Starting to Dehydrate
Our garden has been producing so many vegetables that I’m going to be starting to dehydrate them. My husband and I love the canned items that have been made. The frozen fruit and shredded zucchini will be appreciated this winter. However, we learned with tomatos and zucchini that there can be too much of a good thing and you become sick of it. (Except peach butter, that stuff is amazing!) Since we can’t change what we’ve grown this year, I thought I would try a different preservation method.
Fruit…and Vegetables ?
When I first started thinking about dehydrating as a way to store more seasonal items, fruit was at the front of my mind. Dried fruit is common in the grocery aisles where you can find them on their own or combined with nuts to make different trail mix. As someone just starting to dehydrate things, I wanted to dry then eat it with no steps in between. At this point, it was time to research what else I could use this investment for.
Starting to Plan
A quick search on google and my eyes were opened to a world of possiblities. Just scanning the recipe titles had me making plans to check what was at the market. From jerky, to fruit leather to veggies, it seemed there wasn’t much that couldn’t be dried. If I dried just the herbs I already had growing, I would have the dehydrator busy.
Drying Zucchini
Although we try to buy locally, I was unable to find a dehydrator that had an adjustable temperature. From what I had read this was important to ensure safe drying. Amazon had what we needed and the package arrived yesterday. A small recipe booklet with a recipe for zucchini chips was inside the box. Our zucchini plant had produced so many that we had been giving them away. I sliced the last few, seasoned and set the machine. Today we have extremely crunchy and surprisingly tasty zucchini chips! I will be starting to dehydrate apples soon and I can’t wait to see what else is delicious.
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