by Texas Homesteader ~
Remember recently I ended up with a boatload of fresh carrots? Now there was no way to consume that many carrots before they went bad.
So I was frantically sharing as many as I could with friends, family & neighbors but there were Still. So. Many. Carrots.
So I dehydrated a huge bunch of them so I could enjoy them all winter long in our hot soups & stews. (you can read about dehydrating carrots here)
These dehydrated carrots look awesome in my pantry in shining glass jars. And they take no additional energy to store such as a refrigerator or freezer.
But I wanted to know how they would taste if I reconstituted them to enjoy as a veggie side dish. Let’s check it out, shall we?
How To Cook Dehydrated Carrots
It’s easy to rehydrate carrots that have been dehydrated. Just remember to more-than double the measure of water to carrots. (I typically use 2.25 cups of boiling water for each cup of cooked carrots)
Then boil the water & pour the boiling water over the dehydrated carrots. All that’s left to do is just allow them to sit & rehydrate for about 15-20 minutes.
1 cup of dehydrated carrots will typically rehydrate into about 2 cups. So I took a shortcut – I measured 2-1/4 cups water in my large glass measuring cup & microwaved it until it was boiling.
Then I poured in 1 cup of dehydrated carrots and gave it all a stir to make sure the carrots were all in contact with the water. I decided to stir in about 1/4 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary too for extra flavor. Finally I covered it all with a hot pad to keep the steamy goodness going.
20 minutes later? Voila! I add a small pat of butter and our veggie side dish is ready.
I will say I was surprised that the sliced carrots didn’t flatten out more when rehydrated. There remained a slight curl to the carrots.
So although they tasted fine, keep in mind that rehydrated carrots won’t look exactly like the fresh counterpart.
But it looks like we’ll be able to enjoy carrots all winter long. Not only in soups & stews, but as a delicious side dish as well.
~TxH~
Other Dehydrating Posts
- Preserving The Harvest: Dehydrating Fresh Carrots
- Dehydrating Tomato Sauce Into Leather For Pizza
- Cubed Tomatoes Dehydrated For Winter Cooking
- Dehydrating Fresh Pumpkin For Easy Storage
- Dehydrating Spinach To Enjoy All Year Long
- Using A Dehydrator To Preserve Fresh Onions
- Dehydrating & Storing Cabbage
- A Solar Oven Dehydrates Jalapenos
- Bell Pepper Dehydration
- Using A Solar Oven To Dehydrate Garden Produce
- Using It ALL – Dehydrating & Powdering Tomato Skins
- How To Make Dehydrated Blueberry Powder
- Dehydrating Plums
See All Our Dehydrating Posts
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Were they soft….or were they “chewy”….just curious.
Thanks….Debra
I didn’t notice anything different about the texture compared to carrots cooked any other way, Debra. I typically don’t slice them as thin as I did with my food processor prior to dehydrating though. So the rehydrated rounds were thinner than I typically enjoy when just cutting with a knife and cooking. I’ll be experimenting with the cubed dehydrated carrots next to see how they rehydrate. ~TxH~
I’ve never had rehydrated carrots return to their original shape; they always have a bit of curl and scallop, even if I cook them all day in a soup!
The carrots look great–what a great idea to dehydrate them for later!
A while back I dehydrated a ton of celery, without blanching, it was fabulous for quick soups and stews, but, it was too chewy for “fresh” applications.
I wonder if carrots need blanching so they rehydrate to a tender, not tough consistency?
Love the blog– FABULOUS TESTED IDEAS…and fun to boot!
What a sweet comment, MeanJean – thanks! You may be right about the reason behind blanching. I was talking to my dad recently about dehdyrating and he asked if I thought food tasted the same before & after dehydrating. I told him I felt food always tasted pretty much the same, although the texture often is not exactly the same no matter how you preserve – canning, freezing, dehydrating. But if you’re using those dehydrated veggies in soups & stews I don’t really see a difference at all. ~TxH~
How frugal! They look tasty too.
They look really good!!
I think 1 cup of dehydrated carrots rehydrated into way more than we could eat, Wanda. (actually for TWO meals!) So in the future I’ll be rehydrating a smaller amount. The last of the leftover carrots will be added to my homemade chicken & dumplings tonight. Perfect! ~TxH~