Yellow squash always seem to produce more than you can use
or give away. Freezing is the way I
would normally preserve my squash. I
have been looking into other ways to preserve my garden produce. When squash started pouring in this season, I
decided to try dehydrating them. I
waited until I used them to post this though.
I started by peeling the squash and then used a mandoline slicer
to cut them into thin rounds. I love the
mandoline for slicing foods to be dehydrated.
The uniform slices dry more evenly.
Once all of the squash were sliced, I placed them in single layers on
the dehydrator trays.
You can see from the picture that I did not have full
trays. I only did a few squash as an
experiment. It took about 6 hours to
dehydrate these but much longer when I had full trays.
Once the squash were fully dehydrated, I packed them into jars. I used pints jars as W is not thrilled about
eating squash. I knew this amount would
be a good size for us.
We most commonly eat squash sautéed. When cooking them from frozen squash, this
meant that the squash needed to be thawed and most of the water squeezed out of
them. It could then take up to 45
minutes for the squash to cook down. To
make the same dish from dehydrated squash, I simply heated a pot of water. I added the contents of one jar and let it
simmer for approximately 3 minutes. I
used a slotted spoon to add the rehydrated squash to a frying pan along with a
bit of butter and sliced onion. This
method only took 10 minutes for the squash to brown and be ready to serve.
I am fairly certain that I will never freeze another
squash. The jars of dehydrated squash
stack nicely on my pantry shelves. I do
have to worry about them taking up space in the freezer. Having them cook faster is a bonus, and they
held their shape much better than frozen squash would.
No comments:
Post a Comment