Tomatoes, dried, with salt (organic?, raw?)

Dried tomatoes with salt ( organic) have an intense, salty taste, which is particularly suitable for flavoring raw or cooked dishes.

Use in the kitchen

You can buy dried tomatoes with or without additional salt, dry or preserved in oil. Here we describe dried tomatoes with salt. You can read about dried, unsalted tomatoes under Tomatoes, dried (raw?, organic?).

Dried tomatoes are intensely fruity and sweet and contain naturally occurring monosodium glutamate, which is what gives them their 'umami' taste. Dried tomatoes that have been enriched with salt therefore taste quite to very salty. Dishes with salted dried tomatoes often do not need to be salted or seasoned.

How do you use dried tomatoes without oil? Depending on the recipe, you can rinse off the excess salt before processing and then soak the dried tomatoes in water (eg for salads). There are also semi-dried tomatoes on the market; these are juicier, but no less aromatic.

Due to the intense flavour of dried tomatoes, they are often used to refine all kinds of vegetarian and vegan dishes. They are particularly good in Mediterranean dishes such as pizza, pasta and risotto and as a component of pesto rosso or a tomato sauce (made from preserved tomatoes, fresh red tomatoes or beef tomatoes). They are also suitable for eating raw in various salads (such as with spinach and red onions, with chickpeas and yellow bell peppers, in Mediterranean pasta salads or rice salads), but also in sandwiches and omelettes.

Ciabatta with dried tomatoes or its use in soups, sauces, dips and spreads is also well known. Dried tomatoes add an intensely aromatic accent to grilled vegetables or vegetable rice with zucchini or mushrooms.

It is difficult to judge whether dried or sun-dried tomatoes are of raw food quality. If necessary, ask at a health food store or a shop you trust whether the drying temperature was below 40 °C.

Homemade dried tomatoes (with salt)

For dried tomatoes with salt, use varieties such as San Marzano, Roma tomatoes, vine tomatoes or oxheart tomatoes. To do this, halve the tomatoes (quarter large ones), place them cut side up on a baking tray lined with baking paper and sprinkle with coarse salt (or sea salt). Now leave the tomatoes to air dry for 1-2 hours. The tomatoes then need to be baked in the oven at around 50 °C (fan oven) for at least 12 hours. Temperatures below 50 °C are difficult to regulate. At 80 °C, the tomatoes are ready after around 7 hours, but are no longer raw food quality. The drying time depends largely on the size and thickness of the tomatoes.

With a dehydrator you can produce dried tomatoes in raw food quality: At 42 °C tomatoes need about 10-12 hours.

Vegan recipe for pasta with dried tomatoes (with salt)

Ingredients (for 2 people): 200 g wholemeal pasta, 2 cloves of garlic, 40 g dried tomatoes (with salt, organic), 40 g rocket, 4 stalks of basil, 2 tbsp rapeseed oil,pepper.

Preparation: Cook the pasta in boiling, lightly salted water according to the instructions on the packet, drain and let it drain. Peel the garlic cloves, cut into thin slices and cut the dried tomatoes into strips (if necessary, rinse off the salt with water beforehand and soak the dried tomatoes in water). Wash the rocket and spin dry. Rinse the basil, shake dry and chop roughly. In a pan heated with rapeseed oil, gently fry the garlic and dried tomatoes over a low heat for approx. 5 minutes. If you are using dried tomatoes marinated in oil, adding rapeseed oil is not absolutely necessary. Add the pasta and basil, season with pepper and mix everything together well. Divide the pasta between two plates, sprinkle rocket on top and serve the vegan dish.

Vegan recipes with dried tomatoes (with salt) can be found under the note: " Recipes that have the most of this ingredient ".

Purchasing - Storage

Salted dried tomatoes can be found in most supermarkets (e.g. Coop, Migros, Denner, Volg, Spar, Aldi, Lidl, Rewe, Edeka, Hofer, Billa). Dried tomatoes are also available in organic supermarkets (e.g. Denn's Biomarkt, Alnatura) - in organic quality. Dried tomatoes are often only available in oil and not dried. Good places to buy dried tomatoes without oil are health food stores, delicatessens or online shops.

Some products (without oil) contain additives such as citric acid ¹⁴, ascorbic acid or sulphur dioxide.

