drying the harvest
Posted on | October 9, 2008 | 2 Comments
i recently bought an excalibur food dehydrator.
this excellent thing is a large black box, with nine square trays that slide into the front of it …then the whole thing is closed with a lid-door arrangement.
no moving parts apart from the fan in the back, to keep the warm dry air circulating.
i’m fascinated with how you can turn a WHOLE HEAP of food into a few small jars of crunchy stuff, with almost no nutritional loss.
and of course, the process consumes very little electricity…and it doesn’t require power to store the finished product….unlike a freezer.
i dried a few zucchinis and beans and ate them almost immediately.
then i put the excalibur aside, waiting for suitable produce.
the last couple of days have seen a frenzy of drying acres of silverbeet, chives, flat leaf parsley, lemon thyme, marjoram, sage, rosemary, rocket.
an armload of silverbeet has dried down to a smallish jar of rich green flakes.
the herbs smell lively and aromatic and look much more vivid than anything i’ve ever bought.
i was also thrilled to discover that we had proper french shallots growing….i cropped them all and i am busy drying them right now.
i was given a big chunk of intensely orange-fleshed pumpkin….i was eyeing it to dry, but opted for a creamy spicy soup instead.
that is simmering away right now, with some added corn and carrot.
it’s a noisy kitchen tonight!
Comments
2 Responses to “drying the harvest”
Leave a Reply
October 10th, 2008 @ 4:01 PM
Oooh I’ve always wanted one of these. Must look into this brand.
October 11th, 2008 @ 1:40 PM
OMG Patti!! I am SOOOOO enjoying my excalibur too!!! This thing rocks! I’ve done red and green bell peppers, mushrooms (all kinds), carrots, beef jerky from our own red angus!, fruit leather from fresh strawberries and peaches! Even DH is loving the jerky and he hated the store bought crap! LOL We need to share recipes.