Sun-dried tomato

Sun-dried tomato 

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Sun-dried tomatoes are ripe tomatoes that lose most of their water content after spending a majority of their drying time in the sun. These tomatoes are usually pre-treated with sulfur dioxide or salt before being placed in the sun in order to improve quality. ^[1] Typically, tomatoes spend 4-10 days in the sun in order for the sun-drying process to be complete. ^[2] Cherry types of tomatoes will lose 88 % of their initial (fresh) weight, while larger tomatoes can lose up to 93% during the process. As a result, it takes anywhere from 8 to 14 kilos of fresh tomatoes to make a single kilo of sun-dried tomatoes.

After the procedure, the tomato fruits will keep their nutritional value. The tomatoes are high in lycopene, antioxidants, and vitamin C, and low in sodium, fat, and calories.

Sun-dried tomatoes can be used in a wide variety of recipes and come in a variety of shapes, colors, and tomatoes. ^[3] Traditionally, they were made from dried red plum tomatoes, but they can be purchased in yellow varieties. Sun-dried tomatoes are also available in the form pastes or purées.

Sun-dried tomatoes may also be preserved in olive oil, along with other ingredients such as rosemary, basil, dried paprika, and garlic.

References

1.      "Influence of Pre-drying Treatments on Quality and Safety of Sun-dried Tomatoes. Part I: Use of Steam Blanching, Boiling Brine Blanching, and Dips in Salt or Sodium Metabisulfite". 

2.      "Our Sun Drying Process". 

3.      "Sun or Oven Drying Tomatoes for Storage". Retrieved 16 May 2012. 

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Here's one post from Amazon.com about being careful with sulfur dioxide.

              Sulfur powder has a low flammability rating. When burned, it creates sulfur dioxide, a poisonous gas which can kill you and also cause many health hazards if burned in large quantities (acid rain is one of them) In the old days, people used to burn sulfur powder to remove pests and clean out fields. This is not really done anymore and it is strongly recommended to not burn it anywhere near where people live because of the health hazard. In the case of the burning application being necessary, note that pure solid sulfur powder does not burn easily because it requires a lot of oxygen to get that blue flame everyone is looking for. Old time sulfurs which were meant for burning contained oxides mixed in with it to help it burn. The only way to make it burn well is to blast sulfur dust into the air, which is much more flammable because of the better contact with oxygen, or to mix a light amount of oxidizer. We do not recommend burning sulfur powder and are not responsible for any damages to anything or anyone by doing so.