BASIC INGREDIENTS | Dry Vegetables

Choose perfect vegetables that are tender, mature
(but not woody), and very, very fresh. Vegetables
must be prepared and dried immediately after
harvesting, or they'll lose flavor and quality. Every
minute from harvesting to the drying tray
counts — so hurry. Never use produce with bad spots,
and harvest only the amount of vegetables you can
dry at one session.
Since vegetables must be chilled quickly after
blanching, you'll need ice at hand to keep the cooling
water really cold. Keep a reserve of ice in the freezer
and you won't run short. One way is to start filling
heavy-duty plastic bags with Ice cubes a few days
before you'll be home drying; or rinse out empty milk •
cartons, then fill them with water and freeze.
The kitchen sink is a favorite spot for holding ice
water to chill vegetables, but if you want to keep it free
for other uses, a plastic dishpan or other large,
clean container also works very well.
BASIC DRYING TECHNIQUES
Although the techniques for drying vegetables
aren't as precise as those for freezing or canning,
there's definitely a right way to go about it. As with
all preserving methods, you must always begin with
the freshest and highest-quality vegetables to
insure good results. Cleanliness and sanitation when
handling and preparing the food are also crucial.
And, though drying vegetables isn't difficult to do, it
demands plenty of careful attention. The vegetables
must be stirred, the temperature checked,
and tray positions changed about every half hour.
That means you must be at home during the whole
time it takes to dry your vegetables.
Speed is of the essence when preparing foods to
dry. For best results, vegetables should be blanched,
cooled, and blotted dry within a very short time of
harvesting. And you must never interrupt the drying
process once it's begun. You can't cool partly dried
food and then start it up again later, because there's a
chance bacteria, molds, and yeasts will find a home
in it. Always schedule your home drying for a day
when you're certain your work won't be
interrupted.
Cleaning and cutting
Harvest only as much food as you can dry at one
time. Using a kitchen oven, that's about four to six
pounds; an electric dryer or dehydrator can handle
up to 14 pounds of fresh produce. Wash and drain the
vegetables, then cut and prepare as the recipe
directs. Depending on the size of the vegetables and
the dryer, that could mean slicing, grating, cutting,
or simply breaking the food into pieces so it will dry
evenly on all sides. Remember that thin pieces dry
faster than thick ones. If you have a choice between
French-cutting and crosscutting green beans,
remember that the French-cut beans will dry faster.
Blanching
Nearly all vegetables must be blanched before
drying. Blanching—a brief heat treatment—stops
the action of enzymes, those catalysts for chemical
change present in all foods. If certain enzymes aren't
deactivated before vegetables are dried, the flavor
and color of the food will be destroyed. The drying
process alone isn't enough to stop enzyme activity.
Although blanching can also help seal in
nutrients, some other water-soluble nutrients are
leached out into the cooking water. You may want
to steam blanch your vegetables; it takes a bit longer,
but won't lead to as great a loss of nutrients.
Always follow the blanching times given in the
recipes exactly. Overblanching will result in the loss of
vitamins and minerals; underblanching won't do
the job of stopping enzyme action. Either way, you'll
end up with an inferior product.
Boiling water blanching. Heat one gallon of water
to boiling in a blancher. Put no more than one pound
or four cups of prepared vegetables at a time into
the blancher's insert, colander, or strainer, and
carefully lower it into boiling water for the time
given in the recipe.
Steam blanching. Pour enough water into the
blancher to cover the bottom, but not touch the
insert. Heat to boiling. Arrange the prepared
vegetables in a single layer in the blancher's insert;
put them in the blancher over boiling water, cover
tightly, and steam for the time given in the recipe. You
can use any large pot or kettle for steam blanching
by putting a rack about three inches above the bottom
to hold the vegetables in the steam and up out of
the boiling water. You may also wish to put the
vegetables in a cheesecloth bag to keep the pieces
together during blanching.
Chilling
You must always chill blanched vegetables before
drying them, to be certain the cooking process has
stopped. After removing the vegetables from the
blancher, immerse the colander or steamer rack full of
vegetables in a sink full of ice water or a dishpan full
of ice water. The vegetables should be chilled for the
same amount of time the recipe gives for blanching
in boiling water. Drain well, then blot with paper
towels.
Preparing to dry
Spread the blanched and drained vegetable pieces
in a single, even layer on the drying tray. (You can dry
more than one vegetable at the same time, but
strong-smelling vegetables such as onions, cabbage,
and carrots should be dried separately.) Put the
trays in the oven or electric dryer, leaving at least
one to two inches between the trays for air
circulation.
Maintaining proper drying temperature
Vegetables must be dried at low, even
temperatures — just enough heat to dry the pieces
without cooking them. The proper temperature for
drying in a conventional oven is 140°F, 1S0°F for
convection ovens. Follow the manufacturer's
directions for microwave ovens and all other
appliances. Maintaining the right temperature
steadily, with some air circulation, is the trick to
successful drying. Electric dryers and dehydrators
automatically maintain the right temperature. For
oven drying or when using a homemade box dryer,
check your oven thermometer every half hour. (To
insure even drying, you must also stir the
vegetables every 30 minutes or so, shift the trays from
top to bottom, and rotate the trays from front to
back.)
Although rapid drying is important, too rapid
drying in an oven will result in the outer surface of the
food hardening before the moisture inside has
evaporated (case hardening). You can prevent case
hardening by keeping a constant watch on the oven
temperature and doing whatever is needed to
maintain the heat at 140°F.
Scorching. Each vegetable has its own critical
temperature beyond which a scorched taste will
develop. Although there's not much danger of
scorching at the start of the drying process, vegetables
can scorch easily during the last couple of hours.
Even slight scorching will ruin the flavor and affect the
nutritive value of dried foods, so be extravigilant
about maintaining the proper temperature toward the
end of the drying process.
Ventilation. When vegetables are drying, the
moisture they contain escapes by evaporating into the
surrounding air. If the air around the food is
trapped, it will quickly reach a saturation point.
Trapped, saturated air won't be able to hold any
additional moisture — and drying won't take place.
For this reason, ventilation in and around your oven
is as important as keeping the temperature constant.
Electric dryers or dehydrators automatically
provide proper ventilation. With oven drying or when
using a homemade box dryer, you'll need to leave
the oven door slightly ajar — and possibly use an
electric fan to insure good air circulation.
In addition, the cookie sheets or trays you use for
drying should be at least one to two inches smaller all
around than the inside of your oven so air can
circulate around the front, sides, and back of the trays.
There should also be at least three inches of air
space at the top of the oven.
Testing for doneness
In most forms of food preserving, processing times
are exact. You know just how long it takes before the
food is done. However, the times for drying vary
considerably — from four hours to more than
12 — depending on the kind of vegetable, how
thinly it's sliced, how much food is on each tray, and
how much is being dried in the oven or dryer at one
time. The recipes that follow give you the drying
time range for each vegetable, but the only way you
can be sure the food is sufficiently dry is to test
sample pieces.
When you think the vegetables are dry, remove a
few pieces from the tray, then return the tray to the
oven. Let the sample pieces cool before testing —
even food that's perfectly dry will feel soft and
moist while still warm. When the pieces are cool,
follow the test for doneness given for the vegetable
in each recipe. A rule of thumb is that properly dried
vegetables are hard and brittle to the touch.
Exceptions to the rule are mushrooms, sweet
peppers, and squash, which will feel pliable and
leathery when dry. Some food experts recommend
the hammer test: if sufficiently dry, the vegetable
pieces will shatter when struck with a hammer