When choosing the right tomatoes for drying, you should pay attention to those that are medium in size, not too juicy and necessarily red, because pink or yellow tomatoes contain more moisture. Do not give priority to tomatoes grown in the greenhouse, but prefer those grown in the garden in an open space. Of course, given the conditions of city life, this is often problematic. Therefore, it is better to solve the problem of preparing tomatoes for further drying in the summer, when there is an opportunity to buy fruits in the garden. Illustration. Ingredients for making dried tomatoes include: – 1kg of fresh tomatoes – 15ml olive oil – 5g of fine salt – A little garlic, fragrant leaves as you like 1kg of fresh tomatoes will give about 200g of dried tomatoes. Preliminary treatment – You can wash the tomatoes, remove the stalks and cut them into wedges or slices. It will taste better if you peel off the tomato skin! To marinate tomatoes, we need 2 basic ingredients: salt and olive oil. Also, if you want more flavor, you can use any seasoning you like. For example: garlic, pepper, rosemary, oregano… We put olive oil, salt and coriander leaves in the tomatoes and mix well. Marinate for 10 minutes. Drying – Arrange the tomatoes on the griddle. We will have 2 ways to dry tomatoes: Dry in the sun If you use this method, you will need to dry for about 3 days. And pay attention to good preservation, leave tomatoes in a dry place at night between drying days. Oven drying: – If you use an oven to dry, then dry it at 90 degrees Celsius for about 3-4 hours! Pay attention to the tray below, because tomatoes can bleed a lot of water during the drying process. After 1 hour of drying, the tomatoes will begin to wilt. After 2 hours, the tomatoes will start to dry again. You keep drying like this until the tomatoes reach the desired dryness! Dried tomatoes are a bit flexible plus a little fatty aroma of olive oil, so it’s very flavorful Dried tomatoes served with smoked meat and bread are delicious!

Some of the benefits of tomatoes can be mentioned as: Improve eyesight, prevent cancer, brighten skin, good for hair, reduce blood sugar, promote good sleep, keep bones strong. .. Especially tomatoes contain low cholesterol, saturated fat, sodium and calories, so many women use them in the weight loss menu. You can eat raw tomatoes sandwiched with sandwiches, salads, sauces, smoothies, and even soups. However, not everyone knows how to choose tomatoes to ensure the quality. As a result, many people often buy old, even crushed, and rotten tomatoes. In fact, to choose fresh and delicious tomatoes is not difficult, you only need to consider the following 4 points: Observe the fruit shape When choosing tomatoes, observe the shape of the fruit carefully. Choose fruits that are similar in size, rounded in shape, have a shiny shell, are not stamped or have scratches. These are usually thick, juicy fruits. In contrast, the fruit has a crooked shape, unbalanced, scratched on the surface, and has a thick skin to the touch, it has little water and a bad taste. Especially, do not choose the type with corners, edges, strange shape because it can be the type that is well-done. Consider the color Tomatoes can be reddish with a little yellow color because the surface of the fruit has different time exposure to the sun. (Illustration) Because each fruit surface location has different time to receive sunlight, the color of tomatoes is often inconsistent, may be reddish with a little yellow or red but with a little green. If a tomato has an eye-catching, very uniform red color, but looking closely at this color is unnatural, it’s best not to buy it because it may have been sprayed with ripe sprays. Use your hand to shape the fruit Use your hand to gently squeeze the fruit, the firmness of the tomato can reflect the quality of the fruit. Naturally ripe tomatoes have a soft, elastic pulp. If the fruit has an eye-catching red color but feels hard to the touch, without specific aroma, it is best to ignore it as this can be a chemically-ripened tomato. The inside is not succulent and is definitely not delicious. Observe the fruit stalk If you want to choose juicy tomatoes, thick meat and a lot of flour you can observe the stem. Tomatoes with 6 stalks on the stem are usually sweeter than tomatoes with 5 stalks. If you pay close attention, you will discover that the stalks of some tomatoes are 5 stalks, others 6 branches. It is this difference that partly determines whether the fruit is delicious or not. Tomatoes with 6 stalks are usually late ripe, absorbed enough sunlight, so more nutrients and more delicious. Therefore, prioritize tomatoes with 6-stem stalks. Note, unlike other vegetables, tubers and fruits, tomatoes are not recommended for refrigeration. Exposure to low temperature tomatoes are easy to crush, water boots, causing them to lose their characteristic delicious flavor. So should buy just enough tomatoes to use and use up in 1-2 days. Minh Hoa (th)