[shokkyy]

In the past the only crop I've ever dried is chillis. This year I fancy trying it with a wide range of different crops, because when I read the "How to Grow Food in Your Polytunnel" book it was the first time I realised how many different things could be successfully dried. The book suggests it for aubergines, French beans, cabbage, carrots, celery, courgettes, sweet peppers, as well as tomatoes, which is the only one I would have thought of drying.

Has anyone tried drying for the other crops? And for something like celery or carrots, which you'd probably be putting in a casserole, I wouldn't have thought you'd need to rehydrate before using, but what about things like French beans and courgettes, if you wanted to use them as a side veg?

[New shoot]

I have dried quite a few veg in my dehydrator Shokky and the higher the initial water content, the more reconstitution the dried product needs.  Celery takes ages to dry but ends up very concentrated for example.

I've dried courgette slices and french beans last year.  The courgettes were seasoned with a garlic and herb mix and the beans were the larger tougher ones I had missed and were blanched before drying.

Both need quite a soak before use and are better used in a liquid based dish like stew.  I usually soak them before use, unless they are going in the slow cooker.  As another example, the beans are lovely done in the slow cooker in a spicy tomato based sauce with whatever meat you decide, but I personally wouldn't cook them alone as a side dish.

Hope that helps 

[shokkyy]

Yes, it does. Thanks for that. I'm always on the lookout for different ways to preserve crops, as well as freezing/bottling, so maybe I'll have to invest in a dehydrator.

How does the texture/consistency of the rehydrated veggies compare with freezing/defrosting it? Is it about the same or better?

[New shoot]

Hi Shokkyy

I would say so long as you get the dried veggies pre-soaked their texture is better than frozen and defrosted.  You don't get the soggy factor than freezing often gives you.  If you chuck dried veg straight into stuff, they sometimes don't really soak up enough liquid.  Depends on the sauce you are using.

Drying is a massive help with storing gluts like courgettes in a small space and some stuff is great eaten straight from the jar.  Home dried tomato slices are great, better than any sun dried tomatoes you could buy and home dried fruit is amazing