Two Feet in the Dirt

Several years ago, while working at a farmers market, I learned from a customer about her method for drying Roma tomatoes in the oven and freezing them to use over the winter. Ever since, I’ve been dying to do the same, but never got around to it until this summer. Since we use most of our Roma tomatoes for canning and really needed another outlet for the cherry tomatoes (besides our mouths!), we decided to oven dry cherry tomatoes instead. The result was exceptional! This is a perfect technique to preserve cherry tomatoes for eating in the near future or for freezing to use in the winter. Even better, you can substitute these for expensive, store-bought sun-dried tomatoes!

Oven-Dried Cherry Tomatoes

Ingredients:

• Cherry tomatoes
• Olive oil
• Salt (optional)

Directions:

1. 1. Preheat oven to 225.
2. 2. Cut cherry tomatoes in half and toss with a glug of olive oil and a few sprinkles of salt (if using). Place cherry tomatoes cut side up on a parchment-paper-lined baking pan or a non-stick baking sheet.
3. 3. Slow roast in the oven for about 3 hours until starting to dry out, but also still a little juicy (see the picture above). Refrigerate for use within the next week or freeze for later use.