Today, tomatoes are one of the most common vegetables in the world - more than 70 tons of tomatoes are produced annually. Such a popularity of vegetables in almost all cuisines of European and Mediterranean countries led to the emergence of a huge number of methods of its preparation, one of which is drying. Sun-dried tomatoes, despite their very recent occurrence, have already managed to conquer gourmets and establish themselves as a high-quality and successfully integrated product in cooking. Our article invites you to get acquainted with the basic properties of dried tomatoes, their benefits and harms, as well as cooking methods.
Properties of Dried Tomatoes
The appearance of dried tomatoes is not very impressive, but this does not affect their taste at all, and sun-dried tomatoes are as good as canned or fresh in the amount of nutrients.
Their rich spicy taste and aroma, as well as versatility of application will delight lovers of delicacies for a year, subject to the correct cooking technique. Let us consider in more detail what useful properties and disadvantages this method of cooking vegetables has.
Benefit
Sun-dried tomatoes are able to enrich our body with a whole list of useful nutritional components due to the fact that they do not deteriorate, which means that they store all the necessary vitamin and mineral elements in themselves for a long time.
- The product in question has a fairly extensive range of beneficial properties that affect health:
- Since dried tomatoes have an average calorie content, they can easily be integrated in moderation into the compositions of various diets and proper nutrition. By including them in your daily diet, you will transform and significantly diversify it.
- Being a potent antidepressant, dried tomatoes will help improve mood and general condition, as well as positively affect the functioning of brain activity and contribute to improving memory.
- Due to the preservation of lycopene antioxidant during heat treatment, dried tomatoes inhibit the aging process and significantly reduce the risk of malignant tumors.
- Due to the high potassium content in sun-dried tomatoes, the cardiovascular system improves and the occurrence of swelling is prevented.
- The vitamins and minerals present in large quantities in dried tomatoes effectively affect the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, as well as vision and the circulatory system.
Important! Before you use dried tomatoes, you need to soak them for several minutes in warm water to remove accumulated salt and give the fruit a more delicate and elegant taste.
Harm
As with any product, dried tomatoes have certain contraindications, and a dried vegetable can only cause harm when overeating, as it contains a high rate of oxalic acid, which destructively affects the liver.
- It is worthwhile to refrain from eating dried tomatoes for people suffering from:
- chronic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract;
- acute diseases of the liver and pancreas;
- the presence of stones in the bladder;
- gout
- joint diseases;
- increased tendency to food allergies;
- hypertension.
How to choose and prepare tomatoes for drying
For drying, small, meaty tomatoes grown in the sun, and not in the greenhouse, are ideal, since they have a more pronounced aroma. Most often, when choosing tomatoes for drying, they are inclined specifically to red plum-like varieties with an undamaged surface, always mature and without spots, on the grounds that there are much less juice and seeds in such tomatoes, therefore, the drying process will be faster and more productive.
List of the best varieties of tomatoes for drying:
- "Bell";
- "Roma";
- "Amber Cup";
- "Donald F1";
- "Caspar F1";
- "Date fruit";
- "Shuttle".
Preparing tomatoes for drying consists of several stages:
- To begin with, vegetables must be well washed and cleaned from the seed chamber, stalks and partitions, and also, if desired, leave or remove the skin.
- Then you need to cut the fruits at your discretion - along or across, preferably in rings.
- The next stage is a short drying. You can also pickle tomatoes before drying, if desired.
- An important point is the choice of spices that you are going to add to tomatoes. Traditional Italian herbs are ideal: basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme, etc., but cumin, ginger, celery, barberry and coriander are also good options. Selected mixtures must be thoroughly crushed before use, in order to maintain a more saturated aroma.
- Of the consumables that are needed for drying, various baking sheets such as wire racks or sieves will be especially useful, and in no case aluminum ones, since they actively react with acids released from tomatoes. It is recommended to grease baking sheets with vegetable oil to avoid fruit sticking. Mandatory materials also include foil or parchment paper, where tomatoes will later need to be placed.
Did you know? The recipe for sun-dried tomatoes came to us from Italy, where the vegetable first began to undergo drying in the 19th century, and it was then that it became widespread around the world. Today, at home, dried fruits are no longer so popular and practically are not used as an independent dish, but more often served as a snack.
How to dry tomatoes at home
Of course, in all supermarkets you can find ready-made packaged sun-dried tomatoes, but it’s cheaper and much easier to dry tomatoes at home. The process of drying tomatoes will not take you much time and effort, and the result will please you for a long time. We offer you to learn what methods can be used to prepare the described vegetable culture, as well as to learn some simple and interesting recipes.
In the oven
The fastest and easiest way to get dried tomatoes is to cook them in the oven.
