In 2013, I asked my neighbour, Rosa, if she knew where I could buy sun-dried tomatoes in the village. She'd never heard of them. With wall-to-wall sunshine and a plentiful supply of ripe local tomatoes on her doorstep, the idea of deliberately drying them out hadn't crossed her mind.
Sun-drying in Andalucía – before and after – Casa Adora
So I made my own sun-dried tomatoes. It seemed the obvious solution — and in rural Andalucía in high summer, the sunshine does most of the work for you.
How to Make Homemade Sun-Dried Tomatoes
The sunshine method – tomatoes drying at Casa Adora
The method is straightforward. You need ripe tomatoes, sunshine or a warm oven, patience, and good olive oil to preserve them.
- Cut the tomatoes into quarters and deseed them, discarding the juice. There's no need to peel them — the skin holds the flesh together during drying.
- Pat the flesh dry with kitchen paper and place on a sheet of baking parchment.
- Sunshine method: Leave the tray in full sun to dry. Bring it inside overnight — it will take several days for the tomatoes to dry out properly. Keep an eye out for insects.
- Oven method: Place in a warm oven on the lowest possible setting overnight. Check them in the morning — they may need another session depending on your oven and the moisture content of the tomatoes.
- Once dried, preserve them in good olive oil in a sealed jar. They keep well, and the oil takes on the tomato flavour — don't waste it.
Sun-Blushed Tomatoes — A Happy Accident
If you're using the sunshine method and the tomatoes haven't fully dried after a few days — perhaps the sun has gone in or patience has run out — don't worry. What you have are sun-blushed tomatoes: partially dried, still slightly soft and juicy, with a concentrated sweetness that's different from the fully dried version but every bit as good. Keep them in oil and use them within a week or two.
Sun-Dried Tomatoes in Andalucía — The Update
Homemade sun-dried tomatoes – worth the wait – Casa Adora
Things have changed since 2013. Sun-dried tomatoes are now widely available in Spanish supermarkets — packed in oil in small jars at larger Carrefour stores and sold loose at good food markets. Life is sometimes too short to spend three days watching tomatoes dry in the sun, and I buy them now without apology.
They're widely available in Spanish supermarkets now — and if you find yourself with a jar that needs using up, my Sun-Dried Tomato Vinaigrette is a good place to start.
But the homemade version is still better. And Rosa — the neighbour who had never heard of sun-dried tomatoes in 2013 — turned up one day with a bag of dry sun-dried tomatoes she'd found at a market in Jaén. Some things come full circle.
Find more recipes and food adventures here. Wonky photos, proper food, genuine adventures – The Flexible Chef.
I LOVE sun-dried tomatoes and actually made a small batch today in my garden in Sri Lanka (dry in one day - very lucky). I sprinkle a little dried oregano on them during the drying process and my other half likes them with chilli flakes too.