Tis the Season: Sundried Tomatoes

Last year we made some wicked sundried tomatoes - they were good, and lasted until about December, when my snacking had rendered them all gone.

Last year we grew a cherry tomato 'Super Sweet 100', a grape tomato 'Napa Grape Hybrid', and a slicing tomato which never really produced until October, and I can't remember its name.

Since we had a boatload of tiny tomatoes (too many to eat all the time), we sundried them with absolutely fabulous results! We also noted that we wanted to grow meatier tomatoes this year, with the specific idea to have tomatoes that would sun dry beautifully, and would be better for canning.

This year we grew 'Green Zebra' (aka. The Oakland A's tomato), 'Roma', and 'San Marzano'. The Romas and SM's aren't doing all that well - I think the soil we put them in is not all that great and our drip system drips constantly (a broken valve that is on my list of things to fix this week while staycationing), so we are getting a lot of blossom end rot. (Nevermind that I had saved countless eggshells and ground them up just to use when transplanting my tomatoes into the ground!! But I think this end rot is due to inconsistent watering... Drats.)

And let me tell you, slicing large tomatoes in half to sun dry is a hell of a lot easier than all of those tiny tomatoes! The whole project took about 15 minutes.

Steps for Sundried Tomatoes
1. Slice tomatoes in half lengthwise
2. Put them on drying rack (we use a baker's cooling rack situated on a cookie sheet, fits perfectly)
3. Sprinkle with salt.
4. Cover with cheesecloth
5. Set in sun and wait


1. tomatoes, 2. tomatoes, 3. tomatoes, 4. tomatoes

I wonder how long they'll take to dry this year?