Dehydrating Cabbage, Celery, Carrots and Onions

[ZZisme22]

I really enjoyed this video. So many are long and so boring I never finish watching! I dehydrate foods some, but your tip about the canvas was priceless! I really enjoyed this video. Keep up the great work!!

[goldenscales]

Good thing about dehydrating onions I found is that you don't have any flies in your house!

[notthegrandma]

I am not a raw-foodie-freak, but I like to eat raw whenever I can. Blanching destroys enzymes which is something our bodies need. But, blanching helps maintain the color of the food and some say the flavour too. Blanching also speeds up the dehydration process in some cases. I use an excalibur dehydrator and often follow the directions for living foods. I have successfully dehydrated raw carrots without blanching, and when I rehydrated them, the texture was very close to raw carrots.

[ssamorgan2044]

Did you ever get the celery to grow? : ) I have some 'stumps' in water now and they have put out new growth and some roots. I blanched my celery for a minute per another youtuber's video. Hope it turns out okay.

[imstillworkin]

@ssamorgan2044 The celery stumps eventually rotted. I think it was too much water. Next time I'll put them in very wet soil.

[redscynder]

Thank you so much for the plastic canvas idea!!

[imstillworkin]

@redscynder You can use the plastic canvas to double the amount of food you can dehydrate in a tray too. See my video "Apples in my Food Storage".

[drmarthacastro]

Gave you thumbs up for the great info you provide here. Thank you so very much. I don´t understand how people can give you 4 TD. Added you to my favorites. Keep up the good work :)

[pipeheadOR]

What does blanching do for the carrots? We just dehydrated some carrots and didnt blanch them. Thanks for the info!

[imstillworkin]

@pipeheadOR It retards the enzyme action which is what causes things to ripen and mature. If you have a Ball Blue Book (Canning Book) there is a chapter about dehydrating in the back of the book.

[pipeheadOR]

@imstillworkin Thanks. It they are not blanched how long would the carrots be good for?? And...how long do the blanched/dehydrated carrot keep for??

[imstillworkin]

@pipeheadOR I don't know about the unblanched carrots but the book says dehydrated fruits and vegetables will keep for 6 to 12 months. A lot of people claim they will keep for up to 30 years. I haven't been dehydrating that long but the stuff I dehydrated 3 years ago is still fine.

[sonnysand]

Thank you.

i just bought a vidilia chopper after watching your vid

[sonnysand]

Did the celery grow?

[imstillworkin]

@sonnysand The centers got a couple inches tall then the outer parts of the stump started to rot. Next time I'll put them in soil and keep it very wet. I've read that celery likes very damp conditions.

[minbound]

@imstillworkin I guess YT decided I am not subscribed again, well I am now again. Got me a bunch of cabbage for $0.39 a pound today, now off to the dehydrator:)

[imstillworkin]

@minbound Well thanks for subscribing again. I tell ya, I'm clueless when it comes to subscribers. I don't know how people know when someone just subscribes. I don't even know who a lot of them are because their name is too long to fit in the box and if I mouse over it, the word "remove" comes up. I hope people understand that I'm just posting the videos to help, don't really have time to figure out all the ins and outs of YT. Good deal on the cabbage!

[1994buttons]

You don't blanch your cabbage, I tried it your way once and it was tougher than boot leather??

[imstillworkin]

@1994buttons No, I don't blanch the cabbage and it turns out fine. You can see how it cooks up in my video called "Chow Mein from Food Storage".

[nagaempress]

oh do you have to blanch the onions?

[imstillworkin]

@nagaempress I've heard some people say they blanch their onions but according to the Ball Book (there's a section on dehydrating in the back of the book) they don't mention blanching them. I've never blanched them.

[nagaempress]

@imstillworkin Thanks again!

[nagaempress]

can you dehydrate canned carrots?

[imstillworkin]

@nagaempress I haven't tried it but I have dehydrated canned peas and canned corn and they turned out excellent. Far better than dehydrating frozen. You probably could dehydrate canned carrots.

[nagaempress]

@imstillworkin TY!

