drying the harvest
Posted on | October 9, 2008 | No 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!
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