dehydrating

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Nope, no blanching. I've been doing alot of it this week because of the St Patrick's Day sale on it.
Also have been going through my older bins of dried beans, I think I have a dz large totes of vacuumed seals beans of all colors. Am soaking them, cooking them, and dehydrating them for "fast beans". Have done two days of great northern beans, am soaking 2 very large pots of kidney beans tonight for tomorrow. A good thing to get done when the garden is not growing and all that is on sale is cabbage.
 
Amish Heart said:
Nope, no blanching. I've been doing alot of it this week because of the St Patrick's Day sale on it.
Also have been going through my older bins of dried beans, I think I have a dz large totes of vacuumed seals beans of all colors. Am soaking them, cooking them, and dehydrating them for "fast beans". Have done two days of great northern beans, am soaking 2 very large pots of kidney beans tonight for tomorrow. A good thing to get done when the garden is not growing and all that is on sale is cabbage.
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Thank you. We like cabbage and I hadn't really thought about dehydrating it before. I might check at the store, but I have several sprouting so if they live :p
 
We eat cole slaw and sauerkraut a whole lot and I like to grow it, too. But those awful cabbage bugs went nuts last year. I got one of those tennis racket looking bug zappers and had little granddaughter out in the garden swatting at the "white butterflies" last year. And then the rabbits came. Ended up with one large green cabbage and 4 large purple cabbages. They were good. At the moment I have 5 green and 4 red in the broken ice box in the milkhouse. They keep well.
 
Amish Heart said:
We eat cole slaw and sauerkraut a whole lot and I like to grow it, too. But those awful cabbage bugs went nuts last year. I got one of those tennis racket looking bug zappers and had little granddaughter out in the garden swatting at the "white butterflies" last year. And then the rabbits came. Ended up with one large green cabbage and 4 large purple cabbages. They were good. At the moment I have 5 green and 4 red in the broken ice box in the milkhouse. They keep well.
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I make kraut a couple times per year when I catch cabbage on sale. St. Patty's Day usually has good sales.
 
I just got five heads of green at Aldi for 59 cents a lb. Kroger sale had them at 79 cents a lb. Now red cabbage here is harder to find, usually only in the organic section, neatly wrapped (ha) and pricey. But I really like red and green cabbage mixed in cole slaw. Hopefully I can grow more this year.
 
I am thinking of dehydrating some of my squash since I have so many. Most folks just add the to soup, stews. I am wondering about dehydrating them well and grinding them as a flour if needed. It works with rice, oats, acorns (after leaching them), etc. Just don't want to use up all my jars canning squash. LOL Anyone have any thoughts on this?
 
snappy1 said:
I am thinking of dehydrating some of my squash since I have so many. Most folks just add the to soup, stews. I am wondering about dehydrating them well and grinding them as a flour if needed. It works with rice, oats, acorns (after leaching them), etc. Just don't want to use up all my jars canning squash. LOL Anyone have any thoughts on this?
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I think you should try it and let us know the results😃
 
Squash rounds store fine. Last year we had tons of patty pan squash, zucchini, and yellow squash that I dehydrated. I put them in ziplocks, then put the ziplocks in buckets with lids. They are fine. Squash powder is fine, too. I like to do winter squash...bake, dehydrate, and powder, like pumpkin. Then add one part pumpkin to two parts water to rehydrate and use. Zucchini is good grated and dehydrated. I rehydrate a bit then use it for zucchini bread. Can't tell the difference between dehydrated and fresh in the bread.
 
ClemKadiddlehopper said:
I put 20 lbs of potatoes into the dehydrators tonight. 10 lbs mashed for powder and 10 lbs cubed for soups and stews.

If I like the results, I will do another 30-50 lbs. Our four days of summer ended and went back to cool rainy spring.
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Would like to know how they turn out!!
 
Initial potato report:

10 lbs mashed potatoes = 1 pint powdered

I ground them by putting them in a coffee grinder and shaking it up and down to get it as fine as possible. They we're so hard I couldn't even powder them with a pestle and mortar.

I used 1 T. Powder to 1/4 cup hot milk to attempt rehydration
It's like mashed potatoes with the graininess of cream of wheat cereal

I have left it sitting for a half hour now, and it's thickening more and the grains are getting softer but are still there. I will leave it a bit longer and see if things improve.

The diced potatoes are still in the dehydrator. I need to do a smaller dice. They are going to come out like rocks when they are done. It remains to be seen how they will do in a crock pot overnight stew.
 
I put them through a ricer. They were nice, smooth and creamy. The problem is after drying. They are crunchy and I have not been able to figure out how to grind them into a consistently fine, dust like powder.

A similar problem occurs with eggs and ginger, but I am able to refine those with a pestle and mortar. Not so, with the dried potato. I have let them soak and tried reheating, hubby mixed the heck out of the sample and made paste.

Somehow, there has to be a way to grind them into pixie dust.
 
ClemKadiddlehopper said:
I put them through a ricer. They were nice, smooth and creamy. The problem is after drying. They are crunchy and I have not been able to figure out how to grind them into a consistently fine, dust like powder.

A similar problem occurs with eggs and ginger, but I am able to refine those with a pestle and mortar. Not so, with the dried potato. I have let them soak and tried reheating, hubby mixed the heck out of the sample and made paste.

Somehow, there has to be a way to grind them into pixie dust.
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I really think the answer is freeze drying to make the product into a full powder. It is amazing with the difference of methods. I know because I am fortunate to have both now.
 
ClemKadiddlehopper said:
I put them through a ricer. They were nice, smooth and creamy. The problem is after drying. They are crunchy and I have not been able to figure out how to grind them into a consistently fine, dust like powder.

A similar problem occurs with eggs and ginger, but I am able to refine those with a pestle and mortar. Not so, with the dried potato. I have let them soak and tried reheating, hubby mixed the heck out of the sample and made paste.

Somehow, there has to be a way to grind them into pixie dust.
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Something like this?

Multifunction Smash Machine Grinder, Ultra Fine Dry Food Grinder, Electric High-Speed Kitchen Mill for Spice/Herb/Cereal/Beans/Pet Food. https://a.co/d/1RAjvca

Otherwise a ball mill grinder may be required.

Ben
 
Neb said:
Something like this?

Multifunction Smash Machine Grinder, Ultra Fine Dry Food Grinder, Electric High-Speed Kitchen Mill for Spice/Herb/Cereal/Beans/Pet Food. https://a.co/d/1RAjvca

Otherwise a ball mill grinder may be required.

Ben
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This Lehman's brother blog describes making potato flakes and mentions the starch which could be the issue.

Ben
 
Hey Clem, had the same problem when I dehydrated cooked, mashed pumpkin. I put it on too thick on the tray. Try putting the mashed potatoes on thinner. Then maybe they'll grind better. Same with mashed, cooked garbanzo beans. Thinner, then I could powder them in my ninja blender.
 
LadyLocust said:
@ClemKadiddlehopper
Hope it's okay to post this here. A friend emailed instructions and I did a post. It's been so long, the pictures aren't loading on my screen, but you can read what she did and the differences. Might be helpful.
https://www.thelocustblossom.com/2015/01/marys-dehydrated-potatoes-from-scratch.html
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I was going to ask how Clem cooked them before dehydrating!! So Clem, what did you do? LadyLocust, I'm on your tail, hijacking a thread---when are you starting the Christmas count down?????
 
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