So I’m a big fan of zucchini, but not such a big fan of it when it becomes monster zucchini. I like it when its small and tender and you don’t have to peel it. But no matter how diligent a gardener thinks she is, there’s always a few zucchinis that hide out and grow too big while you were hanging clothes on the line. (and that’s almost as long as it seems to take) What to do? There’s really only so much zucchini cake anyone should make in a lifetime.
WHO KNEW? Some interesting facts about zucchini . . . .
*While we think of, and use it as a vegetable, like the tomato zucchini is technically a fruit.
*Zucchini, and all other squash are native to Central America and Mexico, and started making an appearance in European kitchens in the 1600’s. From Europe, it spread to the rest of North America. The scenic route.
*We generally eat zucchini when it is young and immature, while the rind is tender and the seeds are undeveloped, . . . . or at least that’s the goal.
*Zucchini is a surprising source of calcium, making it valuable in maintaining good bone and teeth health. Calcium also helps your nervous system function properly.
*Zucchini contains the carotenoid known as Beta-carotene, which is converted to vitamin A, making it important to a healthy immune system and good eye health. That, in combination with the other antioxidants present, such as lutein and zeaxanthin, protect the eye’s cells and are helpful in preventing macular degeneration.
*Because of a good amount of potassium and magnesium, zucchini is good for regulating your blood pressure and keeping your heartbeat at a normal rate. Moderate levels of folate in zucchini contribute to good heart health by breaking down amino acids like homocysteine, which would increase our chances of heart disease and stroke.
*Zucchini is a good source of zinc which helps with immune function and healthy hair growth. Being rich in fiber, zucchini aids in digestion.
*Zucchini is a good source of vitamin C, so eating it fresh and uncooked as much as possible is extremely beneficial. Good thing its so delicious straight from the garden. The anti-inflammatory properties that come from the beta-carotene and vitamin C in zucchini, address symptoms of osteoarthritis, as well as asthma and other respiratory ailments.
*Since it is packed with so much goodness, and not very many calories, it only makes sense that eating zucchini will promote good health and help prevent disease. It should be a welcome guest at your dinner table.
preparing monster zucchini for the dehydrator
Best way to eat zucchini? Straight outta the garden. Preferably while you’re still standing IN the garden. Snap it off its stem and enjoy the crispness as you bite into it. It’s flavour is so mild that it cannot possibly offend anyone, and it has a slight sweetness to it. The peel is very tender, and adds to the body and texture (and nutrition), so don’t ever peel it when its young. I love the experience of picking a nice tender zucchini with a grandchild in tow so that we can share the experience. I hope they remember those garden moments.
But what do you do with those ripened zucchini’s that are as big as a child’s torso? Well, you can scoop out the seeds, fill it with a stuffing and bake it for supper. I don’t mind doing that once a year, but usually Dan just eats the stuffing and not the zucchini anyway. You can shred it and make zucchini cake, but that’s another once-a-year thing for me too. Seriously – how much zucchini cake do you or all your friends want? In its shredded form, you can add it to stir fries, add it to spaghetti sauce (it disappears and no one will be the wiser), soups, and omelettes. This appeals to me a lot more, and I love putting it to good use in dishes that are made more nutritious because of it. But still, . . . . you have a LOT of zucchini.
DEHYDRATE it!
What on earth would you do with dehydrated zucchini later? Well, you could throw them into those same soups, stews, stir fries, cakes and sauces of course. Yes, I know you can shred it and freeze it, but my freezer space is limited at the best of times, and even more so at the end of summer. One of my favourite ways to use dehydrated zucchini is in a seasoning mix that I call “Taste of the Mediterranean“. See recipe below.
To dehydrate: Peel large zucchini, cut in half and scrape out the seeds. Cube the white flesh into pieces about an inch square. I also shred some. Spread out in your dehydrator in a single layer. Over night should be sufficient time to dehydrate, but test it by pinching and tasting. The shredded zucchini takes a lot less time than the cubed. I recommend not leaving it for more than an hour or two without checking. You don’t have to babysit it, just don’t go to bed. When it is good a dry, store in a glass jar in your pantry out of direct light.
