Dehydrating Carrots

Who doesn't like carrots??? When the end of the world comes and you find yourself without carrots in your food pantry, you will be VERY disappointed with yourself. That would be tragic! Let's get some carrots and start dehydrating! Come on!

1. Peel your carrots. Cut off both ends. Wash.

                                                    

2. Slice your carrots to a uniform size. They will do better in the dehydration process if they are basically the same thickness. 

3. Blanch your carrots for two minutes. We use a wire basket that takes all of the difficulties away and allows you to move from step 3 to step 4 in a single motion. 

4. Immediately plunge into ice cold water and allow to sit until the cooking process has stopped and they are completely cool. 

5. Spray lemon juice generously-and I mean generously over, under and through your carrots making sure they are coated thoroughly. 

6. Spread the carrots in a single layer on your dehydrator tray. Give another few squirts of lemon juice for good measure. Place in dehydrator until done. 

One thing that should be mentioned with carrots (and other more substantial fruits and vegetables) is something called "case hardening". This happens when your heat is too high. I like to dehydrate everything between 115 and 125 degrees. Yes, it takes longer, but I am assured in the slower process, my food will dry from the inside out. If the temperature is too high, you will dry the outer layer which in turn will trap the moisture inside which will in turn make your food rotten and your hard work all for naught. Slow and steady dehydrates the food you love!

Above are the pictures of the carrots when they come out of the dehydrator. From a three pound bag of (free) carrots we yielded 3 cups of dehydrated carrots. That is why it is very important to know how to cook using your food after it has been processed. A little goes a long way! A long, sweet, delicious way! What are you waiting for???