An ideal way to preserve tomatoes all through the year.
Take fully ripened tomatoes. Check for its firmness, blemishes and for any insects bite. Wash them thoroughly and score them for removal of skin. Immerse them in water and blanch them for about 40 seconds. You may find the skin starts seperating from flesh. Drain them and let it dry. Once it’s completely dried, peel off the skin cut in halves and deseed.
Take a sterilised glass jar, arrange the tomatoes in layer, sprinkle rock salt and keep making layers and repeat same process. Cover the jar (airtight) and keep in a dark place for 4 days.
After 4 days, now pour in cooking vinegar and let tomatoes get completely immersed in vinegar. Close the jar and let it remain for another 3 days. After 7 days of pickling, it’s time to get it sun dried.
Use aluminum foil to spread the tomatoes. Ensure sufficient space is there between each halves. Dry them in sunlight. Occasionally, keep turning each halves so that it dries up fast.
To get the tomatoes completely dried, it may take minimum 2 weeks. Once it’s dried, it’s time to make sure it’s completely free from any Pathogenic organisms. Therefore keep it in a preheated oven at 80 degree Celsius for about 10 minutes.
Remove and allow to cool. Once it’s cold, store in airtight glass jar. As it contain salt, while using the dried tomatoes, ensure usage of minimal salt.
Happy Cooking
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