zucchini dehydrated and in the jar
recipe: TASTE OF THE MEDITERRANEAN
This taste of the Mediterranean is a valuable part of my kitchen. Add it to your meatballs or meatloaf. Add it to your spaghetti sauce, or your lasagna. Add it to a thick cream sauce for pizza. Add it to your alfredo sauce to go on pasta. Add it to your cream soup, or your Italian Wedding Soup. Make a hearty vegetable dip, buttermilk salad dressing, or a cheese spread. . . . . . . be creative, the sky’s the limit.
ingredients layered in before I mix it all together
1 cup dehydrated zucchini or 2 cups freeze dried zucchini (I often find myself running out of this mix mid year, when I don’t have any dried zucchini left. No problem, when I have another can of THRIVE LIFE freeze dried Zucchini on hand. ) 1 cup dehydrated mixed bell peppers, or 1 cup freeze dried green pepper + 1/2 cup freeze dried red peppers Blend the above into a coarse powder using the pulse option on your blender. Only a few seconds, so that you still have a little texture but mostly powder. Add 1 cup freeze dried chopped Spinach Pulse it in the blender a few more seconds. Add: 1 cup freeze dried chopped onions 1/3 cup Tomato powder (I use THRIVE LIFE Tomato Powder, but if you have dehydrated tomatoes, powder your own) 1-2 Tablespoons garlic powder (I usually use freeze dried, crushed in a mortar & pestle) 1/2 cup mixed dried Italian herbs: oregano, thyme, rosemary and basil (or your favourite Italian or Greek Seasoning mix) hand crumbled 1/2+ cup dried parmesan cheese (I use THRIVE LIFE freeze dried Parmesan)
Stir with a fork to fully incorporate all the colours. Pour into a clean quart jar with a tight fitting lid. If you’re not using freeze dried cheese, you might want to store it in the fridge, or simply leave the cheese out so that you can add it separately whenever you use the mix later.
Mediterranean Meatloaf or meatballs : add 1/2 – 1 cup to your favourite ground meat mixture, and form as usual. Mediterranean White Pasta Sauce : add 1/2 cup to your favourite alfredo sauce. You might need to add a little bit more liquid to compensate for rehydration. Mediterranean Tomato Pasta Sauce: same thing – just add to your favourite tomato sauce. Adjust liquid if necessary. Mediterranean Omelotte: add to beaten eggs, allow two or three minutes to refresh. Cook eggs as usual. Mediterranean Vegetable Spread: Cream mixture into cream cheese. Start with 2 tablespoons, and then add more if desired. Stir in a little mayo and sour cream, creaming with mixer or spoon after each addition. Let it sit for 15 minutes to ensure all is rehydrated. Test for desired consistency, adding more liquid if necessary. For spreading on crackers, serving with fresh bread, or using as a sandwich base. Mediterranean Vegetable Dip: Same method as above, but use mayo and sour cream. Maybe a little cream cheese for body and richness. Mediterranean Buttermilk Salad Dressing: Same method for Dip, but stir in buttermilk to desired consistency.
I’d love to hear your ideas for eating zucchini – especially when it gets too big. If you decide to try this recipe – I’d love to hear ways you incorporated it into your meals. Its great to learn from each other.
Fruit leather! Apple leather – rhubarb leather – any kind of fruit leather. Mix it up. Apple pear. Rhubarb raspberry. Plum! Whatever you’ve got on hand that needs to be used up, turn it into a delicious, nutritious snack to grab all winter long.
Rhubarb-raspberry-cranberry leather. Adding cranberries to fruit sauce makes the colour gorgeous! Apple leather behind it. Apple sauce for leather is so dependable in the late summer because they’re usually so plentiful. Its wonderful to use by itself, or as a base with pears, plums, rhubarb, berries, or whatever you might have on hand.
I first learned about Fruit Leather when my oldest was just a baby. I never tried it or even saw it, just read about it. In a library book. I loved the idea of it, and that very week, made some of my own, using our oven. I dried it at the lowest temperature I could get on my oven, and was hooked from that day on. Over time, I’ve progressed to the convenience of the counter top dehydrator I use today, but seriously, one doesn’t need a dehydrator. This is something people have made for many many years before dehydrators made everything easy
When you have access to your own fruit trees or a friend’s, you often have a lot of fruit that needs to be used or preserved – RIGHT NOW. We wait all summer long for fruits to ripen, and then when they do, every hour counts as we eat, juice, can, freeze, dehydrate, make jams or jellies, flavour vinegars, pickle, ferment, bake, and do anything else we can think of to continue to enjoy them for months to come.
