Dehydrating Frozen Broccoli

Frozen vegetables are perfect for dehydrating.  They've already been blanched prior to being frozen and you can usually just dump them out on your dehydrator tray frozen and start drying.  Super easy.  This weekend I dried some broccoli.  Broccoli is kind of large and thick straight out of the bag, so I let it sit on the counter and thaw a bit, then cut each larger chunk into 2-4 smaller pieces.  You'd want it smaller anyway when you're going to eat it, and exposing the center of the stalk makes it dry faster.

I loaded them on the dehydrator trays.  One big 56 oz (3 lb. 8 oz.) bag of broccoli florets filled three dehydrator trays.  Then I put the trays in the dehydrator.  Because of the bulk of the floret heads, I loaded the trays every other slot in my Excalibur dehydrator.  This is one of the benefits of this particular design of dehydrator--you can stick your trays in wherever you need to to accommodate whatever it is you're wanting to dry.

Then I ran the dehydrator overnight.  I didn't count the hours, but I wanted the broccoli good and dry.  They should be crispy, not leathery.  Here they are when they're done.  That empty spot is where hubby snitched one.  He likes to try out the dehydrated goods right off the tray.  These were "tasty, but the stem is pretty tough" in case you were wondering.

There you have it.  Super easy.  That whole giant bag filled three pint jars once it was dried.

And another shameless plug--I'm a dealer for the Excalibur dehydrators.  Let me know if you're interested in one.  I'll have a page up to order at some point, but in the meantime, just send me an email and I'll get you pricing.