Healthy Feta, Tomato & Basil Dip for Grilling
Ingredients (Serves 2–4):
- 60g (2oz) sun-dried tomatoes
- 20g (1oz) feta cheese
- 1 handful fresh basil
- 150g (5oz) plain cream cheese
- 1 handful (about 1–2 tbsp) pine nuts
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Wash the basil and roughly chop it.
- Cut the feta and sun-dried tomatoes into small pieces.
- Peel and finely mince or press the garlic.
- Finely chop or grind the pine nuts.
- Measure out the cream cheese.
- Squeeze fresh lemon juice.
- Add everything to a bowl and mix well until smooth and creamy
Pairs perfectly with grilled vegetables, juicy grilled meat, or simply with fresh, crusty bread!
Source:
Bakir, S., Hall, R. D., de Vos, R. C. H., Mumm, R., Kadakal, Ç., & Capanoglu, E. (2023). Effect of drying treatments on the global metabolome and health-related compounds in tomatoes. Food Chemistry, 403, 134123. Source
Tomatoes are often dried to extend shelf life and concentrate their flavor. However, different drying methods lead to clear differences in quality. In sun drying, lycopene content decreased significantly by about 74–83%, while vitamin C was almost completely lost (≈99% reduction). Vitamin E also declined strongly and was nearly fully degraded under low-temperature oven drying (60 °C), although small residual amounts were still detectable at higher temperatures. The gentler half-drying method resulted in considerably smaller losses, with lycopene decreasing by about 36% and vitamin C by around 70%. Overall, the study shows that oven drying (60–120 °C) causes the most severe changes, while half-drying best preserves nutritional compounds, and sun drying represents an intermediate approach (Bakir et al., 2023).