Dried tomatoes

A lot of vegetable crops grow in the vastness of our Motherland, which are quite common and in demand. Among them are undoubtedly tomatoes. And it is not the essence that somewhere they are torn off at the stage of milk maturity and placed to "reach" in a warm place. Be that as it may, our culinary workers have something to be proud of - we are great at marinating and salting tomatoes, green and red, harvesting them for a long winter.

But once in our gastronomic life there was a significant event: on the table there was a tomato of a not entirely familiar type - cured. By the way, almost all, without exception, the first acquaintance with cured tomatoes, which differ in spicy taste, took place outside our country: in Italy, Greece, in Sicily or Malta, in Turkey, in Cyprus.

That's no surprise, as cured tomatoes are a traditional snack and a respected ingredient in Mediterranean cuisine. Nevertheless, tomatoes are cured both in Australia and even in Asian countries. And if you dig deeper into the history of domestic gastronomy, you can find out that tomatoes were dried in the Caucasus and in the southern regions of Russia. But they were not an independent meal, but acted as a simple preparation for the winter along with dried carrots, parsley root, dill greens, which are used in the preparation of the first courses.

Today, ready-made cured tomatoes can be purchased in our stores: as a rule, in cans, abundantly covered with olive oil. But for some reason, cured tomatoes are immensely included in our diet and recipe - they still belong to delicacies. The taste of such tomatoes is spicy and more concentrated, and therefore it is difficult to forget.

Basically, dried tomatoes are cooked in the sun (for several days with constant turning), in an oven (in five hours at a temperature of 80 ° C) or in a special dryer intended for vegetables. By the way, in each Mediterranean country there is a certain variety-favorite, on the basis of which the best cured tomatoes are made. For example, in Italy these are San Marzano tomatoes, but this tells us little.

It is worth noting that for drying tomatoes at home, it is recommended to choose strong small sweet fruits that are distinguished by a small moisture content. For example, under our sun, tomato drying based on cherry tomatoes can be done quite quickly. To do this, vegetables are cut in half, seeds are removed and the flesh is sprinkled with salt - a kind of natural preservative. In addition to salt, basil, pepper or thyme are often used, which give cured tomatoes a special spice.