method UCCE does not recommend, she said, because the tomatoes may not dry all the way, which can lead to food-safety concerns. Using a dehydrator, Undajon-Haskell said she now dries her garden-grown tomatoes, vacuum-seals them in storage bags and keeps them in the freezer. “It never last s that long at my house because everybody loves it,” she said. “I always use sun-dried tomatoes and I always have them on hand.” In addition to topping pizzas and sandwiches with them, Undajon-Haskell said she incorporates sun-dried tomatoes in hummus and soups. She tosses them with pasta and cheese for a quick dinner or side dish. She also uses them to make a savory biscotti. “You could pulse them in the food processor or a spice grinder, and you could add the sun-dried tomatoes to pretty much anything,” she said. For tomatoes that are packed dry, chef Elsberry said reconstituting them in boiling water or soaking them in oil is key if using them as a pizza topping, adding, “the worst thing you can do is char sun-dried tomatoes.” ‘An Italian thing’ Though humans have been sun-drying foods to preserve them for thousands of years, tomatoes cannot be counted as one of those foods, historian Albala said. The origin of sun-dried tomatoes remains elusive, but one thing is clear: “It’s totally an Italian thing,” he said. Unlike ancient dried fruits such as raisins,
tomatoes are harder to dry naturally because of their high water content and lower sugars, he said. Therefore, sun-dried tomatoes are likely a product of modern food manufacturing techniques. The tomato itself—native to the Americas—is a relative newcomer to Italian cuisine, he noted. European discovery of the Americas eventually brought tomatoes to Italy in the 1500s, but it took nearly 200 years before the fruit found its way into recipes, he said, as Italians were initially suspicious of the plant—part of the nightshade family and thought to be poisonous. More tel l ing is that sun-dried tomatoes aren’t mentioned in cookbooks before the mid-20th century, Albala said, adding he thinks Americans likely became aware of the product a f ter World War II, when exporters and food companies started selling them as a luxury item. Preserving summer’s harvest At Valley Sun Products in Stanislaus County, the company employs both modern techniques and the traditional sun-drying method to produce a variety of sun-dried tomato products used as ingredients in other foods or by other food manufacturers. Calling itself “the world’s largest producer of sun- dried tomatoes,” Valley Sun operates under the umbrella of Morning Star, one of the state’s largest tomato processors. From July to October, Valley Sun’s 53-acre dry yard in Newman is lined with rows and rows of trays
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