Recently, we tried some more dehydrating using frozen vegetables. It was a great time to do it since (here anyway) the humidity was low and it was cold outside so heating up the kitchen a bit was totally OK. We ran to the grocery store and grabbed a couple bags of frozen 'peas and carrots'.
Each bag was 16oz, so two pounds total.
Each bag was 16oz, so two pounds total.
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| Dehydrating frozen vegetables before |
While some of this fell through to the lower level, and a bit more was eaten, you know, for "testing purposes", this is how much moisture is removed:
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| Dehydrating frozen vegetables after |
Amazing how much they change! These took about 12 hours...we dried several layers of them and as you see, the end result seems like so little, even though it was a pound of frozen peas and carrots on each layer. The photo below was the last jar of peas and carrots and wasn't quite full but we ended up with two jars.
We also dried some more corn and still have one last, lonely jar of our dehydrated tomatoes left (those are so good in a creamy pasta sauce).
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| Dehydrated frozen vegetables and fresh tomatoes. |
Adventures in dehydrating!
I REALLY need to try out a dehydrator. Thanks!!!
ReplyDeleteThey are definitely fun to have!
DeleteI've noticed the word verification on blogs that used to not have it. That sucks but at least it's not the annoying word and upper/lower case words. I guess this is just 'number verification'. Sometimes they are hard to read but just click the little refresh button and you'll get an easy one. One time the number was 23. I can handle that, ha.
ReplyDeleteOh and just like above, I really need to get a dehydrator. I've always wanted one.
Thanks for your blog.
Yes, the word verification is something new that apparently blogger is REQUIRING. We have it turned off but not sure what we can do about it. I've got a couple of emails to google. We'll see. Thanks for the comment.
DeleteI love my Excalibur dehydrator! I dehydrated two bags of carrot/corn/green beans/peas and won a blue ribbon at the County Fair. The color was what won.
ReplyDeleteNot having to blanch is great, not to mentioning no chopping.
Oh, I definitely want an Excalibur someday. Those are nice. I saw those pictures you posted about that, that was so cool. Yes, I didn't think about that but yep, no blanching and no prep work. Just open the bag and dump it on, ha.
DeleteI'd love an Excalibur but, at s constant 145watts, (apparently??) that is too much for our solar system.
ReplyDeleteHow well do the veggies rehydrate? The same as they were before?
Dani,
DeleteI don't about the watts, but I would do what I had to do to use mine. The vegetables are great when rehydrated. Three or four pounds of frozen filled a pint jar with a bit left over.
Of course, I bought them frozen, so there was no before when I rehydrated the vegetables.
Dani, yes, they do suck up the wattage and I know on solar and batteries, that's a tough choice. Maybe if you could ever borrow one and see how you'd use it, it might be a good test.
DeleteThe only way we've rehydrated the is in soups where they cook for a bit of time and they have rehydrated pretty nicely. They don't quite plump up as much as they were originally but definitely get soft. I think time is the best solution (longer cooking time).
I was amazed to read that you did it with frozen vege. I thought it was suppose to be fresh produce. Frozen is certainly easier to source!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely easier to source (and you can get year round). Frozen has worked well and we can of course get organic so you don't have to worry about how it was grown (in theory, LOL). I think the only 'downside' you could say with frozen is that they do take longer to finish due to so much more moisture in them but it's still a great shortcut. ;-)
DeleteI have never tried this. But it looks a really good idea.
ReplyDeleteRosezeeta
They've worked well so far for us. We haven't tried all veggies so we'll see over time. :-)
DeleteWe just got thru making jerky in our dehydrator and now this really interests me. Dehydrated veggies are great to liven up soup and casserols, but never thought of making my own from frozen, Thanks for this great tip
ReplyDeleteThat's funny, the jerky interests us, we haven't done that yet. The frozen veggies idea I saw on some online forums and thought we'd try it. It's worked well so far.
DeleteYour dehydrated vegetables turned out so colorful. And all the jars lined up look so pretty! I need to try this.
ReplyDeleteHow long will they keep?
I'm not sure how long they will keep but I have read from people who put those O2 absorbers in the jars and keep them for a couple years. Ours would never last that long, ha. They are very pretty in the pantry or on the counter. Almost don't want to eat them...ALMOST, ha.
DeleteHow do these veggies taste when they are rehydrated and cooked? I've always wanted to try a dehydrator, but wasn't ever sure of the quality of the product reconstituted?
ReplyDeleteWe are still 'newbies' for it but they have been nice so far. Taste, we haven't noticed much difference. In a way, the flavors seem concentrated, at least in some that we've done. The tomatoes are amazing when rehydrated, they are rich and very 'tomato-y' (made up word, ha). We've used the peas/carrots in soups and so they just sort of become part of everything else.
DeleteWe'll keep experimenting and post about it, good OR bad, ha.
I got one for Christmas! Last night we dried apple slices. I found some Galas on sale for a good price. You had to soak the slices for 10 minutes in acidulated water so they wouldn't brown. It gives them a little bit of a pucker. Next I'm going to try the cinnamon sugared ones that I saw mentioned on the Hickery Holler Farm blog. We used the mandolin to slice them super thin and it took 4 hours to dry them. I didn't core the apples, just sliced the "cheeks." How do you guys handle the noise? I set the dehydrator up on the kitchen counter and regretted it later in the evening when I was watching tv.
ReplyDeleteYay for you! We haven't done apples yet but that sounds yummy. And I will check out the blog you mentioned. We have a mandolin too so it sounds like we can do it. The noise...ah yes, there is the noise isn't there? Ha. Fortunately, we put it in the kitchen which is far enough away from our tv room to not be annoying. But i've heard of people putting them in guest rooms or the furthest unused room, even the garage. You can also time shift it, for example, if you know it might take 8 hours, pop it in before bed. Share your results if you learn something neat!
DeleteHey yall. I finally got a dehydrator myself!
ReplyDelete