Sundried Tomatoes, Eggplants
August 20th, 2006
I never thought I’d say that but I think we are lucky to live in this area where the summers are hot and dry; perfect condition for baking jam under the sun and drying fruits! There were couple weeks this summer where it was 100F + during days. It cools off at night, which is wonderful, too.
I have been drying vegetables for the last few years, mostly the tomatoes. It is quite common to dry small eggplants, okra and apricots in Turkey.
If you have the chance, I’d suggest you take some time to cut them up for drying. Other tha laying them under the sun, there is hardly anything else to be done. Just leave it up to the sun. Dried tomatoes are good for putting in the stews, pasta sauces breads, paninis etc. Recently I have been dropping couple of them in the hummus as well; quite tasty. Dried fruits can be added to your morning cereal or you can make your own trail mix with them. Unless you are picky about their color, I’d suggest putting them under the sun the way they are; without dipping in any sort of preservative to preserve their colors.
For tomatoes, I have sliced them about 1/3 - 1/2 of an inch thick. Lightly salted and lay them down on cooling racks. Covered with cheesecloth, making sure it does not touch the tomatoes and let them dry. Depending on the conditions the time it takes to dry changes. If you live in humid areas or have not enough space for drying them under the sun, you can use your oven; let it heat to 200F, and keep its door ajar to let the moisture to escape.
In our summer heat it took about 2 - 3 days for each batch to dry. Just be patient; you do not want to have soggy, half dried fruit.
Once dry enough, you can keep them in glass jars as they are or mix with olive oil, garlic, rosemary mix.
This time, the first time, I am also drying eggplants. First I skinned as shown. Knowing that they will shrink quite a bit, I cut them in about an inch cubes. Laid them under the sun as did we the tomatoes. Once they are dry enough, I will keep them in a bag made out of cotton fabric so they do not spoil.
Carrying over some of the summer; that’s what this whole food preserving is all about.
August 21st, 2006 at 5:37 am
Thank you so much for this post. I’ve always wanted to know how to dry tomatoes the natural way. Do you add salt to your tomatoes before drying ?
August 22nd, 2006 at 5:05 am
So what in fact do you do with dried eggplant cubes? Can you also leave them whole, scoop out the interior and stuff them for instance?
August 22nd, 2006 at 2:38 pm
Oooh! I’m intrigued by the sundried eggplant!
August 23rd, 2006 at 8:59 am
Krithika, sprinkling a bit of salt helps a lot when drying and with its taste. Try it, it is easier than you think. :)
Robert, we have a eggplant rice pilaf recipe that I am hoping I can use these dried cubes. It is very common to dry the eggplents for stuffing later on, but it is not as easy to find small eggplants here as they are in Turkey. I believe they scoop out the interior first and dry out the rest. So the stuffed eggplants can be made throughout the year.
Garrett, it also soaks in less grease when deep fried :)
September 5th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
I love the artistic photo of the eggplant. So you do leave some of the skins on?
September 20th, 2006 at 6:32 am
Hey Denise; yes, some of the skins are left on to help the taste.
May 20th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
[…] Last summer I have sun dried some of the excess tomato and eggplant growing in our backyard. Kept the tomatoes in jars and hung the dried eggplant in a loose sack made out of cheese cloth. Finally last week I had a chance to make a dish out of them, this time also using the green garlic that was pulled out of the garden. Using the pomegranate concentrate (or molasses, however you want to address that lovely syrup) in this dish is a must, if you ask me. Definitely brings out the taste of the eggplant and adds another dimension, which is always welcome to my palate. Sourness. […]