Owner Manual

9
Vegetable Dehydration Tips
Dried vegetables are every bit as flavorful and versatile as dried fruits. With dried
vegetables you can make delicious soups, stews, casseroles and more. Basically,
anywhere you would use fresh vegetables, you can use dehydrated vegetables.
Before preparing and dehydrating your chosen vegetables, always wash them in cold
water. A certain amount of coring, slicing, peeling or shredding is required. A food
processor can be a handy tool when using vegetables.
Be creative when drying vegetables. Placing vegetables in diluted lemon juice or
similar flavors for approximately 2 minutes will add a hint of flavor to vegetables
such as green beans and asparagus.
Pre-treatment of Vegetables
For the most part, vegetables need little in the way of special treatment for
dehydration although there are some exceptions. A few vegetables, such as onions,
garlic, peppers, tomatoes and mushrooms can be dried and reconstituted successfully
without pre-treatment. In general, if vegetables must be steamed or blanched for
freezing, they have to be treated for drying.
With the above-named exceptions in mind, most remaining vegetables will need to be
steamed or blanched before drying. Many vegetables have enzymes that help the food
ripen; leaving these enzymes active in the food will cause them to continue to bring
about changes in flavor and aroma which can be undesirable. Although untreated
vegetables which are dehydrated can still be good for as long as three to four months,
heat-treated vegetables reconstitute in less time, keep longer, and generally retain
more flavor when reconstituted.
Steaming
Steaming is the best method of pre-treatment. Place a single layer of chopped or
sliced vegetables in a colander or steam-basket. Shredded vegetables can be 1/2 inch
deep in the colander or basket. Set vegetables in a pot above a small amount of
boiling water and cover. Water should not touch the vegetables. Begin timing