Category Archives: food preservation

Time for canning again!

canning, food preservation

I haven’t done any canning for a while. I haven’t had the energy or desire, and I haven’t needed to.  But yesterday I went down to my basement to take something out of the freezer- the freezer that dh told me needs to be replaced because it’s not working properly – and found everything on the door half defrosted and everything in the main section encased in a thick layer of ice.

What to do?  First of all, I took out three frozen turkeys to make room for some of the items from the door that could be refrozen without a problem.  I also took out a 9 x 13 pan of shredded potatoes, and was able to chip out a couple of containers of cottage cheese and butter.  After moving some things from the door into that space, I was shocked that I couldn’t even tell I had taken anything out.  How in the world is it possible for there not to be noticeably more space after taking out three turkeys??

(This raised the question in my mind if it’s possible that maybe I buy a little too much food?  But I quickly banished that thought.)

Anyway, now I needed to find something to do with the turkeys.  One was already roasted so I put that in the fridge to defrost for Shabbos dinner.  The other two I decided I’d have to can.  I used the pressure canner as a pressure cooker, cooking them one at a time, and couldn’t believe how fast they were done. You know that cooking two solidly frozen turkeys would take hours, right?  I’d usually have to put one in the oven and the other in our electric turkey roaster, both of which would have added lots of heat to the house in the hours of cooking.  I just love the efficiency and versatility of my pressure canner – it’s been a much more valuable purchase than I expected. 

Well, since I was going to can them I didn’t need them to be fully cooked, so once the pressure was up to 15 pounds I cooked them for just 10 minutes, the same as for a defrosted whole chicken.  That was enough to cook the turkeys almost totally!  If I had left them in another 2 minutes, they’d have been done all the way throught – as it was, they were just a little pink in the very center.  When one was done, I put the other one in.  Within about 2 hours both turkeys were done.   They were finished cooking early enough in the day that I was able to debone and then can them  today, too, and they were finished before it was even late in the evening.  They’re now cooling on the counter, and all of them sealed except for one.  That one will go in the fridge.  All of that turkey amounted to 6 quarts (we ate some of it or it would have been 7 quarts) and I canned a quart of broth; the other broth was used to cook the rice for tonight’s dinner. 

Six quart sized jars on a shelf will take a lot less room than two turkeys in the freezer!  Now I’m going to have to put some effort into using the frozen veggies in the freezer before going out shopping for fresh vegetables.  And hopefully we’ll soon find a good used freezer at a good price.

Avivah

How to freeze bananas

food preservation, frugal strategies

When you have bananas that are starting to get a little too ripe, don’t think you have to eat them all or throw them away!  By freezing them at that point, you’ll be able to get lots of use out of them at your convenience.

There are several different ways to freeze them, and the way that works best for you will depend partially on what you want to do with them when you take them out of the freezer.  My preference is to 1) peel them, and freeze them whole in large ziploc bags to prevent freezer burn.  Some people like to 2) peel them, and then slice them before freezing – it probably does make it easier to defrost and use a smaller amount.

Another choice is to 3) peel the bananas and mash them.  Package them in small amounts in plastic bags or freezer containers, putting the amount you would use for a recipe into one bag (eg 1 cup).  This is perfect for having prepped bananas for banana bread or cake.  You can add a tiny bit of lemon juice if you’re concerned about them discoloring. 

The last choice is to 4) freeze them in the peel.  I don’t like this option, but some people do.  One thing that has been said as a benefit of this is that the peel protects them from freezer burn (though my peeled bananas in bags do fine); it also elimates any prep time.  The reason I don’t like it is: a) the peels get brown and look unappetizing, b) it takes up more room in the freezer, and c) it’s lots easier to peel fresh bananas than frozen.

 But if you do want to freeze your bananas unpeeled, here are some tips for using them: 

Score the peel lengthways with knife and gently open.  It can take up to 2 hours for them to defrost, and will be very mushy when thawed.  If you don’t want to peel the banana, you can cut off the top and squeeze out the banana mush.  It may sound unappetizing but it works. 

I’ll try to write another post on some ideas of how to use all of these frozen bananas!