The availability of dried tomatoes (with salt) varies depending on the size of the store, catchment area, etc. Our recorded food prices for the DA-CH countries can be found above under the ingredient image - and by clicking you can see their development at various suppliers.

Storage tips

You can store dried tomatoes (with salt) in airtight containers in a dry and cool place for several months - even longer than unsalted ones, as salt has an additional preservative effect. If you are drying your own tomatoes, we recommend putting some rice wrapped in a tea bag in the container so that it absorbs any residual moisture.

Ingredients - Nutritional values - Calories

Tomatoes (dried, with salt) contain 147 kcal per 100 g. Of the carbohydrates (13 g/100g), approximately 9.1 g are sugar. The fat content is 8.7 g/100g and the protein content 3.4 g/100g.

Depending on the product, the salt content can vary, but it is around 2001 mg/100g (788 mg sodium per 100 g) - this is about 83.4% of the daily requirement and should therefore not be underestimated. In comparison, unsalted dried tomatoes have a salt content of 272 mg/100g (11.3% of the daily requirement). ¹

Dried tomatoes with salt contain 6.5 mg/100g of vitamin E, which covers 54% of the daily requirement. Dried goji berries (8 mg/100g) and peanuts (8.3 mg/100g) contain a similar amount. Sunflower seeds contain even more vitamin E (35 mg/100g). ¹

Dried tomatoes with salt contain 678 mg of potassium per 100 g, which corresponds to about 34% of the daily requirement. Dried figs (680 g/100g) and dried plums (732 g/100g) have comparable amounts. Dried tomatoes without salt contain about five times as much of this element, at 3427 g/100g. ¹ Read about the connection between potassium and sodium (a component of salt) in the chapter "Danger - Intolerances - Side Effects".

100 g of salt-dried tomatoes contain 49 µg of folate (25% of the daily requirement). This content is comparable to that of sun-dried chili peppers and roasted pistachios (51 µg/100g). Dried dulse (kelp) contains a particularly high amount of folate at 1269 µg/100g. ¹

The total ingredients of tomatoes (dried, with salt), the coverage of the daily requirement and comparison values with other ingredients can be found in our nutrient tables. In the article Nutrients explained you will get a detailed insight into the topic.

Health effects

Drying reduces the vitamin C (ascorbic acid) content, but also the water content. 100 g of dried tomatoes are therefore richer in vitamin C than 100 g of fresh tomatoes. ⁵

Secondary plant substances

Many of the health effects of dried tomatoes can be attributed to the secondary plant substances they contain. Our article on secondary plant substances provides an overview of the classification of substance groups, their occurrence in foods and possible effects on humans.

Despite extensive research, we were unable to determine the exact composition of the secondary plant substances in dried tomatoes. Our article Tomato (raw) provides information on the composition of the bioactive substances in fresh tomatoes. This also contains further information on the health effects of raw tomatoes.

In any case, dried tomatoes contain isoprenoids, such as carotenoids such as lycopene, polyphenols and chlorophyll, such as various flavonoids. ^5,7 These substances have been shown in studies to have antioxidant effects by preventing cell damage caused by free radicals.

A 2015 study examined the content of polyphenols, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and the antioxidant capacity in fresh and dried tomatoes. The study showed significant losses in all measured nutrients in thermally dried tomato samples. However, significant differences were also found between the various thermal drying methods. In comparison, freeze-dried tomatoes showed better values for secondary plant substances and antioxidant activity. ⁶

In 2020, another study analyzed how different drying temperatures affect the stability of bioactive compounds in dried tomatoes. The research found that higher drying temperatures, particularly 60 °C, allow for better preservation of flavonoids, carotenoids and antioxidant activity. In contrast, lower temperatures such as 40 °C resulted in significant losses of these compounds. These results extend the findings of the 2015 study and emphasize the importance of drying temperature on the quality and nutritional content of dried tomatoes. ⁷

In contrast to the 2015 and 2020 studies, a 2021 study showed that tomatoes dried using solar dryers contained higher concentrations of phenolic compounds, as well as lycopene and other carotenoids, than fresh tomatoes after 90 and 180 days of storage. These dried tomatoes also showed increased antioxidant activity, indicating that solar drying may provide benefits in preserving certain nutrients. ⁵

Overall, these studies show that different drying methods and temperatures have different effects on the preservation of nutrients and antioxidant properties in dried tomatoes. However, since the results of the studies vary, no conclusive statements can be made as to whether dried tomatoes generally contain fewer phytochemicals than fresh tomatoes.

