{"id":2486,"date":"2014-11-14T23:02:38","date_gmt":"2014-11-14T23:02:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wpmigration\/?p=2486"},"modified":"2015-04-29T19:42:17","modified_gmt":"2015-04-29T19:42:17","slug":"preserving-summers-end-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/articles\/preserving-summers-end-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Preserving Summer’s End (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Preserving Summer\u2019s End (Part 1)<\/h2>\n

How to Dehydrate: Apples, Zucchini, Onions, Carrots<\/h3>\n

If you are like me, you loathe paying $4 for mealy tomatoes in January.\u00a0 There are two things that really put me over the edge about that: one is that tomatoes are cheaper in the summer, much cheaper! And secondly,\u00a0 a January tomato from the store does not even taste like a tomato.\u00a0 So, I have done all that I can over the years to leverage food preservation to our advantage because I really like tomatoes, but not at $4 lb!<\/p>\n

\"$18<\/p>\n

In the last blog,<\/a> I gave a shout out to all the people faithfully manning the booths at the farmer\u2019s market, we really do appreciate it.\u00a0 In the above picture, here is my haul for $18\u2014not bad.\u00a0 Now to preserve it all.\u00a0 As a reminder, nothing goes to waste.\u00a0 If you cannot use it, your soil can so compost it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Apples<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Dehydrated<\/p>\n

The first thing that I processed was the apples by running them through the dehydrator.\u00a0 In retrospect, I wish that I would have done the herbs first because they go so quick, but are so aromatic that they can impart flavor to other things in the dehydrator like the apples and should be dehydrated alone.\u00a0 But back to the apples: here is how to do it:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Apple<\/p>\n

We use this apple peeler <\/a>from Pantry Paratus, but you can check out our other great apple tools in our Fruits & Nuts section.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You will find that nutritious apples with dense juicy flesh dehydrate best when they are sliced to uniform thin slices.\u00a0 The best way to do this is the apple peeler.<\/a>\u00a0 We leave the skin on as fiber is always good to have, but if you like them peeled by all means the apple peeler and slicer will make you wonder why you ever did this with a paring knife.\u00a0 It’s also great fun with kids.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

Next, I take the \u201capple spring\u201d and run a knife down one side to cut the coils and make the rings from the coil-sliced apple.\u00a0 To control the amylase sugar browning on the apples, I dip them in lemon juice (about a \u00bc cup to 2 cups of water).\u00a0 Chaya juiced & froze an entire box of lemons earlier in the season; I used that but I also used the stuff from the grocery store too.<\/p>\n

\"Dip<\/p>\n

I happen to have this handy thrift store<\/a> glass cup (picture above)\u00a0 which is exactly the size of the apples so that I can economize my lemon juice and make it go further.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Apple<\/p>\n

Before<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Dehydrated<\/p>\n

After<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I like to do my apples low and slow.\u00a0 That is put them in the dehydrator on low heat for a longer period of time.\u00a0 To me, the apple rings are dehydrated and ready to put away when they have a noticeable click and bounce when you drop them on the table.\u00a0 I like mine to snap when you break them, but other people like theirs chewy so pull them out of the dehydrator when you like their texture.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Zucchini<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Dehydrated<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I know, I know.\u00a0 I am probably the only person who cannot grow zucchini well, but these beauties are actually going to make one of my favorite snacks\u2014zucchini chips!\u00a0 Careful though, you do not want to eat too many of them, they are higher in fiber than you think!<\/p>\n

\"zucchini\"<\/p>\n

First thing is first, slice them up into discs.\u00a0 Since zucchini dehydrates so well, you do not need to worry (as much as with other foods) about uniformity, but just get them onto the tray.<\/p>\n

\"lighltly<\/p>\n

Next for zucchini chips, I like to lightly<\/em> salt them.\u00a0 You will be surprise how little salt you need here.\u00a0 If you are putting zucchini away for long term storage, skip the salt as it will not be optimal for storage.\u00a0 If you feel adventurous, sprinkle some garlic powder on them as well for a real treat.\u00a0 Still not enough? \u00a0Find your favorite fresh herbs and make a pesto, dip the zucchini discs in the pesto, then dehydrate them.\u00a0 I will bet that you cannot eat just one!<\/p>\n

\"Dehydrated<\/p>\n

Zucchini (especially with the light salt) dehydrates very quickly, so you can usually turn these around in a day or less.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Onions<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Dehydrated<\/p>\n

These onions from the farmer\u2019s market were so tasty, we were eating them like an apple.\u00a0 Usually, this indicates low sulfur in the soil, but I am not complaining here.\u00a0 Actually, I found a new side salad dish: fresh lentil sprouts<\/a>, some finely chopped fresh farmer\u2019s market onions, light sea salt<\/a>, parsley and some nutritional yeast<\/a> to taste.\u00a0 Wow!<\/p>\n

\"Cut<\/p>\n

Slice the onions and lay them out on the tray.\u00a0 I was not all that particular here, so the object is to just get them onto the tray.\u00a0 Since they shrink so much, you can overlap them if need be.\u00a0 This may mean that you have to break them apart at the end, but the increase in throughput makes up for it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Dehydrated<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chaya adds<\/strong>: It’s hard to explain, but the flavor seems to get even better.\u00a0 If you are from the Midwest, you remember those chemical-laden onion-things that people put on green bean casserole, right? Well, these are better, way better.\u00a0 Very nearly a candy.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Carrots<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Dehydrated<\/p>\n

The last thing that I wanted to show you today is the carrots.\u00a0 These were itty bitties that the kind lady at the farm stand gave to Bugaloo, my daughter,\u00a0 a token for how brave she was to even come out with her rain coat and boots.<\/p>\n

\"Shred<\/p>\n

The first thing that I do is to pick off the stems (which are actually related to parsley and are edible) as well as the stringy root bits and I set them aside.\u00a0 Stop by for part 2, and I will show you what to do with those.\u00a0 Since these carrots were so small, they were hard to shred.\u00a0 You can dehydrated carrots sliced, too, but Chaya prefers them shredded because they rehydrated much more thoroughly and quickly.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Shredded<\/p>\n

Shredded carrots can be placed directly on the tray.\u00a0 Actually, I just shred them right over the mesh dehydrator mat\u2014done!\u00a0 If you are going to cut the carrots into coins, I recommend blanching the cut slices first, then dehydrating them as this will prevent case hardening<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Dehydrated<\/p>\n

Come back next time for Preserving Summer\u2019s End Part 2.\u00a0 I will show you how to dehydrate herbs (read: $avings!) as well as my Montana Kimchi.\u00a0 See you then!<\/p>\n

Pro Deo et Patria,<\/p>\n

Wilson<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Knives\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

P.S. Do you know what the difference is between these two knives?\u00a0 Why is this difference important for dehydrating?\u00a0 Leave a comment with your answer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Proviso:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nothing in this blog constitutes medical or legal advice.\u00a0 You should consult your own physician before making any dietary changes.\u00a0 Statements in this blog may or may not be congruent with current USDA or FDA guidance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Preserving Summer\u2019s End (Part 1) How to Dehydrate: Apples, Zucchini, Onions, Carrots If you are like me, you loathe paying $4 for mealy tomatoes in January.\u00a0 There are two things that really put me over the edge about that: one is that tomatoes are cheaper in the summer, much cheaper! And secondly,\u00a0 a January tomato […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[19,226],"tags":[83,236],"yst_prominent_words":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/salting-zucchini.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Fvks-E6","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2486"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2486"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=2486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}