ALL I WANT IS SOME CRUNCH IN MY VEGGIES!

alywei37
alywei37 Posts: 45
in Food and Nutrition
So, I have a wonderful food dehydrator that I have used numerous times to make deer jerky. Every time I have made jerky with it I have been pleased with the results. Recently, I have started eating lightly salted veggie chips and i just adore them; naturally I wanted to make them myself. I started by trying to dehydrate carrots (10 hours on 135)...THEY WERE AWFUL. It was like a carrotty leather with no crunch at all!

So my question: Is anyone familiar with dehydrators? How do you make veggies crispy crunchy? Do you know of anything particularly yummy dehydrated?

Replies

  • Pandora_King
    Pandora_King Posts: 153
    I know that those chips aren't dehydrated. The ones I eat are baked, some are fried. Some use a new method called "poping". Pop chips, I don't know, Google it.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    Dehydrating makes leather, you have to bake them to get the crunch.
  • nikilis
    nikilis Posts: 2,305 Member
    In because I now have a huge interest in the dehydration of foods, like, what happens if you dehydrate a banana?
  • Julesjhj
    Julesjhj Posts: 150 Member
    I found this food blog recently that is mostly "high-raw" food/recipes. She uses a dehydrator for many of her recipes. Makes me want to buy one and experiment!

    Here is the link: http://www.rawmazing.com/

    :smile:
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    In because I now have a huge interest in the dehydration of foods, like, what happens if you dehydrate a banana?

    You have to slice the banana because a whole banana would never dry. You put them on the dehydrator trays and set the machine. Your whole house smells like banana and when they're finally dry you spend the next hour trying to peel the slices back off the tray. At that point you decide it isn't worth it and just buy banana chips because these ones are like pieces of rubber.
  • pineapple_jojo
    pineapple_jojo Posts: 440 Member
    Never try and blend dehydrated bananas. I just broke my mini blender trying to do just this. In fact, dehydrated bananas are awful full stop - seriously, shoe leather!!
  • spoiledpuppies
    spoiledpuppies Posts: 675 Member
    Most of the store-bought veggie chips are pretty much the same thing as eating regular potato chips--high fat and calories...that's why they're yummy! :)

    Dehydrated probably isn't going to get you the results you're looking for. As someone else said, you could try baking them. I've been eating Pop Chips occasionally. They're good, but still 100 calories for a single serve bag, and they're just potatoes cooked a different way.

    Maybe you'll get used to the dehydrated texture.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    Dehydrating veggies makes them soft, not crispy. Frying makes them crispy.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    In because I now have a huge interest in the dehydration of foods, like, what happens if you dehydrate a banana?

    I picture you getting a dehydrator and just sticking random things in it to see what happens. Science!
  • alywei37
    alywei37 Posts: 45
    I found this food blog recently that is mostly "high-raw" food/recipes. She uses a dehydrator for many of her recipes. Makes me want to buy one and experiment!

    Here is the link: http://www.rawmazing.com/

    :smile:

    I just visited the site and it has some great info. I will have to do a bit more digging around to get more familiar with the concept. Thanks for the link!
  • LishieFruit89
    LishieFruit89 Posts: 1,956 Member
    In because I now have a huge interest in the dehydration of foods, like, what happens if you dehydrate a banana?

    I picture you getting a dehydrator and just sticking random things in it to see what happens. Science!

    In an episode of Friends, after Chandler moved out, Joey had a new creepy roommate who was dehydrating everything...
  • lewandt
    lewandt Posts: 566 Member
    why don't you eat them raw? They have a lot of crunch that way.

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