I suppose you could dehydrate them and then ferment them. But again I'm at a loss to see how that would creTe alcohol.

Angie

Modern dehydrating is a fast moisture removal, not allowing for any bacterial/yeast activity.
I dry Key Limes slowly that goes through some fermentation, giving it a special flavor not found in fresh lime or lemon. So it is possible to dry tomato in similar fashion. I would be interested to know how it is done.

It sounds to me like one of two things:

The process I have witnessed is cutting them in pieces and putting the cut side down on a supposedly clean screen.

The surface is not always clean and not always a screen and the pieces not always small ... as they should be and Sun drying can't be done properly this way if the days get too wet/humid which depends on the weather, or they will sour somewhat just like you would expect in the presence of microbial action.

The other possibility is the use of sodium metabisulfite (Campden tablets) to conserve the ripe color, can cause a stinky odor which give the impression of fermentation, but is actually excess, and from sulfur dioxide. Although it smells rotten, it actually is an anti-microbial and has been used in winemaking for centuries to prevent acetic smell. Such a product would have listed in the ingredients "contains sulfites". I don't think the US still uses it much in this application but I seem to remember eating some Turkish dried apricots that I could smell it in. You might research that if interested. The compound is still commonly used in Mexico for sun drying tomato.

PC

Rodney

Linda