Remember all those dried vegetables you carefully dehydrated and stored away? It’s time to bring them out and use them to cook with – but do you know how to bring them back to a usable state of re-hydration so you can present them to your family?
Commercially-produced dried foods today are at a 2% to 3% moisture level – this means that the vegetable will be a less-intense version of the fresh vegetable. Home-dried vegetables may have a higher moisture concentration which will not affect re-hydration times but will cause the dried vegetables to have a shorter shelf life.
How To Reconstitute Dried Vegetables
Dried Green Beans: Soak in hot water for about 1 hour or 2 hours in cold water. Drain.
Dried Broccoli: Soak in hot water for 15 minutes, or steam until tender (about 15-20 minutes). When serving whole, some soak it for 5 minutes in cold water right before serving.
Dried Carrots: Soak in cold water for 30 minutes. Drain.
Dried Corn: Soak for 30 minutes in hot water. Drain.
Dried Mushrooms: Soak for 30 minutes in cold water. Drain.
Tip: Here’s How To Make A Batch Of Dehydrated Soup Mix
Dried Onions: Soak for 15 minutes in hot water. Drain.
Dried Peas: Soak for 30 minutes in hot water. Drain.
Dried Peppers: Soak for 20 minutes in hot water. Drain.
Dried Spinach: Soak for 15 minutes in hot water. Drain.
Dried Zucchini: Soak for 30 minutes in hot water. Drain.
Remember to use about equal amounts of water as vegetables or if there is liquid left over after reconstituting veggies, use it in another prepared dish as you don’t want to waste the nutrients leached into the water.
Want to grow your own vegetables to dehydrate? We recommend [sc:smspacegarden ].
Dried Veggies Are Fabulous!
Use the reconstituted vegetables in your food preparations as you would use fresh, even though cooking times might need to be adjusted slightly. Experience will teach you how long the freshly re-hydrated vegetables will take to cook. Practice cooking with your prepped foods before you actually “need” to and it will get you and your family accustomed to eating these kinds of foods.
Have you cooked with dehydrated vegetables?
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