Avivah

Grain mill recommendations, questions about grinding wheat

food preservation,

A few years ago, I began buying wheat berries and grinding our family’s flour.  That sounds a lot more impressive than it actually is, because my electric grinder does all the work, but I get the sense that people picture me slaving away when they hear we grind our own flour – it’s synonymous with being a nutritional nut or a martyr mom. 🙂

>>I am thinking of grinding my own grains soon and was wondering what type of mill you use and where do you buy your grains?<<

I use the Nutrimill, which I’ve been very happy with.  It has a lifetime warranty and the company will replace or fix whatever is necessary if it breaks due to a fault in the machine, which is a big plus.  They don’t guarantee breakage caused by you putting something in the machine that shouldn’t be there, so when a penny was in the bag of bulk wheat that I bought and it was unwittingly poured into the grinder along with the wheat, the motor burnt out and I had to pay for repairs.  But even then the repair costs were reasonable and they paid the return shipping costs to me, which I didn’t expect and thought was very nice.  It was $249 when I bought it, including shipping, but I think the price is a little higher now.

Earlier this year I bought a Family Mill, which is a manual mill, because I didn’t like having to buy flour when my electric mill was inaccessible (when it was being repaired).  If I were buying a mill right now, I would buy one mill that had manual and electric capacity – the Country Mill is the one I would probably get, because it’s made to last forever, a quality I like in the things I buy since everything in our home gets used hard.  But that’s $400, and I didn’t want to spend that after already spending $250 on the Nutrimill.  In the end, I spent close to that for the two mills, though.

I buy my grains in bulk, but my sources have changed over the years.  I started with my  local health food store, where I got a 10% discount by buying a large quantity.  I didn’t think that was a good enough discount for the amount I was getting.  So I started looking into buying directly from the wholesaler, which is what I went on to do.  Now I buy through a couple of supermarkets that buy from the wholesaler I was using; they buy at the store rate from the wholesaler and mark it up a bit for me, but it ends up being comparable to the higher private customer rate that the wholesaler gave me.   This works out well for me because it’s local to where I do my monthly shopping and the wholesaler was in an entirely different direction.  I get the impression I’m the only one who has ever asked the management of this store to do this, and obviously not every store will be willing to do it (I asked recently at Whole Foods and while they were willing to buy in large amounts for me, the discount they offered was negligible).  But it doesn’t hurt to ask.  I think the manager of the bulk department appreciates my business since the store makes a profit without much extra work for her.

>>Offhand, have you calculated the cost of grinding your own flour versus buying flour?? I was just wondering if you’d already figured it out… Saves me from doing all the math if someone else already did. :)<<

Actually, it’s not cost per pound, though that’s the easiest way to figure it.  The reason is that flour has air in it, so when you grind a cup of wheat berries, you get more than a cup of flour.  I think you get 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 cups of flour, but it’s been three years since I researched this.  Also, the flour quality is much higher than even the most expensive whole wheat flour you can buy, since the oil in the wheat hasn’t gone rancid.  So you’d have to compare it to King Arthur white whole wheat flour, but the quality of your home ground flour would still be much better.

If you like to use specialty flours that are gluten free, it’s very, very worthwhile to get your own mill.  Those flours are all very pricey and the grains themselves are not nearly as expensive.  I don’t know how much of a case can be made for the money saving aspect of grinding your own wheat.  It will depend a lot on the price you pay for whole wheat flour or wheat berries.  The price I’d pay for 50 lb of berries or flour is the same (comparing regular whole wheat flour), so I’d save 25 – 50% by grinding my own.   But some people would feel the extra step involved in grinding the wheat and the cost of the grinder wouldn’t be justified by that savings.  It would take a lot of wheat berries ground to equal $250 saved!

I bought a mill for the health aspect, since the whole wheat flour in the stores has already lost the majority of it’s nutrients by the time you get it.  Freshly ground flour definitely tastes better, too!  Another benefit that I hadn’t considered when I started doing this is that I can store large amounts of wheat berries without worrying about them losing their nutritional value over time, unlike flour, which has a definite shelf life.

I’m very glad I got the grinder, and have never regretted the purchase.  If anything, I appreciate it more and more over time.

Avivah

Quick answers – fermented veggies and dehydrating

food preservation, lacto fermentation

>> the fermented veggies- sea salt is just regular salt? Or is it something different? How much salt do I put in? Can you ferment cooked veggies? How long does it last once fermented? <<

Sea salt is different than regular salt; it’s less processed.  Depending what kind of sea salt you get, it’s significantly less processed.  I don’t really use regular salt – I use a fairly processed sea salt for cooking, Real Salt (that’s the brand name) for salting food at the table, and Celtic sea salt when I make fermented vegetables.  Celtic salt is pretty pricey but I don’t use much of it so a little goes a long way – it’s a grey, moist, and kind of rocky, not finely ground.  I feel like it improves the nutritional value, but regular salt would probably work just fine, too. 

