Organic Sun-Dried Tomatoes with Sea Salt by Food to Live (Kosher, Unsulfured)

Description

Organic Sun-Dried Tomatoes with Sea Salt by Food to Live (Kosher, Unsulfured)
Organic Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Certified Organic by A Bee Organic
Certified
Kosher
by
Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America
Suitable for Vegetarians
Suitable for Vegans
Non-GMO
About the product:
POTENT ANTIOXIDANTS: Sun-dried tomatoes are packed with vitamins C, A, and lutein.
IRON BOOST: Food to Live Organic Sun-Dried Tomatoes are rich in iron, as well as magnesium.
HEART HEALTH SUPPORT: Dried tomatoes have lots of potassium and are low in fats and cholesterol.
ORGANIC PRODUCT: Sun-Dried
Tomatoes from Food to Live are safe, delicious, and free from toxins.
CREATIVE CULINARY USES: Make tasty Sun-Dried
tomatoes sauce, paste, or pesto to add to your pasta.
Where Does Tomato Fruit Come From?
Tomatoes have been known to the peoples of the South and Central Americas for many centuries and they came to Europe with the Spanish conquistadores. Starting with the 16th century, tomato plants started spreading all over the world and today you can hardly find a vegetable garden without some variety of them.
It’s believed that the truly original plants were similar to cherry tomatoes and were actually yellow. However, they’ve existed for too long and there are too many species of them to be sure of anything in regards to the tomato fruit history.
One thing we can be sure, though, is that tomatoes are a fruit, a berry to be exact. Although, people mostly consider them to be vegetables.
Tomatoes are a great food that should be welcome on anyone’s table. They are full of nutrients, antioxidants, and fiber, so they are god for you. They also have a great number of culinary uses, so everyone can enjoy them in some way, be it fresh tomato juice, marinated sun dried tomatoes, or a paste to flavor your soups and pasta sauces with.
What Are Sun Dried Tomatoes?
Tomatoes are amazing, but they have one huge disadvantage. They don’t keep well when fresh. At best, you can store them for a few days in your fridge. So, it’s hard to enjoy them when they are out of season.
Sun dried tomatoes solve this problem. Unlike their fresh counterparts, they keep extremely well, and drying doesn’t diminish their nutritional value much.
It’s impossible to say when exactly dried tomatoes appeared first, but the important thing is that they exist today. You can enjoy them during any season as Organic Sun Dried Tomatoes from Food To Live are available all year round. If stored properly, they would keep for many months, so you can buy them in bulk.
Note that there are two types of this food available on the market today. Sun dried tomatoes in oil are very similar to the regular dried fruit, but they can be used right from the pack. Dried tomatoes, on the other hand, should be rehydrated prior to cooking.
However, the oil-packed variety is limited in its culinary uses as many recipes either call for or would taste better with dried tomatoes reconstituted using different liquids. This means that buying them simply dry allows you more flexibility in the kitchen. This type also keeps better.
Can You Make Sun Dried Tomatoes?
Making sun dried tomatoes isn’t a particularly difficult task, so you can try it on your own. You’ll just need to wash and slice the fruits, laying them out in the sunlight to dry. You’ll also need to turn them over and compress the pieces regularly.
The bad news is that this would take no less than three days of work. Sun-dried tomatoes in the oven take over 12 hours to dry properly and you have to tend to them all the time.
Sun Dried Tomatoes: Benefits
Sun dried tomatoes are great for you, and not only because they are delicious and can be used to make a variety of fantastic dishes. They are good for you because of all the nutrients packed into these tiny slices of dried fruits. Most importantly, they are good because of all the antioxidants contained in this particular food.
The leaders among them are vitamins A and C, both are renowned for their positive effects on the body. These elements are common ingredients in many products, especially anti-aging cosmetics. It’s because of their extreme antioxidant powers that benefit you in many different ways.
Sun Dried Tomatoes Vs. Fresh
People often wonder whether sun dried tomatoes are really good for their wellbeing as many believe that drying destroys the nutrients responsible for their benefits. However, the reality is actually the opposite.
Both fresh and sun dried tomatoes are packed with precious antioxidants, and it’s true that their amounts differ slightly depending on the type of the fruit. The fact that not everyone understands is that the effect of sun-drying can be different depending on the element.
This is how it affects the most important elements in dried tomatoes:
Vitamin C.
As this is a water-soluble vitamin, its content truly does go down when the fruit dries. However, the difference is rather insignificant. In addition, manufacturers often add ascorbic acid to sun dried tomatoes to increase their lifespan. As a result, this product may contain more vitamin C than the actual fresh fruit.
Vitamin A.
This is the element responsible for the color of tomatoes, as well as other bright (though usually orange) fruits and veggies. Vitamin A is a carotenoid, which our bodies transform into retinol. Unlike vitamin C, the content of this particular element increases during the sun drying process. One serving (3.5 ounces) of fresh tomato fruits contains about 833IU of this element, while the same amount of sun dried tomatoes holds over 870IU. Note that the exact content of this nutrient may differ depending on the species of the plant and some other factors.
Vitamin E.
Some claim that this element is the most important antioxidant, although all of them offer great benefits. It’s a fat-soluble vitamin and, unfortunately, tomatoes don’t have much of it by default. This is the only essential nutrient that deteriorates significantly when the fruits are processed (in any way). Sun dried tomatoes hold only about one percent of the recommended daily dose of vitamin E in every 3.5 ounces.
Lycopene.
