Sun Dried Tomatoes are ripe tomatoes which are placed in the sun to remove most of the water content. Twenty pounds of fresh, ripe tomatoes will dry down to just one
pound of sun dried tomatoes. Sun dried tomatoes have the same nutritional value as the fresh tomatoes they are made from: they are high in Lycopene, antioxidants,
vitamin C and low in sodium, fat, and calories.
Sun dried tomatoes were born in Italy as a way to store fresh tomatoes for the winter. Fresh tomatoes would be dried in the hot sun on the tile roofs as a way to
preserve them for the cold months. Today they are still dried in the sun, but in much larger quantities and under strict quality controls.
Today, sundried tomatoes are used more in the US as a gourmet ingredient than they are as a staple in Italy. Sun-dried tomatoes can be used in a wide variety of recipes and come in a variety of shapes, colors, and tomatoes. Traditionally they were made from dried red plum tomatoes, but
they can be purchased in yellow varieties as well.
Spice up your next meal with some sun dried tomato pesto, or toss some diced sdt's into your cooked green
beens or a tossed salad. They work anywhere tomatoes do!
