Wednesday 26 October 2011

So you might have heard...

...that we have a lot of these :)  


....which is a very good thing, until you try to store them :) 

We have carrots bursting out of both fridges, in the garage (in sand) and lots still in the ground.  Scarlet Nantes, Danvers, Chantenay...  so tender and sweet, so crisp and perfect!  

Snow is coming soon, so they must all be unearthed (which I was avoiding as I have nowhere left to put them).  Oh, what a dilemma...  

Thanks to a dear reader, I have solved the space problem!

Thanks, Regina for sharing how you dehydrate carrots - it's the perfect solution!


A full tray of peeled carrot slices dries up into this...


which fits nicely into these small ziplock bags


Each baggie hold the perfect amount to rehydrate in soups and stews.  Brilliant efficiency!



Since I dried this batch, I've heard from Regina that blanching them first is best.  All the subsequent batches were blanched prior to drying which apparently improves the flavour and as an added bonus, the slices take less time to dry if they have first been blanched.

I have yet to taste these carrots rehydrated... but I'll make a stew this weekend and let you know!  Thanks again, Regina :)

7 comments:

  1. Neat!! I use my mini van as a dehydrator as I live in New Mexico. After about 4 hours nearly everything I have ever dried is dry.

    I have never blanched my foods. Wow, if I love how they taste now, I bet it will only make them taste better! Thanks for sharing what you learned!

    Jennifer

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  2. Wow, there are so many possibilities with the dehydrator. I never thought about using it for carrots, good idea!

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  3. Yup, these should be great in soups and stews. I think I will do some as well. Thanks!

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  4. What a great idea! And I hope the snow DOESN'T come!

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  5. Your carrots look very delicious, you could also make a Carrot & Lemon Jam which is yummy....The recipe was one of my Nan's.

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  6. Okay, a plea for help. I've a dehydrator but I've never managed a batch of anything that the family has been happy with! Can you suggest where I could look for some help? At the moment I have access to strawberries so perhaps I could try again and start there??? Thanks from me in my miserable failure! Alison

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  7. Alison, go to the Excalibur Dehydrator website. There are a LOT of Youtube videos on the site giving instructions on prepping, dehydrating, storing and using dried food. Do any readers have more info as to where to go?

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