(photo: close up of a few Villa Cappelli sun dried tomatoes in olive oil)
One of the most important aspects of a product claiming to, in fact, be “sun dried tomatoes” is that the tomatoes are indeed dried by the sun. We’re so adamant about proper sun dried tomatoes because
we produce our own variety cured in extra virgin olive oil. The sun dried tomatoes hail from Pellegrina, Calabria and are dried by the intense Mediterranean sun. Specifically, my grandmother lays out hundreds of hand quartered roma, plum or San Marzano tomatoes on large woven baskets with a bit of sea salt and lets mother nature do the rest. The tomatoes dry in 2-3 days depending on the intensity of the sun.
Sun dried tomato purist will tell you there’s no substitute for the sun and they are absolutely correct. You can, of course, dry tomatoes in your oven or even dehydrate them but, in my view, you will eliminate flavor and texture moving away from the sun dried method. You can also find many supermarket type sun dried tomatoes in olive oil in the US, but most brands do not sun dry their tomatoes nor utilize roma or plum tomatoes which tend to contain less water. Moreover, most generic brands do not cure their tomatoes in 100 percent extra virgin olive oil. As a result, you can see why our family goes through the trouble of sun drying, hand packing, and curing tomatoes in extra virgin olive oil; namely, the end product is superior.
(photo: Villa Cappelli sun dried tomatoes in olive oil – great, simple, packaging)
(photo: Ingredient list for Villa Cappelli sun dried tomatoes in olive oil)
If you don’t have access to a spot on the Mediterranean nor have the patience to watch tomatoes dry, then there’s an excellent hand produced product available for purchase: Villa Cappelli Sun Dried Tomatoes in Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Olio2Go.com. Villa Cappelli tomatoes are dried in Puglia, 100 percent organic, and cured entirely in extra virgin olive oil. Villa Cappelli adds garlic, mint, and a bit of vinegar to their cure and the result is outstanding. The tomatoes have a zesty character and pop in your mouth (the zest is positive overall, but there’s a slight battle going on with the sweetness of the tomato). Moreover, Villa Cappelli cuts their tomatoes a bit thicker than the standard format resulting in a plumper type of cured tomato, making it a good choice for cooking, as well. My favorite way to consume sun dried tomatoes cured in olive oil, however, is with very good bread, cheese, and a bit of salumi. Cooking high quality sun dried tomatoes cured in extra virgin olive oil is a bit of sin so try and consume them neat!
(photo: my favorite way to consume sun dried tomatoes in extra virgin olive oil: with plenty of bread!)
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Author: Vincent Scordo
Lead Italophile (and/or lover of all things Italian).
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g.day Vincent, just wondering why so many people fail to tell you how long preserves last for when jarred in mason jars. such as your tomatoe sauces, sun dried tomatoes in olive oil ect.