For years, Principe Borgese has been touted as the "Ultimate Drying Tomato" (and I have absolutely no idea why anyone would think so.) And I will agree, area and weather makes a difference but we were discussing this on a tomato forum and most said what I said, seedy, average taste and too much trouble. I will give you a list of what I grow. I want Red, BIG, meaty, dry, nearly seedless and early-mid-season. Chefs are starting to ask for the "blacks" because they read something again ($#&@&^$*$) about how the blacks were supposed to have this "salty, smokey, earthy" flavor (I say bah humbug...they taste just the same as any others but I am happy to accomodate them and double the price which they happily pay!) I grow these: Opalka Chinese Federle Amish Paste Carol Chyko Denofrios German (these are HUGE-ripen early and have almost no seeds) Leatha's Italian Russo Sicilian Togeta Big Black Heart (I received in trade, un-named-HUGE, Dry few seeds) Sicilian Saucer Memorial Polish Paste I have about five hundred plants or more (always more.. ) I try at least 3 to 10 new varieties each year. They have to have large fruit, few seeds, dry flesh, ripen fairly early and be tough...we get a lot of wind and late spring cool nights in Wyoming. It takes so many ripe tomatoes to dry 1 pound of product, big and meaty are just absolutely the only way to go. I also soak my sliced tomatoes in Red Wine for 24 hours prior to drying and watery, seedy, less meaty tomatoes fall apart too easily in the soaking process. Every variety listed above has passed muster and has become an official member of my "herd", As I am moving to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico this spring for good (we spent part of last year remodeling our house down there) I will probably have to grow entirely different varieties (a chilling thought....) But, I will certainly have a longer growing season... For sauce...ONLY Costoluto Genovese...it comes through the tomato mill practically finished sauce and the flavor is great. This is a tomato that does not taste so hot fresh but the cooking process changes the chemistry. "Someone who knows" on the tomato forum says: I fully agree with your comments on Costoluto Genovese. The sauce is phenomenal. Tomatoes are supposedly high in the flavor component called "Umami" Saucing and dehydrating concentrates umami flavor. Glutamate has been identified as the organic component responsible for umami flavor in tomatoes, and it has been found that glutamate concentration varies with variables such as variety and ripeness. My suspicion is that c.g. would be high in glutamate, and that heating somehow activates or enhances it. As an interesting note, supposedly glutamate is concentrated most in the seeds and pulp. When making fresh sauce for myself I leave the seeds and pulp on. If i'm cooking for others I remove the skins. I'm growing several hearts this year plus Costoluto Fiorentino and another called Canestrino#1 which supposedly also tastes much better sauced than fresh. So there you go.

> I'm not so worried about the safety factor. The problem is that the tomatoes are dried to a crunch and I've since found out that because they are that dry, they won't absorb the oil. What do you mean you found out? You heard it somewhere, or you tried them? If you tried them, how long had they been in the oil? I'm asking because it doesn't make sense to me -- I would think that, if anything, more dry would mean more absorption. But I bet it takes a few months, either way. >I should have only dried them to the leathery stage. I'm wondering now, since I saw wine used in one recipe, if I could strain off the oil, then mix them with the wine to slightly rehydrate them, then repack them in the jar with the oil? If it were me, I would fish out, like, 3 slices and try the wine thing on them, see if it's worth the nbother :). They might absorb the wine, or their oil coating might prevent that. But the result can't be anything but delicious either way, right?

Technically, there is no difference. Whether the tomato dries in the dehydrator, the stove, or in the sun, the process is the same....the moisture in the fruit is depleted which makes it possible to store the tomatoes long-term, and which also tends to intensify the flavor. There are many ways to dehydrate tomatoes, and you have to experiment and find what works for you. Some people just cut the bite-sized tomatoes in half, or in quarters if they are large like Large Red Cherry, and place them cut side up on the rack or baking sheet and dehydrate them. Some people salt them, feeling it helps draw out the water and also makes them tastier. Some people drizzle them with olive oil (but this makes it take a lot longer for them to dry) alone or with olive oil plus some spices or seasonings. Some people marinate them in wine first. So, you can do it simply or you can do it in a slightly fancier way. Then, there are various ways to store them. I store mine in zip-lock bags in the freezer although you can store them in jars or other airtight containers if you are sure you have them dehydrated enough. You can read more about various ways of dehydrating tomatoes by googling. I usually dry several hundred at a time because my convection oven has a built-in dehydrator mode. Over the course of the summer/autumn, I'll dry several thousand, and no matter how many I put up for winter, it is never enough. To dry larger ones, by the way, it is better to cut them into pieces smaller than halves...like quarters or sixths or eighths. Barbara, I have air-dried or sun-dried Principe Borghese tomatoes by pulling up the entire plant when it is covered in fruit and hanging it upside down in my garage or tornado shelter. It works best if done in August when our heat here in Love County is at its highest for the summer, and our humidity is at its lowest. The bigger issue than the humidity (almost all the tomatoes dried just fine with no mold issues) is insects trying to get at the tomatoes, so you have to wrap them in sheer curtain fabric or something similar, tied at the top and at the bottom, to keep the bugs off the air-drying fruit. Dawn

Although it is an extra investment, I have found that storing my dried foods in vacuum food bags does seem to help their longevity. I also store them in a dark cool pantry.