What I’m about to say is probably considered blasphemy but I’ve never understood the fuss over home grown tomatoes. I like tomato sauce on everything but I’m not a fan of just eating a tomato. Because of that I’ve never grown tomatoes in my garden.

This year I just couldn’t find a variety of plants in the local stores. All they had was tomatoes and peppers. I decided to plant one grape tomato plant. I didn’t really care what happened to it. I was just looking to fill some space.

That plant has exploded. In fact while I was out of town it decided to go on a land grab and took over the spot occupied by my zucchini. I’m now zucchini-less but have grape tomatoes in abundance.

These tomatoes are really good. I’m shocked. I’m eating them like candy. There are so many that I’m oven drying them. I love dried tomatoes in sauces and it is an easy way to preserve the (overwhelming) bounty.

Here is part of today’s haul of tomatoes.

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About half of those are in the oven now. I cut them in half and then arrange them on a rack over a foil lined cookie sheet. I cook them at 250 degrees until they are dried. It takes several hours. The next batch I make I’m going to flavor with garlic and whatever other dried herbs I have. The rest of them are going to get cut in half and put on a pizza for dinner tonight.