Dehydrating Zucchini for the pantry! Spiralized Zucchini and Half Rounds.

 

Dehydrating zucchini takes almost zero prep because you do not blanch it or do anything special to it unless you want to take one extra little step - which I do.  Because zucchini has a lot of moisture in it, I sprinkle a tiny bit of sea salt on the slices or spirals and let them set out on paper towels or the dehydrating racks for about a half hour before I pat them dry and put them into the dehydrator.  This leeches out some of the liquid before the process starts.

 

Zucchini that needs to be used up!

DEHYDRATING ZUCCHINI

• Wash and pat dry your zucchini
• Slice, dice, spiral in whatever cuts your family uses most
• Lay the slices/spirals/dices out on paper towels or the dehydrating racks and sprinkle a tiny bit of salt over to start leeching some of the excess moisture out
• After about 30 minutes, pat the zucchini dry with a paper towel and place into your dehydrator
• Dehydrate at 125 degrees for approximately 6-10 hours or so, depending on your appliance and the size and thickness and style of your slices/spirals.  They are done when they are completely dried
• Place them loosely in a glass jar with a lid and let them sit for at least 4-5 days this will even out the moisture content in all the slices
• Store in an air tight jar - you can use an oxygen absorber or vacuum seal with your food vac attachment if you wish
  

Do not reconstitute them before using.  Zucchini should be added at the last second to your soup or meal as it will soak up the liquid right away and be perfect for serving.  

The spirals are great to leave as is for soups or crumble them up to add to your batter for zucchini bread or muffins!  Crumbled, they are just like you shredded them fresh.  You only have to use about 1/3 of a cup of dried to equal a whole cup of fresh! 

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Here are some of the spirals I cut going into the dehydrator... I also did half slices, which is my 'go to' cut for most of our zucchini dishes. 

All the zucchini you see in the top photo dehydrated down to these two small jars. 

Dehydrated Zucchini