The other night I made scalloped potatoes using sliced potatoes that I dehydrated back in September and everybody is still breathing.
I just rehydrated them in boiling water for a few minutes, mixed in some powdered cheese from Bulk Barn, a little bit of dehydrated onions, little milk and some margarine. After being in the oven for 20 minutes they came out better than the big-name boxed brand!
I'm gonna start making these a lot more often and next time I think I'll mix in some broccoli and/or bacon bits!
I've also experimented with dehydrating frozen hash-browns and corn. I've read that dehydrating frozen veggies is easy because they're already chopped up and blanched. I've also read that the hash-browns rehdyrate well and taste great.
From left to right: corn, cheese powder, hashbrowns, sliced potatoes
I'd like to report that what I've read is correct.
I'm especially impressed by the hash-browns. You have to be careful not to rehydrate them too much because they can get mushy but they do rehydrate well and taste exactly like the non-dehydrated ones. I fried them up in a pan with some dehydrated onions and they were really good.
This experiment has made me wonder if I could dehydrate french fries? I suspect the hashbrowns are actually the french fry bits that fell on the factory floor so I suspect it'll work.
The corn turned out well too but I found it difficult to rehydrate properly. At first I just pour boiling water in a bowl with them but I was unable to get them to fully rehydrate so they were a little chewier than normal. On the other hand, they tasted great! I think the dehydration concentrated their sugars. I figured that to properly rehydrate them you'll need to boil them in water for a few minutes.
With that in mind, last week when I made a slow-cooker stew and threw the corn in they rehydrated perfectly. This seems to confirm that boiling them will work.
So after all this I think I'll try other frozen veggies and maybe some frozen berries. Only thing that's holding me back is waiting for them to go on sale!
