The extremely hot end of the July and the beginning of August did serious damage to our plants. Almost all of them have died due to the lack of water and some have even been completely burned.
In all the bad things extreme heat and drought bring there is one positive thing. Sun-dried tomatoes.

  Storing tomatoes for winter without cooking can be a very difficult task. Cooking kills that strong tomato taste we love during the summer. Cooking with fresh tomatoes that didn’t get enough sun and warmth during the growing season to me is like cooking with rubber tomatoes. There is almost no taste in them. This is why we don’t buy tomatoes outside of the tomato season(June- September) instead of buying we use sun-dried tomatoes.
Every tomato variety can be dried and used as dried tomatoes, still, in my own opinion, there is no better variety for drying than cherry-shaped tomatoes. All those small round tomatoes are perfect. They have enough meat, don’t contain too much water like for example oxheart tomatoes which are very juicy and hard to dry. Also, they have a higher concentration of the “tomato taste”  once they are dried.
All cherry varieties are perfect, pear-shaped, red, black, yellow cherry. Every variety based on cherry varieties is also great,  Reisetomatoe (brainy tomato) is perfect and strong tasted, basically, every tomato smaller than the walnut shape is perfect. Bigger ones need to be cut into more slices and when dried the middle slices have a very small skin part and almost no meat.

 Left to right: orange dwarf tomatoes, balcony yellow, Reisetomate
The process of drying is really simple, tomatoes sliced in half or slices if bigger is placed on a metal baking tray, sprinkled with a bit of salt (not too much just to help the process of drying), and then they should be placed in the sun during the day. The higher temperature outside the faster they will dry. In temperatures around 38°C(100F) tomatoes will be completely dry in two or three days.

 After a day of drying
When completely dry place them in a glass jar and cover with oil. The type of oil depends on the type of taste you like. Using olive oil will give your tomatoes a touch of Mediterranean flavor and placing a dried chili pepper inside the jar will make them spicy.
Completely dried tomatoes don’t need pasteurization, they will stay fresh and won’t go bad in months.

 Completely dried tomatoes could be too dry to eat even after the cooking or baking process so before using them you can soak them in hot water for 30 minutes or just use them for cooking and remove them before eating the meal.
The other way to store them for winter without the need of pre-soaking is not drying them all the way but until they lose all the water and the meat is dry(a day and a half). In that case, pasteurization is needed. Still, the oil process can be done at low temperatures and for a very short time.
Just place closed and filled jars in the oven at 100°C(212F) and keep them inside for 30 minutes. This way tomatoes can be stored for up to a year without going bad.

This type of tomatoes can be used in every meal and in every cooking process. They will add that perfect tomato taste to the meal. Oil is also perfect for cooking because it keeps the tomato taste and adds a touch of the tomato to the meal even without the fruit itself.
Sundried tomatoes can be dried in the oven also on 100°C with two fingers opened the oven door, and dried until they are dry but of course, that means your oven will be turned on for hours and will probably heat up your kitchen which in the summer isn’t the option we like.