Dehydrated Tomatoes

When I was at the farmer's market the other day, I bought 3 pounds of cherry tomatoes for $8 (2 bags for $4). I had seen a recipe for a variation of sun-dried tomatoes which used a dehydrator.

Dehydrating tomatoes is much easier than canning. All I had to do was wash the tomatoes and cut them in half. I spread them evenly on my dehydrating trays and forgot about them for 24 hours until they were crunchy.

I decided to count the tomatoes, for reference, and had 183. I used all four of the trays, so I guess I put about 40-50 per tray. As they dried, they were so small they fell through the slats in the trays.

After they were dry, I put them into two old jam jars. The recipe recommended adding a couple cloves of garlic and a teaspoon of salt to each jar then filling them with olive oil. Since these haven't been sealed properly, they are in my refrigerator until we need them.

I thought they might soften up a little after they had been in the oil awhile, but so far they are still crunchy. Next time, I probably won't dry them so long.