Vegetable fruits* to dehydrate
Eggplant, zucchini, french beans, corn, pepper, squash, tomato, peas and frozen vegetables.
* Tomatoes, broccoli, corn, and other water-dense vegetables are also called vegetable fruits
| Cut | Slice, cut in cubes or dehydrate whole. |
| Pre-treat with heat | Blanch/precook in lightly salted water or bake in oven. |
| Temperature | 52°C (125°F) |
| Time | Food dehydrator: 8 hours Convection oven: 14 hours or more |
Tomatoes, broccoli, corn, and other water-dense vegetables are also called vegetable fruits. Learn how to dehydrate vegetables and you can make delicious salads or tasty stews. They also enhance the food experience with their green, red, and yellow colours.In addition, you can roast them in the oven before dehydration to give them more flavour. Vegetable fruits contain a lot of water, requiring a long drying time. But if you cut them thin, the drying time is faster.
Before and after dehydration: Haricort vertes
Dehydrate vegetables: Ripe taste best!
When dehydrating vegetables, the degree of ripeness is essential for their taste. Overripe vegetables can become too soft to cut and dry; these are best mixed into a puree and dried on a dehydrator sheet.
Image: dried broccoli
The detailed description below is from
The Illustrated Handbook — Kindle Book with 300 color images
Dehydrate vegetables: TOMATOES
Tomatoes are tasty vegetables that can be dried in halves, slices, purée or smaller pieces. There are many varieties of tomatoes. The biggest tomatoes are best to mix into a purée.
When dry, they can be ground into a powder. If you want to make powder and not dehydrate tomatoes yourself, you can buy sun-dried tomatoes (not in oil) and create delicious spice mixes.
CUT
Cherry tomatoes in half and cut larger tomatoes into 5 mm (0.2 in) slices.
PRE-TREAT WITH HEAT
You can oven-roast the tomatoes at 175°C (350°F) for ten minutes if you want a sweeter taste, but the drying time will be slightly longer.
TEMPERATURE/TIME
Spread on the food dehydrator mesh or oven tray and dry at 52°C (125°F). You can also dry tomatoes at 68°C (155°F) if you want them to dry faster. However, then they lose some flavor. Halves of cherry tomatoes do not stick, but tomato slices must be put on a drying sheet or baking paper; otherwise, they stick to the mesh. Dry until they can be broken into pieces.
Food dehydrator: 7 to 10 hours
Convection oven: 16 hours
Before and after dehydration: Red bell pepper
Before and after dehydration: Corn
Dehydrate vegetables: purée
It is possible to make a puree of vegetables and fruits. Dehydrate in a thin layer on baking paper. A time-saving tip is to reduce water by boiling it before drying. The finely crushed, dried puree is a good base for soups or stews since it dissolves quickly.
Image: flakes of tomato