The ingredients used are as follows:
- the fruits themselves, preferably with a thin skin;
- sea salt;
- spices to choose from;
- refined vegetable oil;
- garlic;
- a teaspoon of chopped pepper.
The cooking process is simple:
- First of all, be sure to prepare the tomatoes - wash them thoroughly, dry and cut into two halves. For drying in the oven, cherry tomatoes are most suitable due to their small size, and therefore, fast cooking.
- Next, you need to preheat the oven to 130 ° C and spread the cut fruit on a baking sheet covered with foil or parchment.
- The next step is to sprinkle the tomatoes with a pre-selected mixture of spices and powdered garlic, add a few drops of vegetable oil, and then push the pan into the preheated oven.
- Cooking tomatoes will be 2 hours. To create air circulation, the oven door needs to be opened a little, but if the oven is already equipped with convection, this should not be done. It is also advisable to turn the tomatoes from time to time.
- At the end of the cooking process, the finished snack is transferred to a jar and poured with vegetable oil.
Video: dried tomatoes in the oven
Dried tomatoes cooked in the oven are ideal for spinning for the winter, but you can eat them immediately, using various dishes as a snack.
In the electric dryer
Tomatoes are also dried using an electric dryer.
To prepare the dish you will need the same ingredients with which you need to do the following:
- After you wash and peel the tomatoes, they need to be cut in half, and then laid out on any clean cloth with the cut down so that all the juice flows out.
- After some time, turn the fruit over, add salt, prepared spices and oil and put on the bottom of the device.
- Leave the tomatoes to dry for 7 hours, after setting the dryer to 80 degrees.
- Fill the prepared jars in advance with the finished snack, placing 2-3 small cloves of garlic on top, drizzle with oil and close tightly.
Tomatoes cooked in this way will decorate any dish and will delight you as a preparation in the winter with an excellent taste.
Important! Carefully monitor the salt content of sun-dried tomatoes. The daily rate of sodium should not be higher than 6 g, but 100 g of dried tomatoes contains about 0.12 g of sodium, so it is not recommended to salt dishes in which such fruits have already been added.
In the microwave
Another equally effective option for cooking the desired dried tomatoes is their microwave drying. It also does not take much time and effort, and the result is no worse than in the above methods.
With the components prepared in advance, do the following algorithm:
- Cut the previously washed and peeled fruits in half, sprinkle each part with plenty of oil.
- Then sprinkle the tomatoes with your favorite herbs and spices, place the vegetables in an even layer on a plate and send to dry in the microwave for 5 minutes at the highest power.
- When the time runs out, the device must be turned on for another 11 minutes, without taking out the dish.
- At the end of this time, take out a plate and leave the tomatoes to brew for 5-10 minutes, after which you can safely transfer them to a jar, pour plenty of oil. The dish is ready.
Video: dried tomatoes in the microwave
Basic storage rules
After preparing tomatoes, the important question of their storage comes to the fore, since improper contents of dried fruits can provoke weathering of the aroma and even mold.
In order for vegetables to be stored correctly and not to lose their nutritional components and useful properties during this process, before putting them into jars, you need to let them cool completely for some time.
Other storage rules for dried tomatoes include the following:
- It is recommended to store ready-made tomatoes in a glass container, preferably in sterilized jars, and use airtight lids to close them
- after you put the tomatoes in a jar and fill it with all the necessary ingredients, it must be left open for 5-7 hours at normal room temperature;
- you need to keep vegetables in the refrigerator, but since they will be stored in this way for only six months, you can also use the freezer;
- the prerequisite for storing dried tomatoes is the addition of olive oil, but you can do without it, using any clay dishes or ordinary paper bags to keep vegetables.
Did you know? In addition to red, there are also green, pink, purple, orange and even black tomatoes.
How to use dried tomatoes
Thanks to the rapid development of technologies for manufacturing dried tomatoes, their use in cooking is becoming increasingly extensive. Each culture has its own, special recipes for the preparation of this vegetable. Most often, dried tomatoes are complemented by a variety of meat and fish dishes, and it will also be a good solution to add them to sauces and dressings.
Food lovers prefer this delicacy in the form of a sandwich, laying tomatoes on top on bread and cheese. This is the easiest way to use the product.
Dried tomatoes are also suitable as a filling for baking, if cut, mix them with other vegetables and add, for example, to the pie. The most win-win option for using the product is to add it to salads - it’s all about oil, which gives the dish a unique aroma and taste and makes it very satisfying. Sun-dried tomatoes are also served as side dishes for the rest of the dishes.
Modern technology provides many opportunities to cook tomatoes in their own way, unique, experimenting and using all your imagination. In addition to the enormous benefits that dried tomatoes bring to a person, they are also a great addition to any dish and an independent hearty product that will pleasantly please you and your loved ones.