It is a fun goal of mine to make valuable use of everything the Lord has blessed me with, or to pass it on to someone else who will, but just because I said it was a ‘fun’ goal, doesn’t mean its not without a lotta work. Usually it means many hours of hard work. Fruit leather is one of those results. It’s where excess fruit goes to find purpose and meaning to its existence. Fruit leather isn’t prejudiced against fruit that isn’t pretty enough to make it to the produce department, or the glass canning jars. Perhaps it wasn’t the ‘prettiest’ peach in the box, or perhaps the apples hit the ground and receive bruises, fruit leather is non-discriminatory.
Taking advantage of fruit that would otherwise go to waste. Apple pie, apple crisp, apple muffins, apple juice, apple jelly, apple sauce, apple butter, apple leather, . . . . . Apple is the base for so many late summer edibles, and the perfect fruit to preserve for all winter long.
In fact, sometimes it even takes biproducts from other projects and makes them valuable again. For instance, apple pulp left over from steam juicing, can be strained to separate the apple sauce. And apple sauce makes wonderful fruit leather all by itself, and a beautiful base for many other mixes.
I think its impossible to have an exact recipe when you’re true the ‘spirit of fruit leather’. When you are using excess, you just don’t measure in ounces or cups. So the ‘recipe’ below is only a guideline to begin with. You can vary it depending on whatever happens to be in season and accessible.
I like to at least heat the fruit through for a few minutes to arrest any alteration in colour or flavour, and also to kill any bacteria. Lightly simmering the fruit, softens it and makes it easier to smooth. Either mash the softened fruit with a potato masher, or puree it in a blender, of half and half to have a more interesting texture.
Sour cherries make amazing fruit leather, alone or in combination with other fruits. They are also terrific dehydrated by themselves. Pitted of course.
Often times a combination of fruits, using the apple sauce first, opens up to a whole new world of textures and flavours. Starting with a base of apple sauce, consider these variations: * apple sauce – straight, all by itself, only sweetened if necessary, and nothing else * apple sauce with pear sauce mashed, skins removed, (trust me on this, pear skins when really ripe are tough and unpleasant). If you puree it, then you can leave the skins on. * apple berry blend – your choice. Whatever’s in season. I love using raspberries, * apple plum blend * apple peach blend * apple pie – apples with cinnamon for apple-pie fruit leather * apple grape – puree the grapes if they have seed in them.
* Sour cherries. Pureed or mashed for added texture, sweetened to taste. By themselves, or in combination with other fruits, always a winner. * Plums. In my climate, there are many varieties of plums that grow well. And they’re not only delicious to eat straight off the tree, but great for canning, dehydrating, making into jams or plum sauce, and of course fruit leather alone or in combination with other fruits. Their sweetness is the perfect companion to the tartness of rhubarb. * Peaches – alone, or mixed with anything you like are always an all time favourite of mine. However, peaches don’t grow in my climate so I always have to buy them, and mashing up fruit I purchased hurts my feelings. So the only time I would ever make peach jam or peach leather is when I got a steal of a deal, or they got away from me, past their prime, and I would otherwise lose them. That’s what makes fruit leather so great – it prevents waste. * Apricots. I don’t often have a lotta fresh apricots that I wouldn’t mind cooking up. Kinda in the same category as peaches. But in the rare instance that I have had access to some, I’d make a TON of apricot leather. I LOVE the flavour and unique ‘tart sweetness’ of apricots, and they’re a powerhouse of nutrition.
alone, or in combination with the tartness of rhubarb, the beautiful colour and natural sweetness of plums is a perfect choice for fruit leather
*Be brave and experiment. If it sounds good, and it tastes good together, then it might be the perfect marriage. Its all about making use of what you have on hand.
* Rhubarb is the perfect base for fruit leather. Beautifully tart, it is great alone, or mixed with berries or apple sauce. And its ever-plentiful, hardy in our climate. That’s hard to beat. If I’m looking for a beautiful red colour, I’ll add frozen or freeze dried cranberries. Sweeten only to taste, being careful not to loose the tartness that sets rhubarb apart.
