Monday, June 14, 2010

Dehydrator Action - Figgie Nut'ins

One of the many things which I have failed to blog about lately is my "new to me" dehydrator.  My friend, April, went on a raw journey which didn't turn out the way she hoped and was looking for a good home for her new kitchen appliances.  I was happy to take the Excalibur in.  We had a dehydrator before which an old friend of Rob's gave us.  Which in turn we gave to another friend.  See a trend here?

When Excalibur (nine tray, baby!) arrived (I have to admit, I am in love with the name and it looks pretty cool too, not that I'm into that type of thing, but it doesn't hurt) I was giddy and eager to try something from the most underutilized cookbook on my shelf, The Raw Food Revolution Diet (a Christmas present to myself).  I didn't have a lot in the pantry, but I found all the ingredients for Figgie Nut'ins so I started the process.  I think the process is what turns some people off from raw foods.  What made me chuckle ironically to myself was the soaking for 8 hours some of the ingredients I was then going to dehydrate.  Makes me smile even now just thinking of it.  Anyway, soak I did for 8 hours, dehydrated for 4-24 hours (I can't remember how many I actually did, but I know it was much closer to 4 than 24).  After all the anticipation, I was...not impressed, nut'in special.  They were okay, but not wow and I felt like they weren't worth the work.  I made a double batch and knew it would take days to consume them.  A slight disappointment.  Later in the day, I went to my radio show, talked about the dehydrator and other food related things, and walked home to see my sister and her boyfriend on the porch chatting with my family.  I thought this would be a good way to get rid of some of the Figgie Nut'ins so I brought them out.  Too my surprise, they had turned from okay to quite good.  I don't know if they just grew on me or needed more time in the dehydrator or what, but they disappeared pretty quickly.  I had some for breakfast the next morning with tea and they really hit the spot.
I haven't used Ex (the dehydrator's nickname) a lot, but I look forward to drying herbs, tomatoes, etc. from the garden, trying out tofu jerky, and many recipes from my raw cookbooks and the blogosphere. The Excalibur is not going anywhere.  It is a permanent part of the family.

1 comment:

Lisa is Vegan on $10 a Day (or Less!) said...

Nice blog! Excalibur ... the holy grail of dehydrators :)