planning ahead, preserving the summer bounty

Well, today is Farmers' Market day. I look forward to Sundays from May through November, because it's the 1 day per week that my farmers market is open. It's a producer-only market, and that means that the people I'm buying my food from are the ones who actually grew it. And that makes me very happy. Anyway, since Sunday is Farmers' Market day, Saturday is clean-out-the-fridge-and-see-what-veggies-have-not-been-eaten-yet day.

I noticed on Friday that I had a pretty substantial amount of produce left from the previous week, so I broke out my food dehydrator. Now, I used to use my oven for drying veggies, but that only works if you have a gas oven with a pilot light that stays on. The pilot light keeps the oven the perfect temperature for such endeavors. I no longer have a stove with an always on pilot light, though, so the hubby and I went out last year and purchased a food dehydrator.

So, over the past day and a half, I have dehydrated:
7 sweet red peppers
around 12 summer squash (2 yellow and the rest zucchini)
5 parsnips


The peppers were cut into pieces, maybe 1/4x1/2 inch, and everything else was sliced on a mandolin.

When I come back from the farmers' market today, I'll be loading the dehydrator trays with carrots and celery.

I like dehydrating my own food for a couple of reasons. First, I am in control of exactly what's going in, both quality-wise and ingredient-wise. Have you ever looked at the ingredient list on a package of dried veggies? (shudder) Second, it allows me to support my local farmers, since most of what I dry is from the local farmers market. And, last but definitely not least, it saves money. Since most of what I dry is stuff that I bought with the intent of eating it that week but forgot or didn't get a chance to, I am saving food from being thrown into the compost heap or trash.

So yes, food dehydration is a very happy thing!