Additional ingredients and what they’re used for:
Sugar or other sweetener: to personal taste. I am not normally a white sugar girl, but for fruit leather I find it is preferable to other sweeteners like stevia or brown sugars. Besides, sugar has preservative benefits too. Just be responsible with ‘how much’. Honey is great, but it adds its unique flavour to the fruit sauce, so make sure you like that flavour blend before you decide to use it.
rhubarb, the northern gardener’s best friend
Water or other liquid: to give it enough liquid to steam itself. Just enough, not too much. Remember, you’re dehydrating this. The more liquid to add, the more you need to dry out.
Lemon juice: to retain vibrant colour, and to add some tartness. I love the taste of lemon, and the tartness of it. It is perfect in so many combinations, especially those where flavours are being combined.
Recipe (remember there are no real, hard defined measurements). The recipe below is ONLY A GUIDE. I’m gonna use RHUBARB as my example. You can personally adjust for any other fruit, according to your own tastes and preferences.
Rhubarb Leather
1. freshly picked rhubarb, washed, chopped, and lightly simmered over low heat, till its soft enough to mash. Use water only to keep it from scorching (maybe 1/2 cup for every 4 cups of fruit), and keep the heat low. 2. sprinkle sugar over top to taste. 3. add enough lemon juice to keep colours vibrant. Could be a couple of tablespoons to a full cup – depending on how big your pot of rhubarb is. Lemon juice will keep the integrity of the colour, and will add a little zing to your flavour, but is NOT necessary. 4. mash cooked rhubarb with a potato masher to a nice consistency. I prefer this to puree’ing in the blender, because the texture is more interesting. 5. If you feel like the colour is lacking, add some red raspberries if you have them. 6. For colour: I keep on hand a good supply of frozen and/or freeze dried cranberries for the purpose of adding a gorgeous stable RED colour to my red jams and even fruit leathers. If you want your rhubarb a nicer, pinker to reddish colour, add a cup or two cranberries, and simmer with rhubarb till tender. Mash or puree (your choice), to incorporate well.
Now to dry: If you have a dehydrator, that’s my preference. If you do not, use the oven on VERY low, as low as your oven will allow. I’ll start with my first experience which was an oven.
OVEN – You need a flat surface, like a cookie sheet. Spread the sheet with a layer of plastic wrap, like saran wrap (NOT waxed paper – you’ll be sorry), or parchment paper. The saran wrap likes to stick together and its very annoying to lay it flat, but do it anyway. If you rush the job, you’ll only get more frustrated. If you have a flat silicone sheet, all the better. Its reusable and lays flat. Pour your prepared fruit sauce over top of your lined surface, and gently spread it out with the back of a spoon. Spread to about an inch from the edges. How thin? Just thick enough that you cannot see through it, about 1/8-1/4 inch.
Place in a warm oven that is set to the lowest temperature you can – which will probably be between 150-200 degrees. You’re wanting to dry the fruit sauce for as long as it takes to become a leathery, slightly tacky finished product. There are so many variables that will determine how long that should take. Check every hour or two, moving the pan slightly to promote even heat distribution. Be patient. You can’t rush this stage. My guess is anywhere from 9-12 hours. Personally, I don’t recommend leaving it over night because you’re not able to monitor sufficiently. Turn the oven off when you go to bed, and start the process over again in the morning. It doesn’t have to be babysat, just don’t leave it unattended for too many hours.
When you see that it is drying, gently touch it to see how soft or tacky it is. You don’t want any soft spots. When you think that its almost done, I recommend peeling it off the plastic, parchment or silicone sheet and flipping it upside down on the oven rack itself, for another hour or so. This lets air get all around it, and allows it to more evenly dry.
HOMEMADE DEHYDRATOR – In the height of my dehydrating days, when I had all the kids at home, Dan built me a large wooden dehydrator, almost as big as our freezer. He and our good friend Kevin Lamont worked together, as Kevin was also building one for his wife Diana. They heated them with in-car heaters which worked beautifully, moving just enough air and at a very suitable temperature. I used that dehydrator for many years, drying mostly fruits, fruit leather and herbs, but also experimenting with various vegetables. It was also a good place to make yogurt. By the time we moved to our present house, I was running our Bookstore fulltime and very busy in the early fall, getting ready for Christmas. I dehydrated less, and couldn’t justify the large floor space that my faithful dehydrator took. We found it another happy home, and moved on.