This is another potent antioxidant and a carotenoid, which means that this element is distantly ‘related’ to vitamin A. However, the way it behaves in our systems is a bit different. Tomatoes hold large amounts of lycopene even when they are fresh, and its contents are approximately 20% higher in sun dried products.
As you can see, there really are nutritional differences between fresh and dried tomato fruits. However, both are good for you in their unique ways.
Sun Dried Tomatoes: Nutrition Breakdown
Adding sun dried tomatoes to your meals makes them much more nutritious because these little fruits are literally packed with vitamins and minerals. As each of these elements is important for our health, this food is highly beneficial for everyone. It’s also great that tomato allergy is extremely rare.
Mineral-wise, sun dried tomatoes are high in potassium, giving you as much as 39% of the recommended daily intake of it (based on the average 2,000 calorie diet recommendations). This food is also reasonably high in magnesium.
Vegans and vegetarians would appreciate the high iron content of sun dried tomatoes as this element is usually hard to obtain from a plant-based diet. Note that the iron from tomatoes is easier for our bodies to process because they can absorb this element more easily when it’s consumed with vitamin C. This fruit contains both these elements in abundance, so you don’t have to wash your tomato salad down with orange juice to make the best use of it.
As for the vitamins, sun dried tomatoes are full of them, which makes them a highly energizing antioxidant-rich food. They contain:
B vitamins
Vitamin A
Vitamin C
Vitamin E
Vitamin K
Food To Live Organic Sun Dried Tomatoes also contain calcium, which is another element that’s difficult to get from diet alone.
Sun Dried Tomatoes: Calories
Sun-dried tomatoes make a good dietary choice because they are both cholesterol-free and low in calories. As a cup of them contains only about 140 calories, you can include them in weight management meal plans.
Sun dried tomatoes nutrition benefits also include the fact that this food is rich in both protein and dietary fiber. A single cup of dried fruits contains 7 grams of fiber and 8 grams of protein, which is a reasonably high count and definitely explains why tomatoes are considered one of the healthiest foods.
Sun Dried Tomatoes Recipe: Lunch Salad
The best thing about this particular product is that you can easily benefit from the nutritional value of sun dried tomatoes because they are tasty and eating them is a pleasure. You can include them in a variety of healthy recipes. This salad is one of our favorites:
For this recipe, you’ll need to reconstitute your Food To Live Organic Sun Dried Tomatoes with oil. It’s a simple thing to do, just put some tomatoes in a jar and pour your preferred oil over them so that all pieces are covered. Refrigerate for 24 hours.
Salad ingredients:
4 ounces arugula
½ cup sun dried tomatoes
4 large olives (pitted and sliced in half)
1 ounce alfalfa sprouts
4-6 fresh cherry tomatoes (sliced in half)
½ avocado (diced)
1 egg (sliced, optional)
As it’s a simple salad, you just need to mix the ingredients together in a large bowl. Season it with the oil from tomatoes and add spices and/or salt to suit your personal tastes. This salad can be included in any diet.
Sun Dried Tomatoes: Pesto, Paste, Sauce, and More
One of the reasons why sun dried tomatoes are amazing is that you can do a great number of things with them. You don’t have to be a culinary genius to do this as they are a very simple ingredient to work with. However, remember that their taste is quite intense, so you’ll need to temper your use of spices based on this.
You should definitely try making some sun dried tomato pesto as it’s a healthy, delicious, and low-calorie kind of sauce. You can mix any ingredients you like, although this particular variety usually goes best with fresh basil, garlic, parsley, and pine nuts. Add a mix of balsamic vinegar and olive oil to thin out the sauce. You can even add some red wine and fresh tomatoes to make it more juicy and flavorful.
Any kind of sun dried tomatoes sauce would taste fantastic with pasta, and they are easy to make. You can combine them with cream to get the unique texture and pleasant taste of a creamy sauce, but with the delicious and spicy note that is unique to sun dried tomatoes.
How to Soften Sun Dried Tomatoes
It’s possible to eat Organic Sun Fried Tomatoes from Food To Live directly from the pack as a snack. However, if you want to use them in cooking, you’ll need to soften them out first. The easiest way to do this is to soak dried fruits in warm water for about 20 minutes. Keep them in a covered pan during this time.
If you are looking to enhance their flavor, soak them in wine, preferably red. This would make your sun dried tomatoes taste quite exotic and can make a huge difference for any recipe including them.
You can also soak them in oil, which would have the benefit of providing you with flavorful oil for seasoning various salads. However, in this case, you’ll have to let the dried tomato pieces soak for no less than 24 hours and keep them in the fridge.
Once they are softened, you can use the fruits to make sun-dried tomato paste. It’s a great alternative to a store-bought product packed with preservatives and other chemicals.
Do Sun-Dried Tomatoes Expire?
Sun-dried tomatoes are one of the products that have the ‘best by’ instead of ‘expiration’ date. This means that they don’t expire in the regular sense. If they are packed in oil, they might go rancid, like any oily product. However, plain dried pieces won’t spoil if you keep them in an airtight container.
It’s best to store them in a cool place, such as a fridge, but even a pantry would do. You can also freeze them. In this case, you’ll have to let them thaw before using.
Despite the fact that sun-dried tomatoes don’t really expire, they lose their nutritional value over time as the vitamins and minerals begin to disintegrate. They should last for about 2 years.
WARNING:
Consuming this product can expose you to chemicals including lead, which is known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. For more information go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov/food.
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