Overwhelmed with chard, kale, or collard greens? Have enough blanched and frozen to last a couple of years? Try something different! Dehydrated greens don’t take up much space, don’t require energy – like a freezer – after the initial processing, and are a great addition to your pantry stores. Here’s how to do it.
Obtain some greens. Grow and harvest your own, go to a U-pick farm, get them at the Farmer’s Market, or buy them at your corner store.
Trim the stems. Cut or tear the leafy parts away from the thick stems.
Save those stems to chop and simmer in a little water. They are great in soups or even by themselves with a little seasoning.
Wash the leaves. Meanwhile, bring a big pot of water to a boil. Don’t worry about spinning the leaves dry: just let them drain a bit.
Blanch the leaves just until wilted. The time it takes for them to wilt will vary with the type. Chard leaves are much thinner than kale, for instance, and wilt quickly.
Lift out and let drain. I set them in a colander.
Spread leaves in a single layer out on dehydrator trays. These round trays were a pain and had me lusting for an Excaliber dehydrator with rectangular trays. On the other hand, I got to nibble little bits of blanched chard while fitting them on the trays. Wipe the bottom of the tray with a cloth to remove excess moisture and put in the dehydrator while still warm.
Dry at 135 degrees until crispy. It only took about 4 hours yesterday. Sampling had to be curtailed because they were so tasty. I’ve read about people dehydrating kale specifically for snacking. “Kale chips!”
Store in an airtight, moisture proof container. Since I plan to take these on
our trip to add to soups, I crumbled the dry leaves into bags for vacuum packing.
I didn't have enough trays to dehydrate all the chard I harvested today (the entire bed). This little ball is what two-thirds of the fresh chard pictured above shrank down to after blanching! I'll be freezing some of this for our trip and using some in our dinner.
Obtain some greens. Grow and harvest your own, go to a U-pick farm, get them at the Farmer’s Market, or buy them at your corner store.
Trim the stems. Cut or tear the leafy parts away from the thick stems.
Save those stems to chop and simmer in a little water. They are great in soups or even by themselves with a little seasoning.
Wash the leaves. Meanwhile, bring a big pot of water to a boil. Don’t worry about spinning the leaves dry: just let them drain a bit.
Blanch the leaves just until wilted. The time it takes for them to wilt will vary with the type. Chard leaves are much thinner than kale, for instance, and wilt quickly.
Lift out and let drain. I set them in a colander.
Spread leaves in a single layer out on dehydrator trays. These round trays were a pain and had me lusting for an Excaliber dehydrator with rectangular trays. On the other hand, I got to nibble little bits of blanched chard while fitting them on the trays. Wipe the bottom of the tray with a cloth to remove excess moisture and put in the dehydrator while still warm.
Dry at 135 degrees until crispy. It only took about 4 hours yesterday. Sampling had to be curtailed because they were so tasty. I’ve read about people dehydrating kale specifically for snacking. “Kale chips!”
Store in an airtight, moisture proof container. Since I plan to take these on our trip to add to soups, I crumbled the dry leaves into bags for vacuum packing.
I didn't have enough trays to dehydrate all the chard I harvested today (the entire bed). This little ball is what two-thirds of the fresh chard pictured above shrank down to after blanching! I'll be freezing some of this for our trip and using some in our dinner.
19 comments:
One night my SIL dried some in the oven to accompany dinner. She sprayed them with a little oil, seasoned lightly with salt, and dried whole with the stems. They were fantastic. The two of us ate almost all of them, accomapnied by my toddler who also liked them... Oddly enough, our husbands were not too into them, which was a surprise since they are the real kale lovers in the family. Go figure. I plan on dehydrating foods this summer like a maniac. I have the same one you do, judging from pics. I plan to make a big solar one for summer use, too.
Good post!
Wow! That shrinks up nicely, doesn't it. I'll have to give that a try!
Very interesting post! Now I know what to do with all that chard! I do this with zucchini and add it to soups- this should be great this year. Thanks!
I have tried kale in the dehydrator & really like it. I'll have to try chard next!
Barb
Clearly I need a dehydrator. This sounds fantastic.
Healing Green - that sounds easy and tasty. Reminds me a little of Korean nori - seaweed brushed with sesame oil, salted and toasted. It's crispier than Japanese nori. We do hope to build a solar dehydrator once we've moved.
Heather - it's amazing how little there is after dehydrating. Blanching too!
Rob - the one time I tried zucchini, it smelled funny a few months later. I must not have dried it right. The chard is easy.
Barb - now I want to try kale, but we didn't plant any and haven't had any from the CSA for a little while.
Debbie - I don't use mine regularly but when I do, I stack up 8-12 trays at once. I suspect I'll use it more once we have our own big garden growing.
This one I'll definitely try!
yummy
ps. down to two bags of apples now and some in containers which should store uncooked for a while. Wish I could sent you some apple jelly. I used some old crystal glasses when I ran out of jars and it looks fantastic.
Are you sick of apples yet? ;-)
A friend of mine and I were just talking about preserving food yesterday. It never occurred to me that you could dry greens. Does this work for all greens, or just a select few?
I assume it would work for any greens that you would normally cook - probably all the Asian greens, although I'm not sure how well something like bok choi with a really thick central stem would do. (The leaf and stem would dry at different rates.) I was thinking of trying it today with carrot greens. I've dehydrated them without blanching and am curious to see if they would retain their color better if blanched really quickly first.
Oh, that's so cool! I never thought of drying chard or kale. I got so much last summer at the CSA that I was getting a little sick of eating it all the time. I think this summer I'll dry some. Thanks for very detailed post! I love when people give instructions and don't assume you already know it. I certainly don't!
I'm glad the detailed how-to photo posts are helpful. I do them for several reasons.
The first is that I know some people are new to the subject and want to learn but aren't sure where to get the information.
The second is that if I have to go through the learning process myself, whether recently or a long time ago, I retain the information better if I share it.
The last is that this is how my mind operates: it breaks down tasks into orderly steps, sometimes with mental pictures. You are getting a peek into my brain. Scary, huh? ;-)
Why do you blanche first? Is it ok to not do that step?
Christine
Christine, quoting from my dehydrator instruction book: "Most vegetables must be blanched to slow the enzyme action which will continue during drying and storage. Blanching softens the cell structure, allowing the moisture to escape more easily and also allows vegetables to rehydrate faster. (No need to blanch onions, garlic, peppers, & mushrooms.)
This online guide to dehydrating allows states that research shows blanching helps reduce bacteria such as salmonella.
Have you tried dehydrating without blanching first? I'm just wondering if it's necessary? I've dried large leaves of herbs before without blanching first and they turned out find. Any thoughts?
I haven't tried it, Angelina. Since the chard is still growing though, I might give it a shot. I have other dehydrating to do and can tuck a leaf in there somewhere.
Thank you for this article. It was exactly what I was looking for!
I am new to gardening and have a bunch of collards that will be ready for harvest soon. I have ordered and Excalibur (my parents have one and love it) and so was curious if I could dry some of those collards. I googled and found this article.
Again, thank you.
Do you know how your SIL dried it in the oven?
Thanks!!!
I am looking online for a recipe for some greens I had this weekend at a retreat. The woman who made them said she made a sauce with brewers yeast and seasoning and coated the leaves and then dehydrated them. She used chard, kale, dandelion, zucchini sliced with a veg peeler, and some other wild greens. OMG!!! We were gobbling them up like potato chips or popcorn! They were that good with the bonus of them being good for us. They were dry but still chewy. If I can figure out the recipe I will repost, later...Troll Mother
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