Dehydrating Celery
It seems our family rarely uses and entire bunch of fresh celery before it turns limp and yucky. I’m not sure why this happens, but I think it has something to do with the clutttered state of our refrigerator. As a result, I started dehydrating any fresh celery I have left after I use it for a veggie platter or recipe. It’s a snap to dehydrate, requiring no blanching, and it rehydrates beautifully in soups, casseroles, and pilafs. If you have never dehydrated it’s a perfect place to start.
First wash the celery and chop it into quarter inch pieces.
Place it in the dehydrator trays making sure pieces aren’t too crowded. Ideally they shouldn’t touch, but I don’t stress this too much since they shrink so fast that if they are touching they won’t be after an hour or so.
Dehydrate at 135 degrees for about 8 hours. I leave it in the dehydrator overnight.
One bunch, minus two or three stalks we used fresh, makes about half a pint. If you don’t have a dehydrator you can use the oven on the lowest setting with the door propped open with a wood spoon handle, and check and stir the pieces now and then. You know it’s done when its hard and the pieces are tiny. I put mine in a closed canning jar for a couple hours to check if any moisture forms in the jar, if no moisture forms it’s ready for the pantry. If it does (has never happened to me) you can put it back in the dehydrator for another hour or two. To use it you just add a handful to any moist cooked recipe that calls for fresh celery. Yummy!
Maugi, excellent advice as celery adds a lot of flavor and texture. How long does it take to rehydrate when added to hot dish? I don’t have dehydrator…broke.