My food dehydrator has been in near-constant use in recent weeks as the garden pumps out an array of herbs, vegetables, and fruit. I’ve been drying my year’s supply of homegrown thyme, rosemary, basil, and celery leaves. Dried tart cherries are now waiting to be used in place of cranberries in Smoky Oatmeal–Cranberry Cookies and Cranberry-Orange Quick Bread, and the dehydrator racks are currently full of homegrown grapes transforming into raisins.

I’ve also been dehydrating batches of the marinated tomatoes I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. These tomatoes feature not just in my dehydration workshops, like Preserving Your Garden and Dehydration for Everyone, but also in my upcoming Fine Dining: Front Country class through Flathead Valley Community College’s Continuing Education program. In this class, where I share my best tips for meal planning, pretrip prep, and packing tools that make front-country cooking easy, I explain just how versatile these tomatoes are for the meals I prepare while car camping or cruising aboard our sailboat. I’ve also been drying cherry tomatoes, which rehydrate beautifully in a brine for a bruschetta we’ll eat during the class.
Learn to make Marinated Dried Tomatoes