Dangers - Intolerances - Side effects

Sodium and potassium are natural antagonists that play an important role in the transmission of nerve impulses (e.g. in muscle movement, heart function, regulation of blood pressure). Compared to the Stone Age diet, the modern human diet contains both an excess of salt (sodium chloride) and a lack of potassium-rich fruit and vegetables. ² Regular and excessive consumption of salt, or sodium, is harmful to health. Possible consequences include, for example, high blood pressure ⁴ and an increased risk of stroke and osteoporosis, the formation of kidney stones, etc. ³ High salt consumption can also cause a potassium deficiency. ⁴

Therefore, you should only enjoy salted dried tomatoes in moderation - or better yet, avoid them altogether - and prefer unsalted dried tomatoes.

Ecological footprint - animal welfare

The ecological footprint of dried tomatoes (with or without salt), as with freshtomatoes, depends on the type of cultivation of the tomatoes, the country of cultivation and also the drying method. The production of regional tomatoes grown outdoors causes 10 times fewer greenhouse gas emissions than the production of tomatoes from a heated greenhouse. ⁸

When buying sun-dried tomatoes, pay attention to the origin, which should be stated on the product. Some labels suggest an Italian origin, but the small print says that the country of origin is Turkey and the country of production is Greece. ⁹

The production of 1 kg of dried tomatoes requires 4276 litres of water. Compared to fresh tomatoes (214 litres) and tomato paste (855 litres), this value is very high. ¹⁰

Unfortunately, it is not always clear how dried tomatoes are produced. Often, energy-intensive industrial processes are involved. But there are now solar greenhouse dryers to minimize the use of fossil fuels. Research is also being carried out into optimizing sun drying, with pre-treatments (e.g. blanching) being able to reduce the heat required for drying. ¹¹

For detailed explanations of various sustainability indicators (such as ecological footprint, _CO2 footprint, water footprint), see our article: What does the ecological footprint mean?

Worldwide occurrence - cultivation

The drying of food for preservation dates back to 20,000 BC. There is evidence that cultures in the Middle East and the Orient were actively drying food in the hot sun in 12,000 BC. Towards the end of the 18th century, the French developed a device for drying fruit and vegetables at controlled temperatures. They dried sliced fruit and vegetables with hot air (40 °C), pressed them and then sealed them with tin foil (today aluminum foil). Mechanical drying began around the turn of the century and replaced natural sun drying in many places. Towards the end of the Second World War, various mechanical drying methods were used, such as cabinet, tray or tunnel drying, and drum drying was later added. This was followed by developments such as spray drying, fluidized bed drying, vacuum drying and freeze drying. ¹²

Read more about the origin, cultivation and harvest of fresh tomatoes under the ingredient tomato (raw).

Industrial production

In the food industry, convective drying methods are predominantly used. This means that hot air is used to both supply the heat for evaporating the water and to remove the evaporated moisture from the product. Although these methods have poor energy efficiency, they are very common in industry. The dryers are easy to operate and (for the time being) have relatively low investment costs. ¹²

Further information

Tomatoes are very popular around the world. Not only the fresh fruit, but also products made from them. In addition to dried tomatoes, these include strained tomatoes, chopped and preserved tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato juice, tomato sauce and ketchup.

However, the industrial processing of tomatoes generates a lot of waste. Disposing of these residues (e.g. peels, seeds, fibrous parts and pulp) is an environmental and economic problem. Recycling or reusing the by-products can reduce processing costs. Although these wastes have little commercial value, they are rich sources of nutrients and highly biologically active compounds. The peels of tomatoes contain more lycopene and phenolic compounds than the pulp. The tomato seeds also have valuable oil and ingredients such as carotenoids, proteins, polyphenols, phytosterols, minerals and fibers. ¹³

Alternative names

Dried tomatoes are also known as dried tomatoes or sun-dried tomatoes.

In English they are called dried tomatoes - with the addition of salted if they have been mixed with additional salt. Sun-dried tomatoes are called sun-dried tomatoes.