High quality and aesthetically appealing dried tomatoes can be produced from solar tunnel drying. Solar dryers have the advantage of creating higher temperatures and movement of air that increases the rate of drying, therefore reducing the risk of spoilage by micro-organisms. Food is enclosed in the drier keeping contamination (by dust, insects and animals for example) at a minimum. The higher drying rate enables a greater quantity of produce to be dried in a relatively short space of time. Drying by natural means avoids the discoloration that occurs with artificial drying methods caused by high temperatures. However, there are also some drawbacks to solar drying. This process takes longer than oven controlled drying. This drying method is also dependant on weather conditions which include: humidity, insolation intensity and wind speed unlike artificial drying methods where drying conditions can be controlled. Solar dryers also demand a greater labour input than traditional methods, e.g. loading and unloading of trays of produce, but above all, the structure can be
cheaply constructed using simple and affordable technologies and capable of being made and repaired in the areas where they are to be adopted, and are constructed using simple tools and limited locally-available resources. No special skills are required. Dried tomatoes need to be rehydrated to improve on texture so that their quality matches that of fresh foods. There is need to taste the nutrional differences between fresh, oven dried , sun dried and solar dried tomatoes to assess any nutritional losses due to this processing technique.