Dehydrating Veggies

[GanGoHigh]

I'm wondering how to dehydrate a few veggies to incorporate into various dishes at camp. I will rehydrate the vegetables separately from whatever food they will be added to. The fbc method doesn't appeal to me, as I generally rehydrate food in a small ti bowl and eat out of my cooking pot.

What are the techniques for de- and re-hydrating the following veggies?

Fresh spinach which has been wilted in a dab of olive oil.
Cooked kale.
Onions.
Peppers: habanero, bell, poblano, etc...
Should garlic be dehy'd raw or roasted?
Thin sliced raw carrots.
Broccoli and cauliflower.
Sweet potatoes.

I've looked around at a few sites and just can't find enough concise info on some of them. I know that some things like broccoli are well discussed, but I haven't seen much on some of the others. Thanks in advance.

[sarbar]

Onions: never, ever worth the time doing them yourself! Buy them. If you get the ones by Tone at places like Costco they are super fresh. Same with garlic. Buy the diced dried stuff. Good, pungent and easy to handle.

As with all vegetables: keep them small and uniform. Blanching (a quick steam/drop in cold water) will preserve color and break down the hard walls for rehydrating.

Spinach doesn't need to be cooked before drying. Dry the leaves and then crumble.

Green peas, sweet corn and green beans work best if precooked before drying (why drying frozen veggies works well - they are cooked).

[budforester]

What Sarbar said! Blanch or pre- cook, then dry. Small and even size helps keep both the drying and the re- hydrating uniform. Best to add oil when you cook, not before dehydrating. I haven't tried drying peppers, but I worry that habanero in the dehydrator might chase you out of the house.

[russb]

Chili peppers can be dried whole. I just dried a quart of habaneros whole that I bought at the public market. When chilis are dried they are sometimes given a different name: A dried poblano pepper is called the ancho chili pepper. You should be able to dry these whole, but I never have. Green peppers I slice into very thin strips and dry, they rehydrate well in stews chilis etc...

[GanGoHigh]

Thanks for the prompt responses, but I'm still looking for individuals with experience with the veggies I mentioned. I've seen Sarbar's site and while there are some good general guidelines, I'm not a beginner and am looking for some more in depth info and experiences.

I can use a knife fairly well and do all sorts of fine dices, and I have a dehydrator, so why should I buy products like Sarbar suggested? I'm here to learn how to do these things myself, not to rely on a corporate superstore to supply me. Is there some process in drying onions and garlic that I am uncapable of doing at home?

Sarbar, thanks for the few hints, but I bought a dehydrator to use my own foods and to remove myself from the catastrophic blunder that is our food supply system.

So, I refer any readers back to my original post and encourage everyone to share experiences with the veggies I mentioned up there.

[GanGoHigh]

Btw, I grow most of my own veggies at home. I'm pretty loaded on sweet potatoes, onions, garlic, carrots etc... and buying those sorts of products when I have a dehydrator and the desire to use it is ridiculous.

[mudhead]

Cost/benefit/frig/odor factor is major with the onions. The big jug of Tone onions is a bargain.

You might have fun tho.

[GanGoHigh]

Mudhead, where are the Tone onions grown? Are they grown organically in my backyard? I doubt it. And btw, I also have a well ventilated mudroom to do any smelly dehydrating.

[budforester]

I googled up this link. Might want to set up the onions in the mudroom, like you suggested; the thought brings tears to my eyes. Home- grown sounds great.

[GanGoHigh]

Thanks, Bud. That's better than most of the stuff I've found so far. And they did it with the organic baby carrots I buy when mine run out.

And +1 to homegrown sounding great. Even better in a bubbler.

[Christopher Robin]

I dehy-d all of the veges you mention, kale cooked drained on paper towels, choped & dehy-d. I drided all my veggys & put them in double zip-lock bags & at dinner time just pop hot water in the bag. Oh by the way Sarbar is right about the onions they are best bougt dry. OK

[sarbar]

For me, while I prefer organic, there are some areas I don't want to deal with. On the onions, if you do them at home do it on a warm day when you can have every window open - or better yet - dry them on your porch! Same with hot peppers.

It is like drying tuna....you can do it, but wow....it will reek up your house

Personally, I often just buy my stuff from Harmony House Foods - especially for Jalapeno dices. While I enjoy drying stuff I don't always have time.

Having said that - go get a Mary Bell book from your library or the book Dry It, You'll Like It. Drying isn't a science, rather an art....

[Frau]

Carrots--I slice mine length wise so they are about as long as a wooden match stick. When they dehydrate they even look like match sticks. I was concerned with rehydrating something really dense and this matchstick size rehydrates quickly and easily. I simply add it to soup mix, rice, whatever. I am not a fbc person either. I heat it all up in one pot.

We dehydrate ramps in the house and it doesn't bother us. I think the jerky is smellier than veggies.

Now if I can just find the dried garlic they have mentioned!

frau

[Blissful]

We dehydrated frozen peas and green beans. Made out great with them.
No need to do onions, you can get minced onion in the spice aisle.

[sarbar]

Now if I can just find the dried garlic they have mentioned!

frau

Costco! In the spice section.

[Lellers]

I've done some of the veggies on your list. I have a very simple Nesco drying unit, though I can't remember which model number, and it's packed away at the moment. It's the one with the motor on the top.

Carrots - I blanch and cut small, or I buy shredded carrots and blanch and dry.

Broccoli - I blanch and break into very, very small bits and dry.

Onions- I don't bother. I just get onion flakes at the store.

Garlic - I don't bother. I just get garlic powder.

Sweet potatoes - I've only done this once, but it worked pretty well. I baked them, pureed them in my food processor and then spread on the fruit leather tray to dry. When it was very dry and crisp, I threw it back in the food processor and ground into a powder. Voila! Instant mashed sweet potatoes. On the trail, these rehydrate really fast, and I added olive oil and salt. Next time, I thought I might add some maple flavoring.

I've only had my dehydrator for a little more than a year, so I'm still experimenting. I had really good luck with thinly sliced mushrooms, too. No need to blanch. I've also bought dried wild mushrooms in the grocery and ground those into a powder. They make a really great seasoning on the trail.

[russb]

Lellers, I like the idea of instant mashed sweet potatoes. Wonder how good they would be with a little bourbon added to it!

[Lellers]

Lellers, I like the idea of instant mashed sweet potatoes. Wonder how good they would be with a little bourbon added to it!

Now you're thinking! I was thinking of adding the maple flavoring before dehydrating, but I wonder if it'll still taste of maple when rehydrated? I'll have to give it a try. I assume you'd add "fresh" bourbon to the sweet potatoes rather than add and dehydration. That's what I would do, anyway.

[sarbar]

Sweet potatoes are sooo easy! And tasty! I add True Orange powder and butter powder to mine

Btw, if you are doing mushrooms, use a egg cutter. Toss the woody stems (or use for something else) and cut the cap like a hardboiled egg. Easy and simple - and the mushrooms dry fast.

[Dicentra]

Fresh onions? Too stinky! I buy those. lol.

Garlic? Why not bring fresh? 1-2 cloves don't weigh much! Ooohh... but a roasted garlic white bean dip (made ahead then dehydrated) would rock!

I did a blog on how to dry sweet potatoes (with recipes) awhile back. I hope that helps some.

Sarbar has a how-to on broccoli on her site. Do cauliflower the same way.