Dehydrating: How To Make The Most Of Your Garden Harvest

One of the easiest ways to preserve your garden harvest for year round use is dehydrating the herbs, fruits and vegetables. Once they are dehydrated, you can store them in vacuum sealed mason jars, seal a meal bags with oxygen absorbers or air tight containers.

Buy extra fruits and vegetables at their peak of ripeness when they are on sale at the grocery store and dehydrate them. The low temperature used in dehydrating vegetables and fruits helps to preserve nutrients. Label your jars with the date and item. Stored correctly dehydrated foods have an extremely long shelf life.

Dehydrating Vegetables

Vegetables you eat raw in salads or soft vegetables such as peppers, celery, tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini, okra, or onions don’t need to be steamed or blanched before drying. I try to cut these vegetables the same size, so they dry evenly and then spread the vegetables out on the trays in a single layer.

Other vegetables such as corn, peas, potatoes, carrots, broccoli, and green beans will usually re-hydrate better if you steam or blanch first then immerse in ice water before drying.

Peel carrots, potatoes, and other root vegetables before slicing and dehydrating because the skins will be tough. The vegetables should be sliced about 1/8″…