Feeling dehydrated

I have a lot of zucchini. A lot of LARGE zucchini. I’ve made enormous loaves of zucchini bread, sauted it, baked it, you name it. But I still have a lot of zucchini. A good friend of mine suggested that I buy a dehydrator because they’re a lot of fun in general, and they do make lots of zucchini go away in the form of zucchini chips. So I looked at the reviews, and I bit. Based on the reviews I bought a Nesco FD-60 SnackMaster (at Overstock, way cheaper). I figured if it lay legitimate claim to the SnackMaster title, I’d be happy.

It comes with 4 trays and a fruit roll-up maker insert for one tray. But if I’m in dehydrator heaven I can buy additional trays up to a total of 12 and more roll-up inserts. Many people say it’s cheaper to just go ahead and buy a second dehydrator rather than the extra trays, but I don’t want to give up the counter space nor run two heaters when I really only need to run one. Seems like you save up front but lose later.

It arrived today. I’m pretty handy, but still, I’d never laid eyes on a dehydrator before. Omigosh, just thinking of any of my female relatives even considering the notion gives me the giggles. And my local friends? Much the same. Well, maybe Miriam might. Anyway, I wasn’t sure what to do with it, so I looked through the packet that came with it. Seems pretty straightforward - use the fruit roll tray for pureed fruit combos to make roll-ups. Use a special screen (purchased separately) to make some of the stickier dried fruits. And for everything else, just lay slices on the trays that come with the dehydrator. Cleanup in the sink or dishwasher. Some vegetables the pamphlet recommended blanching, and others peeling. I don’t remember which at the moment, but the online recommendation list is at this link.

I thought the recommendations for zucchini chips were kind of lack luster. So I looked elsewhere online specifically for recipes. I found this recipe for zucchini chips and it really appealed to me, so decided to go with that. The entire set-up, start to finish, took 10 minutes. If they come out at all decent, I could get into this. It’s like the crockpot - you do a little hand waving and 6 hours later (or in this case, more likely 12) you get a lot of magic.

I found that the 4 trays took one larger zucchini sliced thin (about 1/8”) with very little space to spare. That amount of zucchini would make 3 - 4 mid-sized loaves of zucchini bread. So this is definitely more efficient. I sliced the big guy up, threw it into a large metal bowl and mixed it with an indeterminate but fairly scanty amount of champagne wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. I lay the zucchini in the tray one-layer deep, no overlap, and put the laden tray on top of the cutting boards so that the seasoning didn’t get all over the place. I used garlic salt and onion powder. Based on info from another website elsewhere I went fairly light on the seasoning - that website mentioned that all dehydrated items shrink, therefore concentrating the flavors. I thought about adding other flavors but decided to go simple for the first time. I stacked the trays up on the base, put the top on, plugged it all in and set the heat to 135°F. I mean really? Slice, mix, dump, season. I almost feel guilty because it was so easy and fast. Maybe it’ll taste terrible and I won’t feel so guilty.

I live in a humid climate, so I expect it to take the maximum amount of time. If all goes well, tomorrow morning ought to be zucchini chips time. And in the meantime, my whole house smells glorious. I may need to dry roses in this thing.

Sunflowering

So I read the “Sunflower” chapter in the Burpee Complete Vegetable & Herb Gardener book and it said to cut the flower head leaving a two-foot stalk attached once the back of the flower starts to turn brown. I was supposed to hang it up in a dry airy place until the seeds were completely dry. But when I got that monstrous head down, I realized that 1) bugs were making nests in the dying leaves, 2) a patch of the seeds looked decidedly moldy, and 3) the seeds were falling out with a simple shake or touch. So instead, I took out all the seeds that were not moldy and put them in a colander. I left the rest of the head and seeds outside - maybe the birds will want them. If not, I’ll chuck it. I brought the colander inside and carefully picked though the seeds, removing all remains of the flower petals. I spread them in a lipped tray and put it next to a sunny window to dry out thoroughly. I hope to eat some and save some seeds for next year. What a lot of seeds a single large sunflower head can produce! The colander was 2/3rds of the way full.

I also want to mark this day on my calendar because I took most of the garlic bulblets I dried over the summer and put it in the refrigerator. In two weeks I can plant that out. I have more than I need, so if anyone local would like some garlic for planting please let me know. Speaking of extras for give away, I inadvertently bought two packets of Black Spanish Round Radish so if anyone wants to try out some of those seeds, let me know. Both garlic and radish can be grown in containers, so if you only have a small space, these are actually good ones to try.

And in the final note about extras... that tip on knocking off the flowers from pollinated zucchini has resulted in a ridiculous bumper crop of zucchini. It’s so out of control that I bought a dehydrator to make zucchini chips, and I am seriously thinking about buying this book: 101 Things To Do With Zucchini. I have an uncle who would say that title sounds porn-y.

Notes - preparing for fall

I had to throw sluggo on the ground as the kale, spinach and broccoli are being eaten to bits.

I’m now surfing the Burpee website for some new seeds for fall/winter crops. But I keep running into interesting things I’d like to plant next year. Among them:

• The Marina di Chioggia squash which looks positively demented, but is evidently good eating. Both plusses in my book.
• The Orn Large Bottle Gourd which would be mature next fall, just in time for my bird-obsessed son to make birdhouses. Perhaps that could be a birthday party idea for him.
• The Uchiki Kuri Organic Pumpkin, just because.

Meanwhile, I think I will order the following:

• Spanish Black Radish it looks interesting and is a good winter crop.
• Picklebush Cucumbers because I just might be able to get one more crop in, and then I have to talk Uncle Yak into pickling them. He’s very good at pickling, and he has my grandfather’s old pickle crocks.
• Golden Beets because I much prefer working with golden beets since I don’t have to wear gloves. It’s what I wanted to plant last spring, but Mr. Yak wanted red ones.
• Chioggia Beets because I’m a sucker for anything with stripes. I suspect they will bleed everything to red though when cooked. Only one way to find out!

I will probably plant more favas, and I may give peas a chance, too, just because.