How To Dehydrate Vegetables
You can dehydrate vegetables and freeze them for future use even without any particular reason. It is an easy source of fat-free or less-fat standalone food or mixed with other vegetables. This will prevent you frequent visits to the vegetables markets. Use of dehydrated vegetables i.e. tomato and other essential ingredients to cooking can save a lot of your time in kitchen. It is also an even convenient source if weather conditions are unpredictable in the place where you live. You can conveniently use dehydrated food items from your stock. It is easy to dehydrate vegetables. It does not consume much time. Either, you can dehydrate them in natural way, leaving them out in the open and under sun for a couple days. You can do the same process in the oven and even in dehydrate machine. Just be careful when you freeze them. It is better to use an air-tight container.
Instructions
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1
Selection of Vegetables
Pick vegetables you want to dehydrate. Select healthy vegetables, which are fully prepared and ready for use. Do not pick those, which show any sign of being rotten or near the end. Also do not pick damage pieces, as they can become rotten during the dehydration process. -
2
Properly Clean Vegetables
Once you have selected vegetables and their quantity you want to preserve, clean them properly with a cloth or any unused soft brush. You can even wash them but do not use soap or any washing liquid, which can damage their skin or have chemical effects. So just try to clean them as much as you can, or to the extent that satisfy you. -
3
Cutting Pieces
After you are done with selection and cleaning or washing of vegetables, cut them into pieces in sizes you think are suitable and can easily be dehydrated. Smaller pieces are easier to get dehydrated, especially if you are dehydrated them out in the open under sun. In oven you drying you can cut a bit larger pieces. -
4
Drying Method
If you drying the vegetables pieces out in the open under the sun, leave them outside at your window sill or any other place, which is out of reach of your children or not accessible by someone else. You will also need to protect them from birds if they are some seeds or anything attractable to birds etc. You may also be vary of fast changing weather conditions i.e. rain etc. -
5
Use of Oven
If you are using oven to dry the vegetables, preheat your oven to just around 200 degrees. The temperature however should be around 150 if you are using dehydrate machine. Put in your vegetables and leave there until moisture in the vegetables is completely dehydrated. Normally you can leave the vegetables for 6 to 16 hours, but determine time by yourself as level of moisture in vegetables can be different in different weather conditions. -
6
Freeze or Store Dehydrated Vegetables
After you have dehydrated vegetables, store them properly. You can freeze them in your freezer for longer use. Always keep them in air-tight container so that they do not catch moisture or water from outside. Otherwise, they will be destroyed
