Swiss chard didn't dry satisfactorily

[phylm]

I did a trial drying of swiss chard, and then reconstituted it. It did not return to its original color--was darker--and seemed a bit tough. It was perfectly edible, but, as we can keep it growing year around down here, I'm not going to bother storing it.

The spinach that we have dried is excellent. It reconstitutes in just a few minutes of simmering in a bit of water, and looks and tastes just like the fresh. We are working on filling a second 5 gallon pail of it now. I have packed it down as I have added the dry spinach, trying to not break it up too much. I figure that I can use the crumbled leaves in the bottom in stews quiche, and soups.

We weren't satisfied with the peas we dried, either. They are perfectly edible, but since I have quite a store of those beautiful freeze-dried peas, I'm putting our crop in the freezer. Will have to do a lot of canning in a hurry if the electrical grids go down!

Other than that, we have quite a bit of Vidalia onion dried (beautiful), along with chopped cabbage and summer squash. That dried amazingly well, and looks perfect. Will keep you posted. phylm

[prairiemom]

Have you tried grinding it into a powder? I know celery doesn't reconstitute well, but makes a great flavoring as a powder.

[thor610]

Thanks. I am really interested in your experiments as I am thinking of doing the same things.