I posted about dehydrating zucchini and mentioned that they got quickly eaten up as chips. I didn’t initially make them with the intent that they’d be used for a snack, and I don’t want to leave you with the assumption that it’s all they are good for!
Here are some other ways you can use dehydrated zucchini slices – they are good in soups, stews, or tomato sauce. I’ve seen it suggested to dust them with cinnamon sugar, and they then taste like apple chips (slice them 1/4 inch thick, peel them and take out seeds to make this). Even when eaten plain, they have a sweet-ish flavor, as the natural sweetness is concentrated by the dehydrating process.
When sliced length-wise, they can be used in place of lasagna noodles when making lasagna, or to replace the eggplant in eggplant parmesan. You can rehydrate them before using for the lasagna or parmesan, but I’d find them easier to handle by using them dried and then adding extra liquid to the recipe so they’d rehydrate when cooking.
If they are shredded before dehydrating, you can use them in muffins or quick breads – just add a little extra liquid to the recipe you’re making.
Like other dried vegetables, they can be dried and then whizzed in the blender to make a powder. If you do this, you can easily add a nice flavor to your soups or stews, along with great nutrition, without any signs of vegetables (for kids who are averse to eating veggies).
I’d bet that you could candy them, but that’s just a guess – it’s the kind of thing you could play with by coating them with honey before drying them, and seeing what happened. Because zucchini has a bland flavor, it can be used in a lot more ways than something with a much stronger flavor.
Avivah
