Dehydrated Vegetables

We’ve all heard about the benefits of fresh vegetables. But what if you cannot get fresh vegetables for one reason or another?

Dehydrated vegetables or drying vegetables (removal of water or other fluid) – is one of the oldest methods of preserving foods using thermal methods. Using the right technology can save a significant portion of vitamins and trace elements contained in the fresh product. Fresh vegetables can be stored relatively short time, even when trying to create optimal storage conditions, so in cooking we often use dried vegetables.

Drying of vegetables reduces the number of bacteria that found in fresh vegetables.

In this case we can use dehydrated vegetables, which benefit mainly lies in the possibility of long-term storage. However, it is important that dry vegetables do not lose that vitamin complex, which contains a natural, just taken from farm products. Vegetables can be dried in the sun or in special driers, trying to preserve the aromatic substances contained in the blanks. For this purpose, such as herbs such as parsley, dill or sorrel is better to dry on a rope, tied in bundles of pre-and concealing from direct sunlight. At home, for vegetable drying can be used an ordinary kitchen stove.

What dehydrated vegetables we can prepare with this method? A lot of them, almost everything – like onions, peppers, garlic, carrots, cabbage, beets, tomatoes, eggplant – all this can be carefully dried, retaining trace elements – both to support themselves and their families in the hardest winter and early springtime, when the body is in dire need of vitamins.  Sometimes in the dry product even more nutrients than in the fresh (raw) product because of the nutrients per 100 g dry product are much more concentrated.

Do you know that green beans in the dried form retain all the beneficial qualities of the fresh plant? Dried are usually young, fragile pods with soft seeds inside. Before drying beans lightly boiled and then subjected to thermal action on a strictly defined temperature diagram. The resulting product can be stored for a long time without losing the basic properties, easy to transport. We can use dried black-eyed beans in the same manner as other dried vegetables: added to soups, stews, side dishes to meat, casseroles and so on. Dried pods are attached to the original taste of dishes, increase their nutritional value, and contribute to whet the appetite.

During drying, it is important that the temperature of the product to be dried will not too high, so the taste, appearance and nutritional values ​​will not significantly deteriorate.

A lot of spices used mainly in dried form, such as dill, parsley, bazilikum, pepper, turmeric. They are also belonging to dehydrated vegetables group.

Another example – dried horseradish as a species.

Also, horseradish in dried form is widely used to make medicinal infusions for colds, loss of appetite and problems with the organs of digestion, outdoor warming ointment compounds for the treatment of wounds and unyatiya toothache.

As a fresh, dried mushrooms contain proteins and vitamins, fiber and amino acids, lecithin and trace elements. Also they are rich in potassium, beneficial for the heart. Dried mushrooms can help to lose weight! If you cook dietary vegetable soups to the broth of dried mushrooms, the feeling of fullness will be kept much longer than usual. In addition, valuable protein found in all the dried mushrooms, according to their nutritional properties almost as good as the protein of beef, but leaves no toxic substances.

Going on a trip to the sea, nature, fishing – it makes no sense to take a 2-3 kg of fresh carrots, enough to bring 200-300 gram dried carrot which is as useful as fresh, just do not have to clean it. Leave time for relaxation…

Dehydrated vegetables have many  useful properties. For example:

Dried carrots contains: sugar (15%), fatty oil (0.1-0.7%), nitrogenous substances, mineral salts, asparagine, umbelliferone, flavonoids (0.3%), a number of enzymes (amylase, invertase, protease, lipase, peroxides, catalase), pigments, various carotenoids, phyto, financial tofluen, lycopene, and various vitamins, provitamin A (6.25 mg%), vitamins B (0.12-0.16 mg%), B2 (up to 0.05 mg%), C (0.5 mg%), pantothenic acid (0.15 mg%), folic acid (0.1 mg%), PP (0.4 mg%).

Dried beet eaten for excretion of toxins, as well as a means of stimulating the appetite and elevates mood.

Dried red beet primarily rich in vitamins B1, B2, B6, C, carotenoids, amino acids, salts of iron, manganese, potassium, calcium, cobalt, magnesium and iodine.

Palms – natural dehydrated on the tree!