Dehydrating

[Durgan]

http://durgan.org/2016/September 2016/24 September 2016 Dehydrating/HTML 24 September 2016 Dehydrating (Method)
Dehydrating vegetables is often depicted as a major chore. The method presented here produces a powder which may be used in methods only limited by the imagination. I have used tomatoes for this example. The process is to beat the selected product into a slurry using a stand up blender or a hand blender. Depending upon the product it may be necessary to add a minimum mount of water, but usually the inherent juices are sufficient. The slurry is then poured into a teflon pan. The pan is greased with a layer of olive oil to prevent sticking. The pan is placed in a dehydrator set to about 135F. Drying takes about 8 hours, but it must be thoroughly dried, brittle is a reasonable test. The partially dried sheet should be lifted from the pan when about half dry to present more surface to the air. When thoroughly dry the sheet is broken into small pieces and pulse blended into a powder. The end product may be reconstituted in a soup or used as a sprinkled condiment. For storage the product is vacuum sealed and stored in the refrigerator or freezer or if absolutely dry at room temperature. Packages make a fine travel food.

[Durgan]

http://durgan.org/2016/September 2016/24 September 2016 Dehydrating/HTML 24 September 2016 Dehydrating (Method)

Link broken in previous post.

[coronabarb]

Tomato powder is something I really want to make, once we get into the new house with the bigger kitchen. (no counterspace here). I bet the concentrated flavor would be amazing. I grow all different colors of tomatoes too.

I like the idea of dehydrating the fresh tomato paste. It's a little late in the season for using my garden tomatoes, but I may buy some tomato juice or tomato paste and try them for that purpose. I like it because you can adjust the flavor with fresh basil, or garlic oil, or just salt and pepper before dehydrating it.

Ted

[Durgan]

http://durgan.org/2016/October%20201...getables/HTML/ 12 October 2016 Dehydrating Vegetables (Slurry to Powder)
Dehydrating vegetables from a slurry into a powder for storage at room temperature. The vegetables available were onion, sweet potato, tomato, and egg plant.The nixtamalized corn 1/2 cup was added to prevent the slurry from sticking to the pan during dehydration.The material was dehydrated in an Excalibur for about 12 hours. The dried product was blended into a powder and stored in a 250 ml jar for storage at room temperature. Pictures depict the process.

[Salsacharley]

Nice presentation. Thanks for sharing. I guess I'll go out and get a new pan that's not all scratched.

Originally Posted by Durgan

http://durgan.org/2016/October%20201...getables/HTML/ 12 October 2016 Dehydrating Vegetables (Slurry to Powder)
Dehydrating vegetables from a slurry into a powder for storage at room temperature. The vegetables available were onion, sweet potato, tomato, and egg plant.The nixtamalized corn 1/2 cup was added to prevent the slurry from sticking to the pan during dehydration.The material was dehydrated in an Excalibur for about 12 hours. The dried product was blended into a powder and stored in a 250 ml jar for storage at room temperature. Pictures depict the process.

[coronabarb]

I like the idea of mixing veggies together. I've never thought of using a metal pan in the dehydrator. Have to see if I have one that fits.

[Durgan]

I splurged on some new teflon pans recently. There is a size that just fits into the dehydrator. I bought them at Walmart. The old ones were all scratched due to using a metal spatula for removing sticky material. Now I am very careful and only use the plastic scraper.

[Durgan]

http://durgan.org/2016/October%20201...0Powders/HTML/ 15 October 2016 Dinner from Vegetable Powders
A tablespoon of each of the vegetable powders previously dehydrated were placed in a bowl with one cup of water and microwaved for 3.33 minutes to make a thick soup. A spoonful of powdered parsley and celery was added but not microwaved. A tablespoon of horseradish was used to enhance flavor. The soup was ingested with piece of white toast, and a glass of mixed juice. Pictures show the process. It was a most complete and satisfying meal.

[Durgan]

http://durgan.org/2016/October 2016/20 October 2016 Dinner/HTML 20 October 2016 Dinner
A selection of recently dehydrated vegetables were made into a soup with the addition of chopped fresh vidalia onion and some rice mixed with garlic, served with mixed canned juice and two pieces of white buttered toast.
A large spoonful of each dried product was chosen and mixed with two cups of water and microwaved for three minutes.. This made far too much for one serving, so it was split into two portions and the served part was reheated for two minutes after adding a cup of water to reduce the thick consistency. Annotated pictures depict the procedure.

I like that kind of soup, but I use it quite a bit thinner as the base of a ramen noodle soup. I usually add some frozen corn or frozen sweet peas and microwave it all together. I really appreciate the fact that so many dehydrated and powdered veggies can now be purchased. Some dehydrated basil or thyme kicks it up a little. Some chopped up dehydrated tomatoes also work well in the soup. I would like to always use my own dehydrated and powdered veggies from my garden, but there are only so many hours in a day.

Ted

[Durgan]

http://durgan.org/2016/October%20201...0Carrots/HTML/ 23 October 2016 Dehydrating Carrots
About a pound of carrots were dehydrated. The carrots were blended into a slurry with water as required. About 750 ml of slurry is required to fill the Teflon pan used for dehydrating. The slurry was dehydrated for about ten hours in an Excalibur dehydrator set at 125F/52C. Accidentally omitted the nixtamalized corn, so the dried slurry struck to the pan, which required careful scraping with the plastic spatula to remove. The dried slurry was made into a powder in a blender and stored in a 250 ml canning jar.

Carrot puree! When my wife and I vacation in touristy places, I always search out the little tourist shops selling "hot sauce". I like to sample the hot sauce's for sale by asking for their hottest sauce. They usually have small pieces of bread or small crackers which are drizzled with a few drops of the sauce. It always seems the hottest sauce is a bright orange color and I couldn't figure out why because most hot peppers are not orange. I started looking at the ingredients list and learned the first ingredient listed is usually carrot. They dilute the heat of the peppers with a carrot puree to make the sauce. I can normally detect the flavor of the different peppers, but the intense heat isn't there.

I read an article last week about a guy who was sampling hot sauces and wound up with a ruptured esophagus from retching intensely after eating a hot sauce. He required emergency surgery to repair his esophagus.

Ted

[MuddyToes]

I've been drying my tomatoes with brokenbar's recipe and they are delicious.

I had an excess of Sunsugars so I cut them in half and swished them around in a little white balsamic vinegar instead of the wine soak, sprinkled them with Himalayan pink salt and fresh oregano before putting them in the dehydrator. Oh so good! I can't stop eating them.

I don't know if I will go back to canning. This is easier and tastes better though my husband's recipe for pizza sauce is really good too.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by MuddyToes

I've been drying my tomatoes with brokenbar's recipe and they are delicious.

I had an excess of Sunsugars so I cut them in half and swished them around in a little white balsamic vinegar instead of the wine soak, sprinkled them with Himalayan pink salt and fresh oregano before putting them in the dehydrator. Oh so good! I can't stop eating them.

I don't know if I will go back to canning. This is easier and tastes better though my husband's recipe for pizza sauce is really good too.

This is why I like tomato paste instead of sauce.
It is more versatile and takes up less space.
The Italian version is to die for where they make it in the sun on flat boards.
I cant remember the name of it to save my life.'
Estratto or something to that effect.