On a screened frame, lay out your plastic wrap, or parchment and pour your sauce over top spreading it with the back of a spoon. The nice thing about a big dehydrator is that you can do LOTS of fruit leather at one time. Check the progress every few hours, rotating racks to keep the heat and air more evenly distributed. My estimate is probably a good 12 – 24 hours, but again – so many variables. How full is the dehydrator? How wet and thick was your sauce? Heat and air flow? Be patient and don’t rush it. Just like with the oven, when you think its pretty much done, peel off the plastic wrap and flip it upside down on the screen for the last hour or so.
COUNTER TOP DEHYDRATOR – You can have as few as two or three racks in a counter top dehydrator, or as many as you want. That means you can easily dehydrate a small batch, or a huge batch of whatever you’re doing, and the foot print stays the same. Nice. In August or September, my dehydrator lives in my kitchen, and is often running for days at a time. I have about a dozen racks so I often dehydrate more than one type of food at a time, being careful to monitor the different time requirements. *hint: don’t put fruit and herbs in the drier at the same time unless you want oregano tinted fruit leather. But herbs and zucchini in the dehydrator at the same time are good companions.
There are some beautiful counter top dehydrators nowadays, that are easy to use, easy to regulate temperature, and easy to keep clean. Those are winning features in my books. You can also purchase plastic fruit-leather liners and screens for berries and herbs. I love that flexibility. I have six or eight reusable fruit leather liners, perfect for my use this time of year. Using the same method, I simply pour my sauce onto the liner, spreading out with the back of a spoon to the desired thickness.
fold or roll the finished fruit leather and store in an airtight bag or container
I can expect it to take about 24 hours, but again so many variables. How many racks? How wet is the sauce? And how thickly did I spread it out? Even, how humid is the air? If I put the fruit sauce into the dehydrator at night, I have no problem going to sleep with it on, but if I start the process in the morning, I wouldn’t risk it leaving it unattended overnight. I’d turn the dehydrator off when I went to bed, and start it again the next morning, so that I can keep an eye on the progress. As with the other two methods, when the leather is almost ready in my opinion, I’ll peel it from the liner and return to the rack upside down, for another hour or two or three, finishing the drying process to my satisfaction. *hint: when peeling the fruit leather from the plastic liner, it may be a little tricky. I use a firm plastic spatula to gently scrape the edges to get a good start.
Whichever method you use, the results will be very similar.
To store:
Do a final touch test to ensure the leather is dry enough – no sticky spots. Fold or roll up, and place in an airtight bag or container. Store in your pantry to have handy for regular use. Some store it in the fridge or freezer, but I’ve never done that. For one, my space is limited. And I am much more likely to lose it, and forget about it in the bottom of my freezer. LOL
packed away to store in the pantry within reach of little grandkid hands
When properly dried and package, you can expect your fruit leather to be optimum in your pantry for about a year. Preservation depends on their low moisture content of less than 25%, the natural acidity of the fruit and the sugar content. Don’t push it too long past a year though. It may appear the same, but the nutritional value will have been steadily diminishing from the time you made it. Though dehydrating may slow down the nutritional loss, it cannot prevent it. (Not even in the freezer)
I’ve known lots of people who cut their fruit leather into convenient strips to store. I think that’s great; I’ve just never done it. Mine is usually stored in the original size, and we just rip a piece off when we eat it.
The principle of food storage is sound and I wholely subscribe to it. I live by it. BUT the rule is simple: store what you eat, and eat what you store. Keeping your food storage rotated, means keeping it fresh, and that means keeping it nutritionally sound, and that should be important to us. So EAT the fruit leather you make. Give it to the kids as a healthy snack. Send it in their lunches. Bring it in the car for road trips. Don’t protect it in your pantry like some kind of rare treasure you’ll only bring to the light during some future zombie apocalypse. This is REAL life. And it tastes GOOD.
I hope this is of help to you. If you have yet to try your hand at making your own fruit leather, I really hope you’ll give it a try. You don’t need any special tools to begin, just an oven. The first time I made it (all those many years ago), I was excited to tell my sister about my new discovery. She asked how she’d be able to tell it was done, and I told her “when its dry, you just have to be your own judge”. She made it and then phoned and complained to me that it was terrible. It was like shoe leather. Who wanted to eat that? LOL *hint: stop drying it before it gets to the point of being so dry its like shoe leather. But its an experiment. You’re never gonna know till you try it yourself.
Have fun. I’d love to hear your experiences, your favourite ways of making fruit leather, and your favourite combinations.
