I’ve been wanting to try dehydrating potato’s for a while. Although we have a basement but not really a “cold room” so dehydrating I felt was the best long term storage for us. Now that the garden is pretty much done, now is the time to tackle those potato’s time and price wise. I’d looked up directions on line and U tube & then remembered my blogging buddy over at “Bacon & Eggs” had recently dehydrated some.
So following her directions I pealed my taters. Yes, I know I could leave the skins on but the MR. can’t stand the skins in dishes…baked is ok but not in fried tater’s…(.he asks for so little I pealed them)
Sliced them up to an eyeballed 1/8th of an inch
In a pot of lightly salted boiling water and using a strainer I boiled my slices. The suggested time was 5-8 minutes (till opaque) I found 5 was right for me, more and they got to soft.
I put them in a bowl of ice water for 5-10 minutes (till cool)
Lay them out on a tea towel or paper towel (if you use them) & blot dry
Layer them on the dehydrator trays mindful that they do not touch
3-4 hours check if they are crispy…(at this point I switched the 2 top & bottom trays as the top was more dry than the bottom) about 2 hours later they were done. I let them cool for a few hours and then sealed them in a container.
This evening I plan to break out the food saver, I’ve yet to use it & this is the perfect time to break it in.
A few things I found worked best for me…
I had my water start boiling while I peeled the first dozen potato’s. I sliced and boiled 3 potato’s at a time. While those were boiling I sliced 3 more & set up my trays.
Right before I figured those boiling were done, I drained those in the Ice water & layered them out to drain…..so I was able to have them boiling, cooling, drying on the towel and load the screens ….then peal more potato’s within that 5-8 minute boil time.
If I pealed to many at one time they started to discolor & I found 3 potato’s fit perfect on a tray. I tried just dropping them in the pan to boil without the strainer but had a mess trying to fish the slices out.
Less than an hour I had 10 lbs. of potato’s dehydrating….very easy and quick which is good as I have 3 more bags to do!
And then I had a cup of coffee OK, 2 cups before I cleaned up…
note to self clean up right away cause dried potato starch on the counters & pans is just gross to clean up
Thank you again to my bloggy friend “Bacon & Eggs”
Katie
Morning Katie,
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
I love my Food Saver. I use it all time for just about everything. In fact, when I dehydrate fruit, herbs and veggies after placing them in quart size canning jars. I use the Food Saver Jar Sealer on the jars. This helps keep the dehydrated items a lot longer.
Sandy, could you show me what you mean? I've not used it yet so have no idea how I would do that. A day late but I'm pulling the manual out to package these up tonight. OK, I just reread your statement...there is a jar sealer attachment? I'll have to look that up, thank you!
DeleteOK, just found them & are now on my "gotta get" list. Time to start another change jar for those!
DeleteHaha, great minds think alike! Her is her post today
Deletehttp://thesurvivalmom.com/2012/10/09/how-basic-can-you-get-list-4/
Oh Katie, great job on getting the taters done! I love dehydrating....and yes, potato starch is AWFUL to clean up!
ReplyDeleteThanks Debbie, Just scored 40 more lbs for $3.99 so I will be busy in the next few days
DeleteAwesome! Great job Katie. I'm with Sandy. I use mostly canning jars to hold my dried stuff, but you can't get many potato's in a dang jar!
ReplyDeleteThanks Sci! That means a lot. I just got the food saver and didn't know about the jar sealer till today. Every rating I see gives it stellar markd=s
DeleteKatie so you put them in jars on the shelf after you dehydrate them? No refrigeration right?
ReplyDeleteBaggies, jars some way to keep them sealed in usable size. moisture/humidity can cause them to go bad
ReplyDeleteOk wow I should try that!
ReplyDelete