Food Preservation

[Merski]

Update on our zucchini storage. I grated tons of zucchinis, then salted it to remove a lot of water and the squeezed out the liquid and shaped it into one cup "burgers" and froze them. (sorry about the writing but I hope you get the gist). Very successful! I can pull out one from the freezer and defrost it and cook it to make a veggie tart or use it in zucchini bread (just have to add some more liquid).

I also grated cooked beets and froze them. I let them thaw and made a lemony dressing for them and they were delicious.

I will do more of each with this summer's garden produce.

[razz]

Great ideas! I grate similar veggies but haven't tried beets. I have been doing more dehydrating so will expand on that using grated veggies.

[Poco Pelo]

how are you dehydrating ? i've been thinking about weaning off my store bought dried veggies, i dont like the salt

[happystuff]

I've had some luck with cabbage grated and then dehydrated. Used it quite nicely in a meat and cabbage pie recipe. Not too bad!

Poco Pelo - I have a Waring dehydrator. Have had it for... has to be close to 18 - 20 years now.

[razz]

I bought an Excaliber dehydrator but there are some good plans for homemade dehydrators as well. Apples are awesome and raspberry fruit leathers are amazing.
Onions and garlic dry well but this has to be done so that the whole house does not smell for days.

[Nella]

I've dehydrated zucchini and then pulverizedit in the food processor. Much easier to store that way, and you can use it in breads, cookies, and cakes without the lumpiness of grated zuch.

[happystuff]

You can use this same pulvarizing technique for tomatoes and then just rehydrate the powder into a nice sauce.

[Perplexa]

One of my favorite dehydrated treats is kale chips. Tear kale up into pieces (make sure the kale's not too tough or it comes out thick and unpleasant) sprinkle with olive oil (a can of spray olive oil is easiest, but I imagine you could just use a brush or your fingers) and then sprinkle sea salt on top. Don't over-salt because it'll get concentrated when the kale is dry. Dehydrate. Tastes even better than potato chips and a lot better for you. It would obviously be even healthier without the salt, but the salt definitely adds to the flavor.