Thursday, November 18, 2010

How To Dehydrate Potatoes And A Couple Of Recipes Using Them

Dehydrated sliced and shredded potatoes
   I have been dehydrating our crop of potatoes lately, and have been asked about it. I dehydrated some last year, as well.
   Last year, I sliced the potatoes raw, blanched the slices for 5-6 minutes and soaked the slices in 1/4 tsp. Fruit Fresh per quart of water for a few minutes, and then put the slices as close as possible on the dehydrator trays.
   Since my dehydrator is an old DAK, it doesn't have any of the new fangled things like temerature control and a timer.  It just has an off and on switch. I have to rotate the trays, which gets old after a while, especially if I have to get up at night and rotate them.
   This year, I boiled the unpeeled potatoes whole until a bamboo skewer went through them with a little effort. I also made sure the potatoes where about the same size for more even cooking.
   Next, I put the whole, boiled potatoes in the fridge until the next day. I cut off the root end and sliced or shredded thm on my mandoline. Much easier than a knife. The skins came off as I went.
   I layed the slices on the trays as close as possible, in a single layer, and turned the dehydrator on. For the shredded potatoes, I put a layer of about 1/2" on the trays. Oh, before I forget, I have screens so the small stuff doesn't fall through the trays. Since I had to rotate the trays, I spread the shredded potatoes out as they dehydrated.
Scalloped Potatoes
   The potatoes rehydrated much better this way versus last years way. Also, if I removed the slices as they were done the color was better. The shredded potatoes will be used as hashbrowns. The slices are used to make Scalloped Potatoes like the boxed kind, and a Hamburger Helper kind. You can find the recipes on my recipe page. Of course, I had to make changes. You'll need to scroll down to find the recipes.
   These are also nice to have on hand.

2 comments:

  1. good dehydrating tips--will us it as well as print it and add to my collection

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  2. thank you for your post will be using it today

    ReplyDelete