Okay, I need to run to Walmart and the grocery store, and I want to get it over with early (before the hordes descend upon Walmart), so this’ll be a quick one!
Someone asked about dehydrating zucchini slices in my comments yesterday. Because I am SO VERY helpful and needed journal filler, I have for you a quick step-by-step instructional pictorial on the dehydrating of zucchini slices (which can also be used for yellow and pattypan squash).
1. We use a dehydrator, bought it the year before last at someone’s suggestion. It’s an Excalibur 2500 (the price has actually dropped since I bought ours). It’s super-easy to use and super-easy to clean. Ours has five trays, which is just perfect for us – there are dehydrators with more trays, but it’s rare that we get so behind that produce sits and waits to be dehydrated – probably because I freeze quite a bit of it, too. It comes with a booklet, but really all the information you need is in the handy little chart near the temperature control.
(Ignore that pile of canning jars to the right. I’m using a lot more quart jars this year than pint, so the pint jars are sitting and waiting to be used.)
2. Slice your zucchini approximately 1/4 inch thick. You can go thinner or a bit thicker if you want – they don’t have to be exactly 1/4 inch thick, that’s just something to shoot for. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
2. Place your slices on your dehydrator trays. Now, you CAN buy sheets to put over the plastic bottom of these sheets, and they’re sized specifically to go on these trays. But all they are, these sheets, is heavy-duty parchment paper. I bought 100 of them directly from the people who make the Excalibur dehydrators, and not only are they handy to protect the bottoms of the trays if you’re dehydrating stuff that’s drippy (shredded zucchini) or sticky (cherry tomatoes). They’re reusable, and I reuse the hell out of them, but when they’re gone I’m going to most likely switch over to plain old parchment paper, cut to size. It’s cheaper.
(That said, I don’t use the protector sheets on the bottoms of these trays with zucchini or squash slices, because they’ll dry faster directly on the mesh plastic.)
ALSO, some places online will tell you to blanch your veggies before you dehydrate them. If you’d like to do that, you go right ahead. I refuse to do that because it’s a pain in the ass.
If you’re going to eat your zucchini as zucchini chips, you might want to experiment with different flavorings and spices to make things exciting. I haven’t done that because I came late to the realization that zucchini chips are yummy. Next summer, I’ll try different things – I’ll go sweet with a sprinkle of sugar and cinnamon on the slices before I dehydrate, and savory with some of the popcorn toppings Fred has bought in the past. I’m sure I’ll report how that works out for me.
3. Put your tray in the dehydrator. Turn the dehydrator on (the chart on the dehydrator tells me to dehydrate between 135 and 145, so I split the difference and turn it to 140).
4. I would tell you how long it takes to dehydrate zucchini slices, but I honestly don’t know. Usually if I put them in the dehydrator in the afternoon and leave it running overnight, they’re done when I get up the next morning.
You’ll know they’re done when they’re brittle and crispy. You don’t want them to be flexible at all, you want those things DRY. Turn the dehydrator off and let them sit for fifteen or twenty minutes. I don’t like to put them in a container while they’re warm.
5. Store them in an airtight container. I’m using big jars because they were on hand. You can use ziplock bags, plastic containers – really, whatever you have around that’s airtight. Keep an eye on your container for the rest of the day (or the next day) and make sure there’s no condensation showing – if there’s condensation, everything didn’t get completely dry. If you catch it quickly enough, you can lay everything back out on the trays and run the dehydrator for a while longer.
6. Bonus! Since I had a couple of larger zucchini, I shredded them to dehydrate. This winter I’ll toss them in stews or spaghetti, or rehydrate it and make zucchini bread or cake.
And there ya go. How I dehydrate zucchini and how I store it.
Exciting, no?
Sheriff Mama would like you to know that she’s not only a badass, she’s also beautiful.
Previously
2008: It’s a rough life, but someone’s gotta live it.
2007: No entry.
2006: Maine facts.
2005: No entry.
2004: No entry.
2003: “Okay, first of all she wasn’t married to Frank Gifford, that was Kathie Lee, and secondly FRANK GIFFORD ISN’T DEAD!”
2002: “Hallo, Clarice,” he said.
2001: No entry.
2000: No entry.