How much salt you put in depends on how many vegetables you use, and how salty you like your food.  I’d suggest googling for some recipes.  I use about 2 T. salt for a half gallon jar of vegetables.  And you wouldn’t ferment cooked vegetables, just raw.

Be aware if you decide to make fermented vegetables that they will have a different taste than pickled vegetables.  For many people this is an aquired taste.  Be sure to carefully follow the recipe the first time so you know that nothing spoiled in the process, and then when you taste the veggies you’ll know that they taste the way they’re supposed to.  If something you makes doesn’t turn out the way you like, don’t give up.  There are lots of good recipes out there, and some are going to be more appealing to you than others.  I used the recipes in Nourishing Traditions to start with, and found that most of them were too salty for me, so I adapted them to what we prefer. One recipe I found very easy to start with was making pickles (from cucumbers), because the taste is familiar.  These get gobbled up.

Remember also that fermented veggies are eaten in small amounts as a digestive aid, not large salad quantities. 

>>You inspired me to get a dehydrator- have you made jerkey in it, or not your style?<

I haven’t made jerky, not because it’s not my style, but because I want to keep the dehydrator parve. For the same reason, I haven’t made yogurt-fruit leathers.  But both of those things would be fun to make if I had the luxury of separate dairy and meat dehydrators.

Avivah

Buying more canning jars

canning, food preservation, frugal strategies

I haven’t bought any canning jars since last year, but I keep my eyes open on a regular basis in case I can expand my collection at a reasonable price.  Though I didn’t use all the jars I already have this year, I attribute that to it being my first year canning.  Over time, I think I’ll use more and more of them. 

But since October or November, used canning jars are getting snapped up very fast (I’ve read that new jars are also selling at a much higher volume than in the past).  This is interesting since the winter is the time of year that no one is usually buying jars – the summer is prime time canning season.  It’s markedly different than what I saw in the summer months immediately prior.  It’s amazing to me how fast the public has decided that something they once never paid attention to is now worth buying.  The interest in canning is intrinsically tied to the financial insecurity that people are feeling now, just like the huge increases in purchases of vegetable seeds.

Now on one hand, I think it’s great that people are getting interested in back to basics type skills like canning.  On the other hand, it means that suddenly used canning jars are commanding top dollar prices and finding a good deal is much harder.  A month or so ago, someone posted a large lot of used jars, and said she’d take the best offer.  I emailed her my offer, and explained what it was based on.  It was a reasonable offer, at a price that has been accepted every single time in the past.  She emailed me back to say that she had received a bunch of responses, that my offer was right in the middle, and someone was coming to buy the lot, which I had offered $60 for, for $150.  This floored me – in my opinion, no one in their right mind would pay such a high price for used jars that didn’t even have lids or rings, because it was significantly more expensive than buying brand new jars that had the lids and rings included.  (The additional purchase of a set of lids and rings at about $3 per dozen would be necessary for the buyer to have what he needed for canning.)

That indicated to me totally irrational buying – it’s obvious that the people buying now are those who don’t know the value of what they’re buying.  They just see canning jars and feel they need to get them because somehow that’s going to protect them from the bad stuff coming down the economic pike.  So that doesn’t leave much room to negotiate with sellers!

Last night I saw an offer for jars, and though it’s higher than what I’ve paid in the past, I felt it was in the realm of reasonable, unlike a lot of ads I’ve been seeing (like $22 for a dozen quart jars from a private seller – which you can buy for under $8 at Walmart).  Turns out I was the first person to respond, but the seller told me that after my response last night, there were three more responses, and then another three as soon as she opened her inbox this morning.  She said she didn’t think anyone would be interested – they were her mother’s jars, and she’d tried offering them to family members for free, but no one wanted them.  She was taken aback at how many responses she received in such a short amount of time. 

