Sun dried Tomato

[Steve Petrone]

Does the olive oil variety retain more flavor than the dried and bagged variety?

 

[K Kruger]

Imo, yes, they do.

The dried, bagged variety will have improved flavor if water-reconstituted but they don't quite equal the oil-packed. If you recontitute in oil, though, you can get pretty close. Very subtle--but very key--flavor volatiles in tomatoes are fat soluble so the fat makes all the difference. Reconstituting in water doesn't cut it in this regard.

 

[David Lohrentz]

I usually end up with at least a gallon bag of dried tomatoes at the end of our short growing season. I keep them in the freezer because they will keep well for at least 8 months that way. When I want to use them I pour a mixture of vinegar and boiling water on them for about 60 seconds, then drain in a colander, then put them into a jar with olive oil. This is the method recommended in Stocking Up by Rodale Press. I tried just putting them into olive oil, but they didn't get as soft as the boiling water/vin method.

I like my results better than store bought sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil, even if mine have been in the freezer for six months.

 

[K Kruger]

That's a good method. Better than oil alone which, if it going to be effective, has to be heated with the tomatoes for a while. The vinegar/water mix shortens this dramatically and the vinegar adds much-needed acidity (in terms of food safety but, imo, flavor as well) to the tomatoes. You'd also get the benefit of having mechanisms in place for both water-soluble and fat-soluble flavor volatiles.

Reconstituting in water alone is fine in a pinch but much flavor goes missing.