Dehydated Spinach

[phylm]

Just wanted to report that I did dry a little spinach, just to see if it was worth doing. I simmered the dry spinach a few minutes, then placed it beside freshly cooked spinach. There was no difference in appearance OR taste!

My dehydrator is nearly finished...a work of art, of course, because my hubby won't make anything that's not as perfect as he can make it.

I'm planning to dry my spinach crop (about a 50 ft. row), green peas, summer squash, and green beans for now. Going to try strawberries, too. Will keep you posted. phylm

[Julie]

How did you dehydrate the spinach and what does your dehydrator look like that your husband built? This is what I want to do too.

[Lucy]

I'm thinking that I need to put my dehydrator on the counter and when things don't get used as fast as I think they should, just dry them.

[phylm]

Julie: The spinach that I tested, I just put in a pie pan for 24 hours in my gas oven over the pilot light. If you have a Lehman's catalog, you can see the hanging dehydrator that I showed my husband for what I wanted in one.

I now have a 2' X 4', 7 shelf, 5' high free-standing dehydrator, with a hinged screen door! He is putting the finishing touches on now, and we'll have several trays of spinach in it by nightfall. I bought black fiber-glass screen, and he put the frame together with 2"x2"x8' pieces, and cut them down to form the slide frames. He used some scrap oak flooring to make the screens that will hold the food, and will place the thing in the back of the house just out from under the eaves. (Incidentally, he is very worried that it won't work efficiently, but I am confident that it will. I'm really looking forward to sun-dried parched corn this year!)

Lucy: Good idea. I have done that, especially with grapes that start to shrivel. Great raisins.

[prairiemom]

Yes, that is a good idea. All those little dribs and drabs you don't want to throw out, just dry them. Mine is on the porch, but if it were small enough (or my kitchen bigger ) I think a dehydrator in the kitchen would be a great idea. I dehydrate small batches of left-over soup (if there is no meat in it. Usually bean, lentil or potato soup.) It's great for those 72-hr kits or camping. All those little dribs and drabs you don't want to throw out, just dry them.