Tomato is one plant which never disappoints in terms of produce, if basics are done right. In our organic terrace garden tomato is in fact one of the most highly producing plants (here is my earlier post on how to grow tomatoes). Generally we grow around eight to ten regular tomato and four to five cherry tomato plants every winter and we have never had to buy tomatoes from the market. In fact there is a lot of surplus and even after sharing some of it with our neighbors we are still left with lots and lots of fresh and juicy tomatoes. And that is when my sister Smita Mallick who is a budding chef and food blogger comes to rescue. She preserves the tomatoes in various way which makes them even more delicious and I really mean it. She has been kind enough to write the following post on How to Preserve Tomatoes.

Though tomato is grown only in winter, we have been enjoying the taste of our own home grown produce throughout the year because of her preserves. I am sure this post will enable you to do the same. Please don’t forget to follow Smita at Instagram and let her know whether you liked the post or not.

There are multiple ways of how to preserve tomatoes for a longer time. The easiest way is to store them is to freeze them in a zip pouch after blanching and taking out skin and seeds. Cherry tomatoes can be directly frozen and stored in a zip pouch. In this post however I am going to show you two step by step methods of preserving tomatoes which do involve a little effort. But in these ways tomatoes can be stored up to a year and also makes the tomatoes even tastier. The first preservation method is making tomato paste and the second one is to sun dry the tomatoes.

How to Make Sun Dried Tomatoes at Home

For this recipe you can use any type of tomatoes. Working with cherry tomatoes for this recipe can be a little tiresome as each tomato needs to be de-seeded by hand. Hence you can choose to use regular tomatoes for this recipe. Sun dried tomatoes can be used directly in pasta and other dishes. To use them in salads you need to soak them in warm water for 3 to 4 minutes before use. You need now throw away the seeds. They can be stored for the next season.

1. Wash the tomatoes and pat dry with kitchen towel.
2. Cut them into two halves and take out all the seeds and the juice.
3. Add dried mix Italian herb, salt and olive oil to the tomatoes and mix well.
4. Grease any plate or tray with olive oil and put the tomatoes skin side down.
5. Arrange the tomatoes such that each individual piece is separated. This way all pieces will get access to sunlight.
6. Sun dry it for 4 to 5 days or till the moisture evaporates. Sun rays not only help evaporate the moisture, they also help in killing bacteria.
7. Store the sun dried tomatoes in an air tight jar and keep it in refrigerator.
8. These can be stored up to a year.