How to Cut Sun Dried Tomatoes

The leathery texture of sun-dried tomatoes makes for difficult cutting with a knife.

Sun-dried tomatoes have an intense, concentrated flavor, but their leathery texture makes cutting them difficult. Rather than using conventional means to cut your sun-dried tomatoes, consider snipping rather than slicing. Kitchen shears or scissors will give you more control when cutting, but you also need to keep the scissors from becoming gummy and sticking to the tomatoes.

Things You'll Need

• Hot water
• Scissors
• Cooking spray

Instructions

1. Soak the dried tomatoes in hot water for 30 minutes to soften.

2. Drain the tomatoes and retain the soaking water for adding to your recipe, if desired.

3. Dip the scissors into a bowl of clean, hot water or spray them with cooking spray along the blades. Repeat dipping the scissors into the water with each new cut you make to prevent them from becoming gummed up from the tomatoes.

4. Cut the sun-dried tomatoes into strips with scissors. Optionally, cut each strip into smaller bits for diced sun-dried tomatoes.

References

• "The New Food Lover's Tiptionary"; Sharon Tyler Herbst; 2002
• University of California Davis Cooperative Extension: Tomatoes
• Recipe Tips: Sun Dried Tomato