Anyway, I took four kids with me to pick up the jars – it was a nice 40 minute drive there, but they asked if they could come, and I was happy to bring them along.  (It was ds10, dd8, ds6, and ds3.)  She gave me the code for the electronic gate, and when we entered it, I was initially discouraged because it seemed to be a mini community of several homes, and none of them had addresses – there was only one address on the outside gate.  Turns out it was all one private property, and what looked like two homes was actually one huge home, in addition to one home for their parents who had recently moved away (hence her selling the jars), and the other was their garage.  At first we couldn’t find her, just the jars she had left in the driveway as she said she would (though she didn’t tell me there were several driveways, all independent of one another – the jars weren’t in the main home’s driveway and I had to drive around until we found them).  After we got the jars, we circled back around to the main house so we could pay her, and found her the second try.  She told me she found another dozen jars for me, and while my ds was putting them in the van, I was shmoozing with her and my other kids all got out of the van to play with her dogs (they loved dogs but as much as they’d like one, it’s not going to happen for us at this point in life).  She said she used to help her mother can tomatoes and green beans from their small but prolific garden in Brooklyn Park, and how the kids hated picking berries for jam because it took so many berries to make a small amount of jam. 

After talking for a while, she commented on how good the kids were, and offered to let them go onto her private dock behind the house and hang out there.  (Good behavior is it’s own reward! :))  You’d never know there was any water anywhere near there – the entire property was very expansive but also very private – but there was actually a private lake behind their home.  Then she mentioned that there was a large trampoline on the way down the path to the dock, and the kids might feel like they wanted to jump on it when they went by – so they should feel free to jump all they wanted!  She had to leave soon afterwards, but even though it meant leaving us there alone on her property, told us to feel free to stay there as long as the kids were enjoying themselves. 

It was so generous of her, and we had a lovely time on their beautiful property.  I was so glad that every one of them came along – it would have been a shame if they had missed the special outing it turned out to be.  The kids had a great time on her trampoline and on the dock, and enjoyed looking at their motor boat, canoe, rowboat, and kayaks, along with going on different parts of the dock (they particularly liked the floating dock). It was fun for them to be able to explore a different kind of place than we’d usually have access to.  The private lake didn’t have any entrance for public access, and the home itself was kind of hidden away, with the only access through their private gated entrance.   It was so relaxing on the dock, though less than it would have been if the kids weren’t there – I was pretty vigilant about watching them all every single minute – but there’s something about water that is so calming and peaceful. 

When we got home my ds10 organized all the jars, and it turns out that instead of 7 dozen for $30, we got 11 dozen for $30 (5 dozen quarts, 5 dozen pints, 1 dozen half pints)!  Which means that it ended up not only being a really nice outing with the kids, but a super deal, too!  And something I like about used jars is the sense of history that comes with them, as many jars were made by companies which no longer exist, in colors and sizes that aren’t made any more.  It just goes to show that even in a hot market, if H-shem wants you to have something, there are bargains to be had, unexpected though they may be. 🙂

Avivah

Making kefir

cheesemaking, food preservation, lacto fermentation, nutrition

I love making kefir!  I didn’t make it very often or very regularly this winter, but now I’m back into it being a regular part of my daily routine so I thought I’d share about it with you.

Kefir is cultured milk, packed full of fantastic probiotics.  You can buy ready made kefir in stores for an outrageous price (and you know I won’t advocate this!), or you can make your own.  If you decide to make your own, you have a choice of using a powdered starter or kefir grains.  The powdered starter needs to be purchased periodically, whereas the kefir grains can last forever (unless you are like me and don’t treat them well, or one of your family members throws them away :)).  The cost for kefir grains can therefore be a one time expense.  If you’re lucky enough to get some from someone who has extra, they can be free or a very low expense.

I’ve been able to get kefir grains from an individual, though I’ve damaged their ability to propagate (kefir grains grow).  But they still work just fine, and yesterday I was amazed to see just how effective the grains I have are.  I only have about a teaspoon of grains (grains look like a clunk of pinkish cauliflower).  Anyway, until now I’ve always made kefir in a quart jar, but a quart is such a tiny sized amount for our family that I had to ration out servings to be sure everyone would get some.  However, we recently finished a gallon sized glass jar of olives, and after cleaning it, removing the label, soaking it with baking soda to remove any odor, and toiveling it, it was ready to be used as my new family sized kefir jar. 

To make kefir, all you have to do is put the kefir grains in a glass jar, add milk, and leave it at room temperature until it cultures.  It’s misleading to say you’re making kefir, since it practically makes itself.  In warm weather it cultures very quickly; in cold weather it takes longer.  I put my grains in our new large jar, and was curious how long it would take to culture a gallon of milk, since it was such a small amount of grains.  I started it in the afternoon, and by breakfast the next morning (ie less than 16 hours), the entire jar was ready.   I was delighted, and so were my kids, since now I can be more generous with how much I give them. 

