Saturday, August 27, 2011

Dehydrating Vegetables: An Update

I love my Excalibur 5-tray Dehydrator!
I thought I would update on how the veggies came out that I posted about here.

BEETS - just over 2 Trays




I had hoped the beets would turn out crispy like chips. Instead, they came out more like fruit leather. I even put them in for 12 hours longer or so to see if that would crisp them up, and it didn't.

Still, they are dried and will keep for awhile.  I have yet to reconstitute them and see if I like the texture of them cooked.

SUMMER SQUASH (Yellow Squash and Zucchini) - 1 Tray each

These also came out leathery, rather than crispy. They kept their color beautifully and I am hoping the kids will munch on them for a snack. I am also looking for soup mix recipe ideas in which to incorporate them.

ONION (just one) - about half a tray

The onion is also leathery, even after extended drying time. It should be pretty easy to use kitchen shears and chop it up into soups and such.

I think a higher temperature might yield crispier veggie chips, but then I think I sacrifice some of the nutrition due to the heat. I'll have to play around with it a little and see what happens.



So here is what I ended up with in the end for those 5 trays of veggies:

1 comment:

River Glorious said...

I hope to buy a dehydrator soon. Would be nice to have nutrition on hand that tastes good.