Has anyone ever made their own sun-dried tomatoes? (frozen, tuna, pizza)

[tahiti]

I'm going to have an over abundance of tomatoes this season and I'm thinking of ways to use them.

I googled how to do it, and while I wouldn't leave them in the sun for 2 weeks outside, I can use my oven.

It seems pretty easy enough, but wondering about taste. Thoughts?

[Threestep2]

Try Alton Bown's version :

skin, seed, lay out on a lined cookie sheet with just a bit of salt and garlic. My oven has a dry setting. Otherwise - cheap paper airfilters and let it dry outside.

[Delaneyland]

I use my food dehydrator. Just the thought of the flies making deposits on tomatoes dried outside makes me gag. I usually cut them in slices about 3/8 of an inch thick, put them in the dehydrator, and turn them a couple hours later. I usually only dry them till they get a leathery texture but you can actually dry them to a chip like dryness.

[Debsi]

There's a blog I like to read called Kalyn's Kitchen. It's really a good food blog. She made something she calls "slow roasted tomatoes" that looked really good. (I don't grow tomatoes so I haven't tried the recipe). If you google for it, I'm sure you can find her recipe. She said she freezes them and uses them in pasta etc.

[Torrie]

You could also store them in olive oil, great for on top of pizzas.

[Cattknap]

What Torrie said - stored in olive oil, sun dried tomatoes taste amazing....they are great in sandwiches, salads, pasta, pizza and dips.

[BlueWillowPlate]

I have always frozen them.
Would they really be okay stored in olive oil? Would I need to especially seal them?
(Keep in mind, I live in a very humid climate.)
Debsi, that slow-roasted recipe looks awesome--thank you for posting that!
For anyone else interested, here it is:
Kalyn's Kitchen, Slow-Roasted Tomatoes

[Debsi]

Originally Posted by cil

I have always frozen them.
Would they really be okay stored in olive oil? Would I need to especially seal them?
(Keep in mind, I live in a very humid climate.)
Debsi, that slow-roasted recipe looks awesome--thank you for posting that!
For anyone else interested, here it is:
Kalyn's Kitchen, Slow-Roasted Tomatoes

Don't they look awesome?! My friend at work made the recipe too. She only had 9 tomatoes somebody gave her and she said it didn't make very much because the tomatoes shrink so much during cooking, but she loved it.

I think I'll have to grow tomatoes next year! Unfortunately I have a really shady yard so I don't know how well they'll do. Tomatoes are too expensive this year to make the recipe from store-bought...

[BlueWillowPlate]

Debsi, if you could just find one little sunny spot, you could place your tomato plant(s) there in a pot(s). I began doing that in Colorado simply because it is such a short growing season and that way I could move them to the garage if necessary. Now I still do it because we don't have a real yard yet.
I am excited to try that recipe because I even have the right variety of tomato.
That sun-dried tomato flavor, along with fresh basil pesto, really is the essence of summer.
Thanks to tahiti and everyone who contributed to this thread, I tend to get excited about this kind of stuff.