[AnnBearForFreedom]

ohhh! Chop WIZARD! Its too late for my ears to be awake, cuz I heard Chop LIZARD. LOL, silly me!

[MsAnna4040]

why do you hve to blanch the carrots? What happens if you dont?

[imstillworkin]

@MsAnna4040 Blanching is recommended to stop the enzyme action in foods. I don't understand why it's required for some vegetables and not others. I've never tried dehydrating the carrots without blanching so I don't know what would happen if I don't.

[MsPixieKnits]

@imstillworkin uh oh, i did 19 pounds of carrots last fall and only sliced them thin and just threw them on the tray. i didn't know you were supposed to blanch them. it seems to have worked fine though. i grind them up into powder and add it sauces, taco meat, hamburgers, etc.

hopefully they will still last as long as the blanched carrots. thank you for letting me know though. i will do that next time.

[MsPixieKnits]

@imstillworkin uh oh, i did 19 pounds of carrots last fall and only sliced them thin and just threw them on the tray. i didn't know you were supposed to blanch them. it seems to have worked fine though. i grind them up into powder and add it sauces, taco meat, hamburgers, etc.

hopefully they will still last as long as the blanched carrots. thank you for letting me know though. i will do that next time.

[imstillworkin]

@lookat2011 I've dehydrated frozen peas and corn and they don't rehydrate well at all for me. I recently dehydrated some canned peas and corn and they rehydrate wonderfully. I'm rotating out some of my older canned goods and turning them into long term storage. Using #10 cans of peas and corn might be a better option than frozen.

[2groomers]

Used my Chop wizard twice now, your right, its great and cleans up easily. Also I cooked up soup and added the peas and corn you mentioned to me about. The corn is fine, the peas center are a bit crunchy, but its ok with me. I don't think they pretreat the peas, maybe they need to be steamed or blanched before. I won't do it, I think their acceptable. Just boiled a 8lb bag potatoes w/skin and put in frig to cool them making hash browns and chunks to dehydrate, did it yesterday,came out nice.

[2groomer]

Has anyone dehydrated grapefruit? Don't see any vids on it. As a beginner in dehydrating I just learned a valuable lesson. Had to throw out all my vac-bagged oranges as they appeared moist inside, thought I better open and sure enough. I put some back onto the dehydrator, not sure if that was the right thing. After watchinh vid after vid, BEFORE finding this this one. I didn't hear anyone say that the oranges and lemons must be dry/brittle, only that it should make a clicking sound when dropped.

[imstillworkin]

@2groomer I dehydrated oranges until they were dry and brittle, vacuum sealed them in bags and they rotted. That's the only thing I've dehydrated that went bad. I later read that you shouldn't dehydrate citrus. Oranges and grapefruits are great canned. You're going to love that chop wizard, it's my favorite gadget.

[2groomer]

@imstillworkin Oh I'm so glad to hear about your experience with the oranges (not that they went bad) but that I learn from it. I thought I had dried them plenty. Wonder what the problem is with dehydrating citrus. Even if I just store them in a glass vac jar? Your good at canning (hot water). I don't have the patience for it anymore. Your potato chips looked great! Your a busy woman! :)

[2groomer]

Just got a Chop Wizard, can't wait to try it out! Got it at Target. On the instructions it says to place the onion SKIN Side Down or cut side down. Tomatoes..cut in half and put Cut Side Down when chopping. Hope to see more videos!

[asimov13647]

Love the accent. Sounds Arkansan. Keep us posted on your celery experiment.

[anneza5]

I always wondered if those choppers actually work well. I'm off to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, with my coupon. I love your videos. You're so down to earth. Please do more food videos.

[katz217]

Nice job. Good info.

[katzcradul]

I'm such a fan of your videos. Gonna order a Chop Wizard today.

[imstillworkin]

@katzcradul I don't know if you have a Bed Bath & Beyond near you but they sell them and they regularly have coupons for $5.00 off one item. That's how I bought mine and I love it.

[AesopsAnt]

Your vids are great, you do a very good job explaining and demonstrating.

[ironhead41]

that looked easy enough.....thanks

[watcherjohnny]

Very informative!! Thank you for posting!!