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Question by the_gud_one: What are the best vegetables to dry?
I’ve always been into gardening, but have jsut recently gotten a food dehydrator, so I was looking for a few good crops to try. Please be specific on types. For example, instead of saying ‘tomato’ say ‘Roma’ or ‘Brandywine’ tomato. But more than just tomatoes please.
Best answer:
Answer by mattzcoz
I’ve dried a lot of veggies (for cooking while hiking). The tomatoes and peppers always seem to develop a flavor I don’t like – they work ok, just don’t like ’em as much as fresh. Sorry, I can’t give you specific varieties of any particular veggie – mostly I don’t think it matters much, except that, for example, a Roma would dry faster than Beefsteak.
Things that have worked best for me are onions, celery, chives/green onions, carrots, peas, cabbage, mushrooms, and corn. I think the carrots work better if they’re parboiled first to soften them up a bit, but you can get by without it. Potatoes work, but dehydrated potato flakes are so cheap it’s really not worth doing for me. For that matter, you can find dehydrated veggies pretty cheap, so it’s more for personal enjoyment to dry your own, or making up your own mixes/creations is fun (e.g. – dried corn, with or without spicy or sweet seasonings make a nice crunchy snack).
I think the biggest bang for the buck is dried herbs – you can grow them cheap but they often cost an awful lot in the stores.
I’ve bought several diff types of dried veggies from Harmony House, with good results. Prices are fair, quality is good: http://www.harmonyhousefoods.com/ – just in case you want to sample what can be done and have something to compare yours to.
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