How To Dehydrate Vegetables Part 1 Recipe
Yield: 1 TextfileRecipe by luhu.jp
Ingredients:
1: Textfile only,
Directions:
HOW TO BEGIN -- Sort and select the highest quality fresh tender
vegetables. Some vegetables such as green beans should be young and tender
to dry best, others such as carrots should be more mature. If vegetables
are immature, they tend to have weak or poor color and flavor. Overly
mature vegetables are inclined to be tough, woody or fibrous. Drying
characteristics of vegetables are indicated in the charts "Vegetables A-Z".
WASHING -- Water left on vegetables increases deterioration, so wash them
quickly just before processing. Use cold water because it helps preserve
freshness. Many vitamins and minerals dissolve in water and will be lost by
soaking. Soil may contain illness - causing bacteria that are difficult to
kill. If vegetables are covered with garden dirt, wash them under cool
running water so the dirt doesnt resettle on the food. Wash carefully to
avoid bruising.
PREPARATION -- Most vegetables need to be peeled, trimmed, cored, cut,
sliced or shredded. Peeling some vegetables is optional but be aware that
peelings tend to be tougher when dried. Remove any fibrous or woody portion
and core when necessary. Cut away decayed or spoiled spots as they may
contain enough bacteria to contaminate an entire batch of dried vegetables!
Prepare only as many vegetables as you can dry at one time. Keep pieces a
uniform size so they will dry at the same rate.
PRETREATMENT -- Pretreating most vegetables before drying will decrease the
chances of spoilage and increase quality and storage life. Vegetables
deteriorate much more rapidly than fruits during storage because of
continued ENZYME ACTION. Enzymes are chemicals in all fruits and vegetables
which cause them to ripen. The higher sugar content and acidity of fruits
counteracts this enzyme action. In vegetables, enzymes will continue to
react, resulting in toughness and loss of flavor and color.
Enzymes are destroyed by heat so almost all vegetables should be blanched
~- heated in boiling water or steam -- before drying. Blanching is
appropriate for vegetables because you will probably use the dried
vegetable as a cooked vegetable. In WATER BLANCHING, the vegetables are
placed in a wire basket and submerged in boiling water. In STEAM BLANCHING
the vegetables are suspended above the boiling water in a colander or wire
basket and heated only by the steam. STEAM BLANCHING IS PREFERRED BECAUSE
LESS WATER-SOLUBLE VITAMINS AND MINERALS ARE LOST. Blanching sets the color
and shortens the drying and rehydration time by relaxing the tissue walls
so moisture can escape or re-enter more rapidly. It also kills most
organisms that cause spoilage. Blanched vegetables take less time to cook
because they are already partially cooked. ** Continued in Part 2 ** ** How
To Dry Foods by Deanna DeLong HPBooks, California
1992 ISBN = 1-55788-050-6
Scanned and formatted for you by The WEE Scot -- paul macGregor
Source from luhu.jp
vegetables. Some vegetables such as green beans should be young and tender
to dry best, others such as carrots should be more mature. If vegetables
are immature, they tend to have weak or poor color and flavor. Overly
mature vegetables are inclined to be tough, woody or fibrous. Drying
characteristics of vegetables are indicated in the charts "Vegetables A-Z".
WASHING -- Water left on vegetables increases deterioration, so wash them
quickly just before processing. Use cold water because it helps preserve
freshness. Many vitamins and minerals dissolve in water and will be lost by
soaking. Soil may contain illness - causing bacteria that are difficult to
kill. If vegetables are covered with garden dirt, wash them under cool
running water so the dirt doesnt resettle on the food. Wash carefully to
avoid bruising.
PREPARATION -- Most vegetables need to be peeled, trimmed, cored, cut,
sliced or shredded. Peeling some vegetables is optional but be aware that
peelings tend to be tougher when dried. Remove any fibrous or woody portion
and core when necessary. Cut away decayed or spoiled spots as they may
contain enough bacteria to contaminate an entire batch of dried vegetables!
Prepare only as many vegetables as you can dry at one time. Keep pieces a
uniform size so they will dry at the same rate.
PRETREATMENT -- Pretreating most vegetables before drying will decrease the
chances of spoilage and increase quality and storage life. Vegetables
deteriorate much more rapidly than fruits during storage because of
continued ENZYME ACTION. Enzymes are chemicals in all fruits and vegetables
which cause them to ripen. The higher sugar content and acidity of fruits
counteracts this enzyme action. In vegetables, enzymes will continue to
react, resulting in toughness and loss of flavor and color.
Enzymes are destroyed by heat so almost all vegetables should be blanched
~- heated in boiling water or steam -- before drying. Blanching is
appropriate for vegetables because you will probably use the dried
vegetable as a cooked vegetable. In WATER BLANCHING, the vegetables are
placed in a wire basket and submerged in boiling water. In STEAM BLANCHING
the vegetables are suspended above the boiling water in a colander or wire
basket and heated only by the steam. STEAM BLANCHING IS PREFERRED BECAUSE
LESS WATER-SOLUBLE VITAMINS AND MINERALS ARE LOST. Blanching sets the color
and shortens the drying and rehydration time by relaxing the tissue walls
so moisture can escape or re-enter more rapidly. It also kills most
organisms that cause spoilage. Blanched vegetables take less time to cook
because they are already partially cooked. ** Continued in Part 2 ** ** How
To Dry Foods by Deanna DeLong HPBooks, California
1992 ISBN = 1-55788-050-6
Scanned and formatted for you by The WEE Scot -- paul macGregor
Source from luhu.jp