Sungold cherry tomatoes are my favorite and they produce for weeks. I often oven roast the tomatoes but I had access to my dear friend’s dehydrator and took advantage of it. The process took several hours and resulted in wonderful dried tomatoes. I followed the directions below to preserve the dried tomatoes with olive oil, fresh basil, garlic, oregano, salt. The result was delicious seasoned, dried tomatoes for pizza, chicken, and other dishes.
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INGREDIENTS:
- 3-4 cups of olive oil depending on the size of canning jar
- Fresh basil (you’ll need a good amount of leaves to include in each layer, more on this below)
- 4-5 cloves of minced garlic
- ½ cup of dried oregano
- Kosher salt
- 3-5 pounds of sun dried tomatoes (try and find the imported variety; here’s a link to some organic sun dried tomatoes just in case you can’t get them from Italy) (Note: I used my Sungold tomatoes from my garden)
DIRECTIONS:
- Note: I used a dehyrator to first dry the Sungold tomatoes from my garden. It took several hours and did a great job.
- Start by finding a large, wide mouth, mason jar; pint size is fine, but if you can find larger jars they’ll store more tomatoes. Wash your mason jar very well and you can even go as far as sterilizing the jar. Moreover, it’s vital that your hands and any other tool used for the process are exceptionally clean.
- Next, begin layering your unseasoned sun dried tomatoes in the jar in the following order: 1. layer of tomatoes, 2. sprinkle of kosher salt, 3. garlic, 4. pinch of dried oregano, 4. layer of fresh basil leaves
- Repeat the above layering process until you’re nearly at the top of the jar (don’t over stuff the jar because your last step includes filling the jar with olive oil).
- When you’re finished with each layer push down with a flat object to compress the ingredients.
- Finally, fill the jar with olive oil, making sure that the tomatoes are completely submerged (note: the oil will need some time to settle so make sure all of the tomatoes are covered).
- Screw on the lid tightly and store the jar in a cool, dark, closet or cupboard.
- You’ll need to let the tomatoes sit 6-8 days before consuming them (the oil needs to soften the tomatoes and you also need to let the garlic, basil, and oregano do it’s thing).
- Note: I refrigerated the tomatoes to make sure they would not spoil!
Note and Disclaimer (viz a viz Clostridium Botulinum) It’s vital when you cure vegetables in olive oil that you thoroughly clean the jar itself as well as all the ingredients and utensils used in the preparation. My family has been curing and pickling vegetables (as well as tomatoes for tomato sauce) for well over 50 years and we haven’t had any health issues. Although our family has been doing this for many years without incident, there aren’t good studies establishing this practice as safe. Many food safety authorities advise against preserving tomatoes and garlic in oil due the risk of bacterial contamination and proliferation of spores, especially clostridium botulinum, which could be fatal.
Recipe adapted from Scordo.com