The easy way to turn your prolific cherry tomatoes into dried tomatoes. Never feel guilty again about tossing cherry tomatoes because you couldn’t eat them fast enough. Preserve cherry tomatoes with this simple method, and enjoy them all winter long in soups, stews, and more.
The easy way to preserve cherry tomatoes as dried tomatoes
Have you ever tossed cherry tomatoes in the compost bucket because they started going moldy before you could use them all up? I have, and more so when I grow my own.
Cherry tomatoes are abundant. If you are growing your own, by now you are overrun. How many cherry tomatoes can a family eat? While you could throw them into salads, sauces, and vegetable dishes, there are still too many to cope with. Those plants just keep producing until frost.
Did you know that cherry tomatoes were developed in Israel? That was news to me. I like them even more knowing that.
When I have the delicious problem of too many cherry tomatoes I dehydrate them. It couldn’t be easier. You can even add them to a tray that is drying other vegetables. I have chard drying in my dehydrator right now but there are 4 empty trays. I’m adding my extra cherry tomatoes to those trays.
You don’t even need to peel them. You don’t even need to remove the seeds.
Drying cherry tomatoes the easy way.
- Wash the cherry tomatoes and drain.
- Slice each one in half.
- Lay them on the dehydrator tray in a single layer.
- Dry overnight, in your dehydrator. They dry faster than regular tomatoes.
- In the morning turn the cherry tomatoes over, and rearrange the trays to help them dry evenly. Dry a few more hours until they are crisp and brittle.
- Cool.
- Package and store.
To use dried cherry tomatoes:
You can grind them in a spice grinder to make tomato powder.
You can reconstitute them with boiling water for 30 min. Drain and serve in a salad or as a side dish.
You can add them, as is, to stews and sauces.
Now that you’ve seen how easy it is to dry cherry tomatoes, I hope you never feel guilty again about tossing cherry tomatoes because you couldn’t eat them fast enough. Now you can dry them and save the guilt.
Your Turn:
What is your favorite way to preserve tomatoes, or cherry tomatoes, for winter use? Have you tried dehydrating them? If you want more ideas, check out these other posts to help you dry more fruits and vegetables for winter.
Dehydrated cherry tomatoes are the best! We aim for 3000 of them when we have an abundant harvest so we don’t have to be stingy using them.
I roast cherry tomatoes with a bit of olive oil (and sometimes a drizzle of balsamic vinegar) then freeze them – two pounds fills a half sheet pan nicely and I portion them into four quart or pint vacuum sealed bags for freezing. Just seal the bags – don’t try to vacuum the air out! They make a quick and easy “sauce” for tortellini or other pasta.
And two pounds makes a small batch of tomato jam – I’ll let cherry tomato halves macerate in sugar in a large skillet while I work on other projects then add whatever else the recipe calls for. From starting to cook the jam to sealed jars on the counter and dishes done doesn’t take more than an hour or two.
What a great idea…love your site with all the pictures and new ideas. Off to put some of my harvest into the dehydrator…:)