Sun-dried Cherry Tomatoes

These are my candy.  Is it possible to eat too many cherry tomatoes?  I’m being serious… I cannot control myself; it’s a real problem.  I only planted two cherry tomato plants this year.  But then I had all these volunteer tomato plants… probably five or so, and I let them grow to see what kind of tomatoes they were.  Well, they were all cherry tomatoes, every single volunteer plant is a cherry tomato.  And I couldn’t pull them once I saw they were cherry tomatoes.  No way! Not going to happen!  So my garden looks a bit overgrown and I have to jump over the volunteer tomatoes in order to walk around the garden beds, but it’s worth it because I love cherry tomatoes.

Sooo many cherry tomatoes.  I have five different varieties. One of the plants might even be some sort of hybrid plant…. it has ping-pong ball sized tomatoes, and I’ve never planted a tomato plant like that before! No idea where it came from!  I have orange cherry tomatoes, red cherry tomatoes, sweet 100s, grape tomatoes, and the ping-pong sized cherry tomatoes. I have too many to eat myself.  Every time I go out to the garden I pick a handful and eat them as I’m picking  the other vegetables, pulling weeds, or watering.  And then I’ll pick a ton of the orange cherry tomatoes because they’re my favorite, bring them inside and eat them while I make dinner.

I’ve been eating cherry tomatoes and cottage cheese for breakfast. Cherry tomatoes with cucumbers and olive oil or cherry tomatoes in a salad for lunch.  And handfuls of cherry tomatoes tossed into whatever I’m making for dinner.

I have so many cherry tomatoes, I honestly can’t keep up with them. I’ve been giving them away and still feel like I have hundreds and hundreds.  So I’ve been making sun-dried tomatoes.  Lots and lots of sun-dried tomatoes.  I feel like a failure if I waste any garden produce, so I’m currently stocking up on my supply of sun-dried tomatoes.

Sun-dried tomatoes are crazy easy to make if you have a dehydrator.  You can make them in the oven too but I find that I hate leaving the oven on low heat all day in the summer. With the dehydrator, I just cut the cherry tomatoes in half, place them on the dehydrator trays, and sprinkle the tomatoes with fresh herbs, salt, and pepper.  My dehydrator is really, really old. It was my grandma’s…probably from the 70s or 80s but it works and is one of my favorite underrated kitchen appliances.  If I ever have to buy a new dehydrator it would be an Excalibur Dehydrator, they’re a little pricey, but top of the line.  It takes anywhere from 8-24 hours for me to make the sun-dried tomatoes.  The bigger, really juicy tomatoes take almost 24 hours sometimes.  The smaller, grape tomatoes only take about 8 hours.  So check your tomatoes frequently when you’re making sun-dried tomatoes. You can bake them in the oven at 250 degrees for at least 4 hours but it might take longer, depending on your tomatoes.

I like to eat sun-dried cherry tomatoes plain or throw a handful in with zoodles, scrambled eggs, chicken… the possibilities are endless.  They’re also amazing soaked in olive oil, maybe add a little garlic.  I find sun-dried cherry tomatoes addictive and have added them to practically everything.

Sun-dried tomatoes will keep for three months in the freezer, although I’ve kept them for six months just fine and for a month in the fridge.  How do you like to use sun-dried tomatoes?

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Sun-dried Cherry Tomatoes

Prep Time

30 mins

Cook Time

12 hrs

Total Time

12 hrs 30 mins

 

Simple sun-dried cherry tomatoes - easy to make with a dehydrator or in the oven. Cherry tomato halves, sprinkled with fresh herbs, salt, and pepper.

Servings: 2 cups

Author: Emily

Ingredients

• 2 pounds of cherry tomatoes cut in half
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley minced
• 1/4 cup fresh basil mined
• 1/8 cup oregano minced
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Halve cherry tomatoes and arrange on dehydrator trays cut side up.
2. Spinkle tomatoes with parsley, basil, and oregano.
3. Lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4. Dehydrator may take 8-24 hours, depending on your tomatoes (or how old you dehydrator is!)
5. Sun-dried tomatoes are done when slightly crispy.
6. If making in the oven, heat oven to 250 degrees, arrange tomatoes on baking sheets, bake for at least 4 hours, until dried.
7. Sun-dried tomatoes will keep for 3 months in the freezer or 1 month in the fridge.