If you want to know more about kefir, you can check out the following site: http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefirpage.html.  If you read even a small part of it, you’ll know more than most people do about kefir.  I’d encourage everyone to aquire some grains and make some kefir for yourself and your family – it’s very inexpensive (basically just the cost of the milk, once you have the grains), and it’s a wonderful health supplement that strengthens your digestive health.  One thing I like about kefir grains is that you can transform the nutritive value of regular store milk by culturing it.  I used to only use raw milk for everything, but then I’d run out before my next shopping trip.  Now I mostly use the raw milk for drinking and pasteurized milk for culturing – it would be better if I could use all raw for everything, but I simply don’t have enough room in my freezer to buy the amount I need to last from one shopping trip to the next (unless I drastically cut down on the amount of milk we use). 

As far as taste, it’s kind of like a sour liquidy yogurt.  Lots of people like to blend it up with fruit or something else for a breakfast smoothie, but we like it just fine on its own.  If I were making a smoothie, I’d add coconut oil, fruit, and spirulina powder for a nutritionally charged breakfast. 

When the milk cultures, if you let it sit long enough it will separate, with the curds rising to the top and the whey remaining at the bottom of the jar.  I stir it together before drinking it, but you can also take out the thick and creamy curds at the top to eat, and put aside the whey to use as an acidic medium to soak your grains in.  There are other uses for whey, but I can’t think offhand of what they are since I don’t do anything else with it. 🙂

If you use only chalav yisroel, then you’ll have to take some extra steps to be able to use milk grains.  A friend I have who checked out with her rav how to handle it told me the following: you have to make and discard three batches of kefir from the grains before you can drink the kefir – ie, the fourth batch is okay.  But ask your rav for guidance; I’m just passing on what she told me. 

In our home, the kefir jar is now back in its regular place as a countertop ornament. 🙂

Avivah

Water filters

food preservation, nutrition

I’ve had my eye on a good quality water filter since last year, but due to the expense, I’ve continually pushed it off – there’s always something more pressing that takes precedence.  But a month ago, I finally purchased the one I’ve been wanting – the Big Berkey.   It filters out things that most filters don’t – theoretically, I could catch water in a bucket from a rainstorm and use it after filtering it through this. 

It arrived a few days before Pesach and I said we’d put it aside to use on Pesach and then continue using it for the rest of the year.  But I didn’t get around to pulling it out during Pesach, so we finally took it out yesterday.  Since it had to be toiveled and dh didn’t get home with it until late, my dd set it up when he got home and filled it with water to filter overnight. 

First thing this morning, the kids started drinking the filtered water, and as soon as I came downstairs for breakfast, they started telling me how much better the water was.  Not only that, they very quickly found the taste of tap water, which they’ve been drinking for years, unappealing and said it has a strong chlorine taste to them now (my dd8 said it was bitter).  I was surprised that the difference would be noticeable so quickly.

The water is tasty, and since water is our main beverage, I’m glad to know that it’s really pure.  Last night, after the filter was already assembled, I happened upon the following article: http://health.yahoo.com/news/ap/pharmawater_factories.html.  After I read about the medical wastes that end up in many water supply systems, I was extra glad that we have this filter!  Unfortunately, lots of things end up in every water supply system, some of which are supposed to be helpful to us and are forced on us whether we think they’re helpful or not (like fluoride), others are contaminants that no one thinks are worthwhile.

There are two kinds of filters that you can buy with a Berkey filter – white or black.  The white filters are good for filtering water that is basically already clean; the black filters can handle more contaminants.  The white filters last about three times as long as the black filters, probably because they aren’t being used to block all of those contaminants!  Because of that, the black filters are more expensive, but I felt once we were getting a filter, it should be one that could handle anything we wanted to use it for.  I found a site (http://www.readymaderesources.com/cart/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=516)   that sells the Berkey with four filters at the same price most sites sell it for with only two filters, and they give you a choice of the white or black included in that price.  So now I have a replacement set of filters, though it should be a long time before I need them since you can easily filter several thousand gallons before needing to replace them.  And the filters can be scrubbed clean several times before needing to be replaced.

The most important element of a filter is, obviously, the filter.  The casing that holds it just makes it look nice.  I looked into buying the filters themselves and using five gallon buckets to make the casing for them (you can Google for instructions on how to make a Berkey filtering unit), but after finding the above source for the entire set up, didn’t feel the financial gain was of doing that was substantial enough to make it worthwhile. 

(By the way, I hope that this is obvious to you, but I don’t have any financial interests or benefits from anything that I link to.  I don’t make any money if you click on a link or order from a site that I mention here – I mention them because I do a lot of research on things before I buy them, and figure that if the time I spent can save someone else time, then I’m happy to share that.)

