Sun-dried tomatoes are a masterpiece Lenten cold snack from sunny Italy. Sun-dried tomatoes are used in pasta, pizza, salads, and bruschetta. They are also good on their own. For example, with a slice of white bread soaked in spicy tomato oil and herbs.

Ingredients:
Plum-shaped tomatoes – 0.9 kg
Thyme and rosemary – 2 sprigs each
Sea salt – 10g
Sugar – 10 gr
Garlic – 2 cloves
Olive oil (extra virgin) – 70 ml

In stores you can find jars, but they are relatively expensive. And in the composition of a lot of preservatives and other chemicals.

Officially, dried tomatoes are made by Italian grandmothers and dried on the sunny rooftops of their village quarters. The process is extremely difficult to replicate in the local area. Only in midsummer, when the sunny weather settles in for a few days, can something like this be repeated at the cottage. But wait for summer is still a decent long time. Therefore, we suggest repeating the recipe for cooking sun-dried tomatoes, but at home. The taste of dried tomatoes, prepared according to this recipe, will be almost the same as those you can taste in Italy. The main thing is to pick tasty ground, not “plastic” plum-shaped tomatoes (the pelati variety) or tasty fleshy cherry tomatoes.

1 Rinse the tomatoes, leave the tails.
Cut the tomatoes in half. Salt and season with sugar. Some recipes advise to take out the middle with the seeds of tomatoes. But I will refrain from this! as in the seeds is the whole zymes of the product. They are what give such a vibrant flavor to sun-dried tomatoes. Italian grandmothers do exactly that.
2 Now let’s move on to the method of drying. Tomatoes in natural conditions, that is – drying in the sun, dried at a temperature of 50 to 80 deg. With the imitation, you can use a regular oven, put the temperature at 100 degrees and open the door ajar. Place tomatoes on parchment.
3 The drying process will last 8-10 hours. Periodically turning the tray so that the tomatoes do not dry out. I used a special dryer for vegetables and fruits. I put tomatoes sliced side down and a couple of garlic cloves for flavor, so they would dry faster. Set the temperature to 60 degrees. And in 6 hours the tomatoes were ready. And the drying was done evenly.
4 When drying tomatoes in an electric dryer, the tomatoes are covered with a lid.
5 After 6 hours. There should be some moisture left in the tomatoes.
6 Now let’s preserve our dried tomatoes for this: sterilize the jars, put the dried tomatoes and garlic in them, add sprigs of fresh thyme and rosemary, and pour the warmed olive oil over them.
7 Cover with a lid and strain again. This will make a great tasty starter.
8 Store dried tomatoes well and long in a dry, dark room. Be sure to use the oil in which the tomatoes were infused to make salad dressings. Very tasty.