So far if you want to know more about dehydrating, I have done:
There are more links to preparedness type things on the tab (up top) called Preparedness if you are looking for more ideas.
Dh's family owns a rather large farm. In fact it might be better to call it an operation. :) As a result we get to have lots of veggies for free. We would pay, but family gets the stuff for free. (such a blessing!)
This year they grew broccoli and cauliflower. I was excited and was going to freeze some, but decided to dehydrate it instead. (the whole lasting longer issue) I was pretty curious to see how long it would take and what it would look like when finished. I have eaten it dehydrated before, but I had never done it. Plus I had about 50 lbs of broccoli and wanted to store it in a fairly small manner!
So, I washed the broccoli up. I had to rip it apart because broccoli does get caterpillars. The later the maturation the more caterpillars. Mine had lots of extra protein!
Taking a large, sharp knife, cut your broccoli into smallish pieces. I just cut at an angle. There were fairly small pieces that way.
Spread in a shallow layer (hard to say single layer as they are not easy to see how many are on top!).
Run your dehydrator for about 12 hours. I put mine in at the start of the day, and by the end had a whole load done and ready for the one I ran all night!
It is done when it is no longer squishy and totally crispy. I place them in a jar, but you could put them into a bag too. (just make sure you remove as much air as you can)
You can add to soups, casseroles, rice, pizza, etc. Just add a bit more liquid to compensate. (2 to 1)
I am pretty excited at how totally easy this was. I am pretty much in love with dehydrating. I find it is so much easier than pretty much everything else preserving wise. (tastes good too)
If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments or email me. If you have any helpful tips or recipes, also please comment or email...I am always looking for more!
Cheers
5 comments:
Brilliant! I love this!
I love my canister vacuum sealer too. Takes the air completely out of the jars and the dehydrated food lasts So long on the shelves. Love it.
I never knew you could dehydrate broccoli! Very cool. My father-in-law made a dehydrator years ago and said we can have it. We are going down this weekend so I am hoping to bring it home with me. :) You will never guess what I am doing today...Canning! Have you ever canned beef roast? It is yummy. You just cut it up in chunks, put in canning salt, no liquid, raw, and the canner does the rest. It comes out so tender and you can literally dump it in a pot, thicken the juices a little, and add your veggies for a delicious beef stew. I feel so domestic. I love that feeling. :)
Didn't know you could do that! COOL!
Jaime, have I told you lately you're my hero? I had no idea you could do this. Now I have a new project to try.
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