Dehydrating Fruits and Veggies

Drying local tomatoes and basil in the City Market dehydrating class

Dehydrating is an old and effective method for preserving food: Picture an attic with onions and garlic strung from the rafters and herbs like rosemary, sage, and thyme perfuming the air. Or look at cultures throughout the world and you’ll find foods like dried corn and beans (Native American), dried mushrooms and lotus root (China), dried sea vegetables (Japan), dried apricots (Hunza from north-west Pakistan), bulgur wheat (Middle East) and many more examples of foods frugally preserved by dehydration. In fact, our Bulk department is in many ways an ode to the rich variety of healthful, dried staple foods from around the world.

Peter Burke’s dehydrating class last Tuesday was nevertheless an epiphany of sorts for me. You can take almost anything you have in abundance and preserve it for up to 12 months by circulating warm, dry air around it until it gives up all its moisture.  Then transfer it to a jar, store, and enjoy the fruit of your labor as a snack or in soups and stews, pasta sauces, veggie and bean dips, and more.

This becomes....

Fruit ready for the dehydrator

Peter brought in dozens of samples of things he dries in his dehydrator. Some of the standouts in the snack category were: dried apples with cinnamon, pears, cantaloupe, honeydew, red grapes (essentially raisins but so much more flavorful than raisins), cucumbers (really!) and amazing fruit leather, including peach and yogurt leather (could there be a healthier after-school snack)?

Dried cantaloupe and honeydew - who would have thought? But SO good!

In the lunch-and-dinner category, there was a jar of beautifully layered soup stock mix, wonderful dried tomatoes, zucchini, broccoli, kale, and more.

If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can string up certain fruits like sliced apples and oranges along a piece of kitchen twine, or use the pilot light in your oven. A well-positioned piece of screen in a sunny spot can also work as a makeshift dehydrator. But if you want to take it to a new level, Peter recommends the Excalibor dehydrators.

Peter will also be teaching a series of Indoor Gardening classes for us this fall, where you can learn about growing windowsill salad greens. You can read about them and sign up here.

Peach and Yogurt Leather
2 cups peach puree (or other fresh fruit puree)
1 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp. lemon juice
¼ tsp. cinnamon

Mix all together and place on Teflon sheet. Top with chopped almonds and dry at 135F.