I love my Excalibur!!! I have dehydrated several vegetable and have had excellent results. Broccoli was on sale So I bought six heads. I know I could have waited until the garden produced but as I am out of my frozen stuff and needed to purchase it anyway I decided to do the experiment. I steam blanched each head for about minutes, cooled them in ice water then spun the moisture out in my salad spinner. The dehydrating only took about 7 hours. The result was a bright green, brittle little stalk. I saved some out to try rehydrating and packed the rest in vaccum sealed plastic bags. Two days later, I redrated a small bowl. Well, it was small when I started but plumped up beautifully after 15-20 minutes sitting in some simmering water. I thought it tasted more like fresh broccoli than than the heads I froze last year. I am assuming there will be little deterioration in storage as the environment is nearly air free.
I started some sweet potatoes in jars of water and they are rooting nicely. I have never stored sweet potatoes. I think I will try two methods this year. I will caook, mash and dry some and cold store the rest. Both methods are energy stingy.
I have to admit, I am worried about drying my peas. My frozen ones taste vine fresh, probably our favorite vegetable. It’s hard to imagine that dried will be as good. Has anyone dried them? Let me know how it worked out for you.
With the concern over flu pandemic, this is a good week to update your family communication plan. Figure out who might shelter with you and make them responsible for some of the preps. Reading some accounts of the 1918 pandemic is enlightening.
April 26, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Kathy,
I think you will be pleasantly surprised with the dried peas! I was skeptical, as well, & frozen peas are one of our favorites. Surprise, Surprise, when the rehydrated dried peas tasted like they were fresh off the vine!
April 26, 2009 at 6:30 pm
I’m so glad to hear it. What a pleasure to avoid the whole canning and clean up routine in the July heat.
April 27, 2009 at 3:42 pm
We stored NJ grown sweet potatoes (or yams, I’m never sure what the proper name is) this year — white and orange — whole, in boxes, separated by layers of newspaper, in our 60 degree-ish fairly dry living room. The last of the white sweet potatoes are pretty fargone (next year we’ll use those first), but the orange ones are still almost pristine. Unless the pre-cooked convenience factor is important, I wouldn’t bother with dehydrating.
April 30, 2009 at 8:35 am
This is so interesting. I would think 60 degress as pretty war to store but it does open up some possibility for a spare bedroom. I have never heard of a white sweet potatoe.