KEEP THE SUMMER IN A JAR



I love summer... Perhaps because I live in Greece. Here not only the sun, the sea and the beaches are beautiful but also the food...Especially at the summer. There are so many fresh vegetables and fruits that it's hard to choose! One of my favorite vegetables as you will understand is tomato. It's not exaggeration to say that I eat tomatoes every day at summer but I avoid them when they are of season since they don't either smell or taste the same. This shouldn't be a problem since the solution comes from the jars! To be more specific, at the end of the summer I buy a big amount of tomatoes so as to make tomato sauces and sun dried tomatoes that I keep in jars during the winter. If you love tomatoes (or sun dried tomatoes) too or you just like to try something different, take a look at my recipe for sun dried tomatoes that my mom taught to me.

 
Ingredients
  • Tomatoes
  • Common salt 
  • Sea salt
  • Jars 

 Process

The first step is and the most important -pick tomatoes!You can use any type of tomatoes but try to find red, mature (but not too much) that are firm when you squeeze them a little and with strong smell. If you can afford buy organic tomatoes it is really better. Slice tomatoes in half, sprinkle with sea salt and put tomatoes in a strainer for a half an hour. Then place tomatoes in an oven dish and sprinkle with salt and optional herbs (as thyme, basil and oregano). Cover with clothe (as tulle) in way as not to touch the tomatoes but to avoid the insects from reaching them and wait till the sun to remove most of the water content from the tomatoes. It usually takes about 15 days but it depends on your weather conditions. Bring them in during rains or when there is too much moisture at atmosphere. When they are completely dried throw them in boiling water for a couple of seconds. Then strained them and sprinkle them once again with salt. Now they are ready to be put in jars with olive oil.

Mission accomplished !!!  


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