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  1. #1
    Registered User LastHonestFool's Avatar
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    Default Dehydrating pasta?

    so it's been awhile since I've dehydrated stuff for a backpacking trip, and I'd like to dehydrate some pasta for my trip....I think it was in the oven w/ the door open at 125 degrees?

    like to know before I do it so I do it righ tthe first time

    thanks in advance

  2. #2
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    Save yourself some trouble...

  3. #3
    Registered User LastHonestFool's Avatar
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    lol

    yeah I'm takin them too, but I got some spatini, planning on doing spaghetti n sauce for the first night's dinner as a bit of a treat, and it would reduce cooking time a bit, which would just be a convenience facotr...if I'm not confident in dehydrating it, I'll just have to spend the extra time to cook it normally...which is why I ask here, to boost my confidence in dehydrating it

  4. #4
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    I wouldn't know spatini from linguni. Never made my own pasta. But if it's cooking time you're concerned about, get some "Angel Hair" pasta.

    Hey, any pasta experts in the house? Young man needs some HELP over here!

  5. #5

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    Isn't pasta already dehydrated when you buy it?
    I know the rice noodles we use in thailand just need to be put in hot water for a few seconds and they are ready.
    So, are you thinking of cooking the pasta, and then redehyrating it again? I guess that's what you're talking about. seems strange to me but go for it. I wouldn't think it would taste as good the second time.

  6. #6
    Hiker bigcranky's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by fiddlehead View Post
    Isn't pasta already dehydrated when you buy it?

    Sure, it's dry, but it's not cooked.

    Dehydrating cooked pasta is da bomb. Cook some pasta -- little stuff is good, like penne -- then put it in the dehydrator (or the oven at 150F with door cracked) and dry until it's completely dry, not soft at all.

    To use, combine equal parts pasta and boiling water in a ziploc freezer bag and put in a cozy for 10 minutes or so. Add some powdered tomatos or some Knorr sauce mix, stir, and enjoy. One cup of pasta is a good starting point.

    I think Sarbar has more info on her website (www.freezerbagcooking.com). Finally, get yourself a dehydrator at Wallymart and it opens up a whole world of great homemade backpacking food.
    Ken B
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  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by bigcranky View Post
    Sure, it's dry, but it's not cooked.

    Dehydrating cooked pasta is da bomb. Cook some pasta -- little stuff is good, like penne -- then put it in the dehydrator (or the oven at 150F with door cracked) and dry until it's completely dry, not soft at all.

    To use, combine equal parts pasta and boiling water in a ziploc freezer bag and put in a cozy for 10 minutes or so. Add some powdered tomatos or some Knorr sauce mix, stir, and enjoy. One cup of pasta is a good starting point.

    I must be dumb... I still don't get it. First you cook it and then you dehydrate it. Then in camp you cook it again ??

    Wouldn't plain old store-bought pasta cook just as well, in camp, using the method you describe above?

    What am I missing here?

  8. #8
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    Save yourself all the trouble and get the pasta bits. Add hot water and its ready in a few minutes. I think its called cous cous. Saves a lot of unnecessary time chewing too!

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by terrapin_too View Post
    I must be dumb... I still don't get it. First you cook it and then you dehydrate it. Then in camp you cook it again ??

    Wouldn't plain old store-bought pasta cook just as well, in camp, using the method you describe above?

    What am I missing here?


    Have no idea if this will explain anything but:
    This site on freezer bag cooking gives ideas on cooking with couscous and pre-cooked, re-dried pasta. Scroll down about 7 pages to ‘Pasta/Ramen/Oriental Noodles to see cooking instructions etc. dealing with complete dinner rehydration.. These homemade dinners are probably like Lipton’s, freeze-dried pasta dishes and lasagna noodles that you do not have to precook; the noodles are problably redried after cooking.

    Your pasta might do, but there probably isn’t enough heat left to reconstitute the sauce, vegetables and meat. This might have to be done by reheating, using more fuel.. I just cooked some pasta with your method. It is pasty, but edible, and maybe I let it go too long.. You might be able to add dried , cooked vegs and meat, and extra boiling water with the uncooked pasta, and add sauce and butter at the end. I’ve done this myself.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Groucho View Post
    I just cooked some pasta with your method. It is pasty, but edible, and maybe I let it go too long.. You might be able to add dried , cooked vegs and meat, and extra boiling water with the uncooked pasta, and add sauce and butter at the end. I’ve done this myself.

    I really wasn't considering anything beyond "just plain pasta." If it's got other ingredients in it (ie., involves any real "cooking") then obviously there's a stronger rationale for cooking in advance and dehydrating. As I explained in another post, I'm not really interested in doing that for long hikes, since I've given up on mail drops entirely. YMMV and all that.

  11. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by terrapin_too View Post
    I must be dumb... I still don't get it. First you cook it and then you dehydrate it. Then in camp you cook it again ??

    Wouldn't plain old store-bought pasta cook just as well, in camp, using the method you describe above?

    What am I missing here?

    Cooking pasta is one thing. Cooking requires 5 to 10 minutes of boiling water for whatever chemistry happens during cooking pasta all the way through. Dehydrating cooked pasta doesn't put it back to being the raw pasta it was in the original box. Repeat that thought.

