent them from burning and sticking to the tray. Remove from the oven, leave to cool and then arrange them tightly in sterilised jars. Cover with olive oil. • Tomatoes can also be dried on wooden racks in the sun – but store them indoors in the late afternoon to protect them from dew, as damp will make them turn mouldy.