{"id":5781,"date":"2012-09-12T08:30:50","date_gmt":"2012-09-12T14:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/?p=5781"},"modified":"2012-09-13T09:34:06","modified_gmt":"2012-09-13T15:34:06","slug":"dehydrating-broccoli-with-well-entertained-crew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/dehydrating-broccoli-with-well-entertained-crew\/","title":{"rendered":"Dehydrating Broccoli with Well Entertained Crew"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"salt<\/a>
salt water soaked and washed pile of broccoli ready to be cut up<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The prep work for dehydrating vegetables lends itself to comfort in recliners and movie watching.<\/strong> \u00a0Which makes it much easier to put a happy, helpful crew together! \u00a0Just supply the staff with cutting boards and knives, then explain the system to them.<\/em> \u00a0With a bucket for compost, a bowl for sub-prime pieces (that might still be good enough to cook), and trays to lay the good pieces out on, everyone can keep one eye on a fun flick and one eye on the process. \u00a0In this way, my four person crew got through this whole pile of broccoli in an hour…watching The Phantom<\/em>… while I painted my fingernails… \u00a0 \ud83d\ude42 [hr]<\/p>\n

The broccoli plants, a variety called Arcadia<\/a>, are still producing like gangbusters, with heads that are a good size for dehydrating. \u00a0 Full sized heads would be much more trouble to cut up for this. \u00a0The stalks were cut to be no more than 1\/2 inch thick.<\/strong> \u00a0The flower heads were just cut in proportion, but not much. \u00a0<\/em>They are not dense, like the stalks, so dry very easily. [hr]<\/p>\n

\"central<\/a>
central movie watching\/broccoli cutting work station<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"senior<\/a>
senior staff member uses broccoli cutting recliner station<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

[hr] Because the broccoli needed some “head room,” literally, I could only fit 4 trays in at a time.<\/strong>\u00a0 I left it dehydrating over night, so it ended up being a bit more than 7 hours before I rotated the trays. \u00a0All total, it took 11 hours for it to be perfect.<\/p>\n

\"master<\/a>
master knife wielding chef at broccoli cutting floor station<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"fresh<\/a>
fresh broccoli on tray ready for dehydrating<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

[hr] The four trays completely filled 3 quart jars<\/strong>, to the brims. \u00a0I did shake them very<\/em> gently, as well as smartly tap the bottom of the jars, to get the pieces to settle as much as possible without crushing. \u00a0These jars, too, will await the arrival of the FoodSaver T03-0023-01 Wide-Mouth Jar Sealer<\/a>\u00a0\"\"that should arrive next week.<\/p>\n

My husband happened to be walking by while I was filling the jars, so he grabbed a few pieces to try out. \u00a0He made a sound indicating the surprising sensation of pleasant flavor! \u00a0\u00a0<\/em>He says it tastes mildly like oregano and vaguely like broccoli. \u00a0<\/strong>Then he ate more. \u00a0I’m not interested in trying it plain, but am looking forward to cooking with it, due to the house being permeated with a sweet aroma while it dries.<\/p>\n

There were 2.5 gallon ziplock bags of good pieces still in the refrigerator. \u00a0I could only fit 1.5 bags worth on 4 more trays again. \u00a0<\/strong>I think I could easily keep two dehydrators busy at this time of year, but that is partly because I have planted enough for an army. \u00a0I will have to see who on my Christmas list might like to try some home-deydrated veggies!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"dehydrated<\/a>
dehydrated broccoli close up<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"dehydrated<\/a>
dehydrated broccoli in quart jar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The prep work for dehydrating vegetables lends itself to comfort in recliners and movie watching. \u00a0Which makes it much easier to put a happy, helpful crew together! \u00a0Just supply the staff with cutting boards and knives, then explain the system to them. \u00a0With a bucket for compost, a bowl for sub-prime pieces (that might still […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,3,19],"tags":[47],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5781"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5781\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}