I don't sell them, but encourage customers to dry their own. My mother dehydrates almost everything, so it seems, I don't think she skins them. In Indiana, the legislature passed a law exempting farmers market from having a 'certified kitchen' for baked goods, but my market is not allowing that.

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

You'll find many discussions about this over on the Harvest forum here - it is the food preservation forum. I have linked one of the best and most detailed discussion for you below. The search there will pull up all the others if you want to read them. Personally we dry lots of tomatoes each season including the larger non-roma types. But we use dehydrators - I think most do - given all the problems associated with trying to use the sun. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: Making dried tomatoes

Californian, Sounds like you've got absolutely perfect conditions for making sun dried tomatoes -- high temps (above 90 degrees F) and low humidity (I must say with our incredibly high humidity in SC this summer, I'm jealous ... we're using the food dehydrator to dry our tomatoes! Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Dirt: Making Sun Dried Tomatoes