I always spent a lot of time scouring the internet for how to dehydrate certain foods when I was first learning how to dehydrate. And even now, I find myself going to do research on those foods that aren’t so easy to dehydrate.
Then…this book, The Ultimate Dehydrator Cookbook by Tammy Gangloff, came along. And it is FULL of dehydrating recipes, techniques, tips and helps for using your dehydrator for all its worth. And it will be my go-to book on learning new tips and tricks and finding out how to dehydrate those foods I haven’t tried, yet.
“The Ultimate Dehydrator Cookbook is a must-have
for every PREPared kitchen.”
I sat down with it a couple of weeks ago and began reading, and finally finished it last week. Here’s what my bo
I know you can see the sheer number of sticky tabs because of the angle of the shot, but there are more than 45 stickie tabs, just waiting for me to try out the recipe or notate the information (yellow = Info, blue = recipe to try).
The Ultimate Dehydrator Cookbook is separated into vegetables and fruit how-to’s, then pages and pages and pages of recipes to make dehydrated foods, and recipes on how to integrate the dehydrated foods you have to make dishes to feed your family.
Many of the pages contain a helpful tip on how to handle the food being dehydrated, or a serving suggestion.
You probably already know Tammy from her Dehydrate2Store website and Youtube channel. I don’t think there is a newbie dehydrator who hasn’t gone to her site or channel to figure out the best way to dehydrate a particular fruit or vegetable. I know she was instrumental for me when I began using my dehydrator a few years ago. She’s been doing this a very long time and has a ton of information on how to do this the right way.
On Making Vegetable Powders
One of my very favorite things in the world that I use my dehydrator for is making a green powder. It’s full of nutrients and vitamins that I can add to any meal during the year, and especially the long winter, and it make sme feel great about how I feed my family. But did you know that powders are also a great way to store produce to use as a side dish without all the fuss of canning and freezing?
“With powders on hand, you can have a beuaiful vegetable puree on the table in just a few minutes. Rehydrate, season to taste, and it’s ready to serve! Veggies that work particularly well include:
- Parsnips
- Rutabagas
- Sweet Potatoes
- Turnips
Also keep in mind that these powders can be used as the basis for creamed soups – cream of broccoli, cream of mushroom, cream of asparagus – the gardn’s the limit.” Â –Page 82, The Ultimate Dehydrator Cookbook
There are also tips on how to make
- Babyfood
- Proofing bread dough
- Make your own yeast
- Make your own crackers
There is a whole section of beautiful photos right in the middle of the book of displays of dried produce, dishes you can use with dehydrated produce, and a few pictures of large groups of dehydrated produce that you can use to help identify how your fruits and vegetables should look when finished. I always find that this is the biggest issue for new folks to dehydrating. I wish that there had been more close-ups for those particularly problematic foods, but you can find most of them within the pictures in the photo gallery.
My Favorite Part
My favorite section of the book is on crackers. Most of the recipes are for raw food crackers which are an amazing snack item to have in the house, and start with a flax seed base that is super-easy to create. The sweet potato-apple-sesame seed crackers are really good. So much, in fact, that I couldn’t get a good photo of them before they disappeared into the bellies of the menfolk in the house. My original photos were bad, and then we ran into some rainy weather that made my second batch not turn out as well because of the humidity in the house. But trust me, they were great! I just added a little ground sea salt to the tops on the 2nd drying run and they were yumm!
Did you know?
Using sweeter apples lend to more pliable dried applies? It’s all about the sugar content, so keep that in mind when dehydrating. (page 28 of The Ultimate Dehydrator Cookbook)
If you are serious about creating a PREPared kitchen, a dehydrator is a must-have tool for your kitchen, and The Ultimate Dehydrator Cookbook belongs on your shelf. It’s really that good.
This book would make an excellent Christmas gift for any person you know who is a dehydrator or interested in beginning to dehydrate. All the info you need to know is located in this book.
If you are looking for a good dehydrator, I recommend the Nesco American FD-80 or the Exaclibur model.