July 11, 2012

Sun Dried Zucchini

    As this years harvest has come in we decided to be a little more creative in how we store and prepare our vegetables. In addition to canning our zucchini we have decided to sun dry them. We were hoping they turned out more like a chip and have a little crunch to them by placing them in a solar over Lenny had fabricated, but they turned out with a paper feel. I guess we will need to cut them a bit thicker next time to get the desired texture. Many of the things we do here at the homestead are based on a trial and error process.


Lenny sliced the zucchini and evenly laid them out on grates.


He then seasoned them with salt, pepper, parmesan, paprika, and cayenne pepper.


Next he placed them in our mobile solar oven, covered with an old window.


The roast coach. Constructed from an old wagon, an old stove insert, foil, and an old window.
Within a few hours our zucchini slices were completely dried out.

For any questions or suggestions feel free to leave a comment or e-mail us at thehomesteadjones@yahoo.com.

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2 comments:

  1. Whispers on the Wind8/27/2012

    Hey there, how would you store these after sun-drying?

    Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. THE HOMESTEAD JONES8/29/2012

      You have quite a few options. Mainly you want to store them in a cool and dry location as you would for spices. To ensure they last a while you can place them in air tight packaging such as a vacuum sealed bag or a mason jar with an oxygen absorber. For short term you can put them in an air tight container such as a zip lock bag and keep them in the fridge, on the counter, or in a cupboard. By keeping them in air tight packaging you reduce the chances of moisture in the air affecting the texture of the sun dried zucchini. Kind of like if you leave a bag of potato chips open overnight. When you are tempted to have a handful in the morning they have a softer and flimsy texture versus the hard and crisp texture the night before.

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