Receta Food Dehydration 101 (+ A Giveaway!)
Food Dehydration 101 (+ A Giveaway!)
Tribest Sedona Combo Dehydrator
Today I am venturing into new territory and covering a topic I have never touched upon before… Food Dehydration.
Before I jump into all the details, I also want you to know that I am giving away a dehydrator to one of my awesome readers (that means you!) and you can read all the details at the bottom of this post.
I’m not going to go into a ton of written details here because you can learn all of that in the video below. I really did my best to summarize and simplify everything you would need to know to venture into the world of food dehydration. I want to give you a basic understanding of what it means to dehydrate your food and why you might be interested in giving it a try.
Simply put, all it means to dehydrate food is that you are circulating dry, hot air around and through the food to pull all of the moisture out of the food. Because the temperatures are kept so low, the food is actually being dried out instead of cooked which allows the food to maintain healthy enzymes and friendly bacteria that would otherwise be destroyed.
This concept can be really exciting for all of the raw foodists of the world, but it was not the selling point for me.
However, there are a lot of other qualities that do get me really excited about dehydrating my food, and they include:
Quality control. I believe that improving the quality of the food we eat is the #1 most important thing any of us can do to improve and support our health goals. Making homemade snacks in a dehydrator that you would normally buy at a grocery store gives you full control over the quality of your food and the ingredients that you are using (plus homemade always tastes better).
Less waste. If you have a garden or are a member of a CSA (community supported agriculture group) than you know that oftentimes you find yourself with an abundance of fresh fruits and veggies that you don’t know what to do with and often go to waste. Using a food dehydrator can preserve those foods so you have seasonal, local food all year round.
Saves money. Once you get past the expense of investing in a dehydrator, not only are you not wasting food, but you can really take advantage of specials at the grocery store and make the most out of a great deal.
Reconnects us to our food. I think this is so important! It’s so easy these days to toss food and not think twice about where it came from or whether or not we can get more. I find it really rewarding to preserve my food, as opposed to wasting it.
I’ve been having a lot of fun with my dehydrator. So far, I have made apple chips, home-made beef jerky, dried mango, dried garbazo beans, and tahini coated kale chips (recipe + photo below).
Tahini Kale Chips
If food dehydration is new to you, I highly recommend watching the video below to become more familiar with the whole concept.
And if you find yourself wanting to dive into the world of food dehydration, today is your lucky day, because I am giving away the food dehydrator that I was using in this video (it’s the Tribest Sedona Combo Dehydrator [$450 value]). Simply scroll down below the video to read how to enter.
Okay. Now for the giveaway details.
I seriously can’t stand give aways that make you tweet this, Facebook that, hop on one foot and jump through 21 hoops. So I’m going to keep this all very simple.
To enter the Clean & Delicious® giveaway for the Tribest Sedona Combo Dehydrator all you have to do is leave me a comment down below letting me know why you would love to own a food dehydrator and/or what would be the first recipe you would want to make.
Easy enough, right?
Tahini Coated Kale Chips (in the dehydrator)
Yield: 6 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 4 hours
Total Time: 4 hours + 15 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 bunch kale
- 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp. tahini
- 1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
- 2 tsp. crushed garlic
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Stem, wash, and dry the kale before tearing into bite sized pieces. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together extra virgin olive oil, tahini, balsamic vinegar, crushed garlic and salt and pepper.
Pour dressing over the kale leaves and gently massage into kale until all of the leaves have a nice light coating of the dressing.
Spread kale leaves out on mesh cooking sheets, being sure that the leaves do not overlap.
Place the sheets in the dehydrator and set at 135 degrees Fahrenheit for four hours on raw mode.
When the leaves are done (dry and crunchy) store them in an airtight container for up to 1 week. Enjoy!
Makes 6 servings.
Nutritional Analysis
1/6th of the recipe: Calories: 75g; Total Fat: 4g; Saturated Fat: .5g; Cholesterol: 0mg; Sodium: 49mg; Carbohydrate: 9.2; Dietary Fiber: 1.9; Sugars: 0.1; Protein: 3.2g