Our tomato plants are in full bloom at the end of August. Thousands of cherry tomatoes dot our gardens with bulbous red fruits. They are perfect for salads and pastas…or just to graze on while walking around the garden The best way to store extra tomatoes through to colder months is to dry them.
The trick to harvesting tomatoes is not to touch the leaves of the plant because the acidity of your hands can easily spread diseases.
After carefully gathering a colander full of tomatoes

we take them to the Padiès cutting board to slice them in half and systematically place them into our food drier. (You can also dry them in the sun on other occasions)

Six stacks of round tomato platters later, the drier turns on and in a couple of hours we have our very own jar of organic dried tomatoes.

They are sweet in flavor and delicious to add to rice, salads, pasta, and snacks. They have the same nutritional value as regular tomatoes which are high in Lycopene, antioxidants, and vitamin C.

Link for dried tomato recipes: http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/blv53.htm