I spent about an hour this morning getting a few potatoes ready for my dehydrator. I dry potatoes in “meal sized” portions for use later. Sometimes it’s because we want to enhance some regular potato dish, and sometimes we add a half portion to one of those store bought “Scalloped” or “Au Gratin” mixes. I don’t know about you, but we feel there are never enough dried potatoes in those mixes for the two of us to have a decent portion.
Of course the potatoes are there in case of any emergency or event that knocks us off the grid. They can be part of a meal of canned meat or fish with garden fresh,canned, dried or pickled veggies. They could even be on a plate with fresh caught fish or fresh game.
I use a general rule of 4 days of potatoes to 3 days of rice, noodle or pasta dishes when I stock up. I can catch potatoes on sale at numerous markets in our area, sometime as low as $1.50 for 5 pounds which I have found that are about a week’s worth.
The steps are easy. Peel the potatoes. (The peelings are later ground up in a mini food processor and mixed into my compost.) I have a very good quality sharp peeler that gets the job done quickly. Then cut the potatoes in half lengthwise and slice thinly.
Now comes the blanching. Place the slices into a pot of boiling water and let them sit in there for no less that a full 3 minutes. Take out the slices and place them in a large bowl of ice water for another full minute.
Now they are ready to place on a dehydrator. Mine is a (continue reading)