Dehydrating Eggplant?

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Chef Munky

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I've just come across a discrepancy on dehydrating eggplants.

Mary Bell's book says it can be done if it's pre treated with lemon juice or steamed. Page 70 if you really want to know :) She doesn't mention at what temp is best for dehydrating them. Are they better peeled or not? How thick should the slices be?

The other book I have says that it's not recommended. "How to dry foods"
They don't say why.. Dunno myself. Never attempted it before. All I do know is I have about 10Lbs total that needs to have something done with them.

Munky.
 
Whack off a few test pieces, some with skin, some without, and dehydrate them. Salt or lemon a few slices, others not. I would think they'd be better without skin, and probably no more than 1/4 inch in thickness. Nothing to lose, right, Munky? And one can only eat so much baba ganoush!
 
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I've just come across a discrepancy on dehydrating eggplants.

Mary Bell's book says it can be done if it's pre treated with lemon juice or steamed. Page 70 if you really want to know :) She doesn't mention at what temp is best for dehydrating them. Are they better peeled or not? How thick should the slices be?

The other book I have says that it's not recommended. "How to dry foods"
They don't say why.. Dunno myself. Never attempted it before. All I do know is I have about 10Lbs total that needs to have something done with them.

Munky.

Munky, I recently purchased an eggplant to use for eggplant lasagna. I peeled it and sliced it, but had enough left to make another lasagna, so I just put it in a baggie and put it in the freezer.

The slices look the same as if I'd just put it in the freezer. Maybe that would be a good way to go.

I didn't add or do anything else to it, and it looks like it will be perfect for next time.
 
Freezing sounds good too.

A quick search of the intertubes suggests blanching before dehydrating. There's also mention of cutting it in cubes, as well as making "eggplant bacon".
 
If I see one more grilled eggplant it would be too soon! No more baked any way you want it either!:LOL:

It's the end of the crop. I almost panicked when he said that. I'm like NOOOOO!!!! So until next years goodies get here I have those cherry tomatoes and bell peppers that I wanted to dehydrate to use as a spice additives later for other dishes.. Well that's the plan anyways. Firm believer in Murphy's Law..

I just read how my dehydrator can cut out a lot of hassle for me by softening coconut butter. Palm oil. And for warming up all the other oils that go into soap. My soaping habit just got a whole lot easier, again. I had only been using it to aid in the curing process.. Whodaaa thunk it! :blink:

I'll experiment around and see how it goes. Your right nothing to lose. Who knows it might turn out better than anticipated.

Munky.
 
The Eggplants dehydrated well. Tried it both ways. Other than it having a brownish hue to them, the taste wasn't any different. I did peel them beforehand,Have another idea for the use of the skins. Set 2 aside for seeds. A few Tomatoes to, why not I had nothing better to do anyways.They're still prepping in mason jars now.

Dehydrated the tomatoes with a very nice Italian seasoning mix of spices.
When they finished, they went into the cheese grater on the KA. Same with the Bell peppers and Green Onions that needed to be done.

When all was said and done. I made a basic cracker dough with my bread machine ( Yeah got that monster figured out and then some!) :)

Added a few table spoons of each veggie to the dough. Baked them up in the oven made Chef Maloney's Beef Soup. It was a fun day alright :)


Munky.

img_1218372_0_d0ab4fb58a4211f5f4819f038b1c7a7e.jpg
 
The Eggplants dehydrated well. Tried it both ways. Other than it having a brownish hue to them, the taste wasn't any different. I did peel them beforehand,Have another idea for the use of the skins. Set 2 aside for seeds. A few Tomatoes to, why not I had nothing better to do anyways.They're still prepping in mason jars now.

Dehydrated the tomatoes with a very nice Italian seasoning mix of spices.
When they finished, they went into the cheese grater on the KA. Same with the Bell peppers and Green Onions that needed to be done.

When all was said and done. I made a basic cracker dough with my bread machine ( Yeah got that monster figured out and then some!) :)

Added a few table spoons of each veggie to the dough. Baked them up in the oven made Chef Maloney's Beef Soup. It was a fun day alright :)


Munky.

img_1218387_0_d0ab4fb58a4211f5f4819f038b1c7a7e.jpg


That looks really nice!
 
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