    The dehydrated pasta can be mixed with COLD water and in 15 minutes to 30 minutes it will be COLD COOKED rehydrated pasta, soft, and ready to eat, cold. Rehydrating isn't cooking, it is restoring water. Repeat that thought over and over.

    Hot water will speed up the rehydration and it will be HOT and rehydrated in just a few minutes. The hot water isn't actually cooking it for the second time. Repeat that thought.


    You can also cook vegetables and dehydrate them. Store them for a couple of months before you go hiking. Different vegetables rehydrate at different rates (no suprize there?). Some will rehydrate in a half an hour in cold water, but others require sitting time in warm or hot water because rehydration of those vegetables is so slow.

    Rehydrating dehydrated potato powder is almost instant. That is one reason they call them INSTANT POTATOES.

    Powdered or flaked vegetables rehydrate rapidly because of the high surface to volume ratio of powdered or flaked vegetables, versus the lower surface to volume ratio of, say, a whole solid potato.

  12. #12

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    i dehydrate alot of foods for wilderness trips but i have never attempted plain pasta like spaghetti or rotini. i have learned to dehydrate pirroghis though and they are made basically from pasta. you must cook them first and then dehydrate them. if they are not cooked first, they fall apart when you rehydrate them. don't know if spag. etc. is the same.

  13. #13
    Registered User Ewker's Avatar
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    I found this thread about dehydrating pasta

    http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...ydrating+pasta

    Here is 2 post from that thread

    Quote Originally Posted by River Runner View Post
    Actually if you want to just add boiling water and let it rehydrate, cooking spaghetti and then dehydrating it works better than trying to do that with store-bought dry spaghetti. I've tried it both ways. If it isn't cooked and then dehydrated, it gets gooey and starchy when just adding boiling water into it in a zip-lock.

    Temperature wise on setting the dehydrator, I think I used about 135 degrees.

    Quote Originally Posted by sarbar View Post
    Exactly By precooking and drying pasta, it basically becomes 'instant' pasta. Undercook it by about 1-2 minutes, as sitting in boiling water finishes it up. Dry it at 135-140* or so till dry. You want to make sure the pasta is really dry (hard hard). Then store in sealed bags till trip time.

    To bring back, just pour boiling water to cover (if using small pasta pieces do a 1:1 ratio of water/pasta), make sure pasta is covered, and put in a cozy for 10-15 minutes, and it is ready!
    a
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  14. #14
    Do-it-yourself pepsi can stoves - $20 each. Amigi'sLastStand's Avatar
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    Dehydrating pasta? Hmm, right up there with dehydrating raisins...
    You are in heaven.

  15. #15
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    NO! dry pasta that you buy is not cooked. Once you cook the pasta, and then dehydrate, all you will need to bring be back to life its hot or boiling water.leave in cozy to cook thru then eat! does that help clarify things??
    Peanuts (aka i.j.)
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  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by peanuts View Post
    NO! dry pasta that you buy is not cooked. Once you cook the pasta, and then dehydrate, all you will need to bring be back to life its hot or boiling water.leave in cozy to cook thru then eat! does that help clarify things??

    OK, I just tried this experiment:

    1. Boiled 1 cup of water in an Open Country 2.5 cup pot on my canister stove.
    2. Added 1 cup of supermarket Rotini to the water.
    3. Waited another 15-20 seconds for the water to resume boiling.
    4. Turned off the stove, put the pot in its TinMan cozy.
    5. Waited 12 minutes.

    Result: the Rotini is fully "cooked" and edible.

    So, please tell me what dehydrating the Rotini, in advance, accomplishes?

  17. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by terrapin_too View Post
    OK, I just tried this experiment:

    1. Boiled 1 cup of water in an Open Country 2.5 cup pot on my canister stove.
    2. Added 1 cup of supermarket Rotini to the water.
    3. Waited another 15-20 seconds for the water to resume boiling.
    4. Turned off the stove, put the pot in its TinMan cozy.
    5. Waited 12 minutes.

    Result: the Rotini is fully "cooked" and edible.

    So, please tell me what dehydrating the Rotini, in advance, accomplishes?
    You 'cooked' the pasta... The TS wants to simply rehydrate it... Meaning just add boiling water to a ziploc freezer bag, let it sit for a couple minutes and be done. You used fuel, time and dirtied a pot. (Not that dirty I know but it would be if you added sauce directly into the pot, which the ziploc method eliminates.)

    I've heard of people making full on spaghetti, sauce and all, and dehydrating on fruit roll up trays so that it just needs hot water and its done... Haven't tried yet though.

  18. #18
    Do-it-yourself pepsi can stoves - $20 each. Amigi'sLastStand's Avatar
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    I agree terrapin, this is da dumb.
    You are in heaven.

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Amigi'sLastStand View Post
    I agree terrapin, this is da dumb.

    Well, I am trying to understand. To my feeble male mind, the verb "to cook" is a bit strong when applied to pasta. You dump it in hot or boiling water, and some time later, you eat it. If that's cooking, then I'm Chez Panisse.

  20. #20
    Do-it-yourself pepsi can stoves - $20 each. Amigi'sLastStand's Avatar
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    I guess it just seems a little anal to me to need to save ... six minutes. In the grand scheme of things, how much total fossil fuel is being used in this double cooking process. Some dinosaur died for you buddy. Use him efficiently!!!!
    You are in heaven.

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