Avivah

Bulk food storage and garbage bags

food preservation

I’ve mentioned that when we buy dried food in bulk, we store them in buckets lined with garbage bags.  Since many garbage bags are sprayed with pesticides, this isn’t a good thing to do unless you know the brand you’re using hasn’t been sprayed. 

I downplayed this concern for a while because I didn’t want to think of potentially having to throw away any food we had stored in this way, but finally decided to be on the safe side and check the status of the garbage bags we use.  I called the company – you can find the phone number on the back or bottom of the box – and asked them this question.  I told them I knew they weren’t recommended for food, but wanted to know in the event that they were used for food, if the food would be contaminated by any pesticidal or similar sprays.  They told me a customer service representative would call me back later in the day, and she did.

Then she took all of the information down – where I bought the bags, the code on the bottom – and told me she’d have to check with the factory in China where the bags are manufactured to check this out. Sure enough, the next day, I got another call back.  She had called the manufacturers and the manager there checked out the details for the bags we use.  It turns out, happily for us, that these bags have no sprays, and are fine to use for dry foods, though they don’t recommend it. 

The bags we use aren’t a name brand – they’re called Tuf and are sold at Walgreens.  If you’re been thinking of buying any kind of food in bulk and storing it in the way that I mentioned we store ours, take a few minutes to make a call and verify that your garbage bags are okay for this.  I was pleased with how helpful and receptive the people I spoke with were, and it gave me peace of mind to know that what we’ve been using is fine.

Avivah

Explaining food dehydrating

dehydrating, food preservation

>>Hi, would you mind explaining what it means to dehydrate vegetables?<<

Sure, I’d be happy to!  Dehydrating vegetables is a method of preserving them by drying.  It’s very simple to do when you have a dehydrator – I bought an electric one a few months ago that I’m very happy with that has been super useful.  It’s also possible to dry vegetables in the sun, using a solar dehydrator or even just putting food on screens when the sun is shining and covering it with muslin cloth.

I’ve found that once you have a dehydrator, it can be a big help in making your food budget go even further. I can take advantage of large amounts of produce that is on sale, since I have a way to preserve it before it goes bad.  Dried vegetables can be used in cooking very easily – they plump back up to regular size with cooking – and they take very little space to store since they shrink substantially when dried.

I put them in glass or plastic food grade containers and keep them on the shelf – they don’t need any refrigeration once they’re dehydrated.  Because we’re a lot of people using one regular sized fridge, this is also very helpful in using our available space efficiently.

Do you need a dehydrator to keep your food budget as low as mine?  No, obviously not, since I just started using one recently!  I don’t point to this as a major strategy that I use to keep food costs low, but rather a way to extend your food budget dollars, by being able to buy more at a low price and making it last for longer, so that you don’t have to pay full price when you run out of sale vegetables.

Avivah

Uses for dehydrated zucchini

dehydrating, food preservation

I posted about dehydrating zucchini and mentioned that they got quickly eaten up as chips.  I didn’t initially make them with the intent that they’d be used for a snack, and I don’t want to leave you with the assumption that it’s all they are good for!

Here are some other ways you can use dehydrated zucchini slices – they are good in soups, stews, or tomato sauce.  I’ve seen it suggested to dust them with cinnamon sugar, and they then taste like apple chips (slice them 1/4 inch thick, peel them and take out seeds to make this).   Even when eaten plain, they have a sweet-ish flavor, as the natural sweetness is concentrated by the dehydrating process.

 When sliced length-wise, they can be used in place of lasagna noodles when making lasagna, or to replace the eggplant in eggplant parmesan.  You can rehydrate them before using for the lasagna or parmesan, but I’d find them easier to handle by using them dried and then adding extra liquid to the recipe so they’d rehydrate when cooking.

If they are shredded before dehydrating, you can use them in muffins or quick breads – just add a little extra liquid to the recipe you’re making.

Like other dried vegetables, they can be dried and then whizzed in the blender to make a powder.  If you do this, you can easily add a nice flavor to your soups or stews, along with great nutrition, without any signs of vegetables (for kids who are averse to eating veggies).

I’d bet that you could candy them, but that’s just a guess – it’s the kind of thing you could play with by coating them with honey before drying them, and seeing what happened.  Because zucchini has a bland flavor, it can be used in a lot more ways than something with a much stronger flavor.

Avivah