Prep EPIC FAIL... I tried to dehydrate potatoes

[ghmerrill]

All I can say is eeeewwwwwwwwwww!

15 lbs of potatoes, shredded. Dehydrated. I was imagining something like the dried hash browns. What it turned out as is purple/blackish crumbly guck on my dehydrator screens. I'm sure the pigs will like it, but it sure does not look consumable by humans!

[Ernie]

Yikes. 15 pounds. My heart goes out to you.

Why would you dehydrate them in the first place though? Potatoes store pretty well, generally. If nothing else, can them in a stew? That's how I store the majority of mine.

[Browncoat]

Did you pre-treat them before you dried them? I boil mine with just a tad of lemon juice in the water, then slice, dice, cube or whatever to get them in the form I want them in. I've never had them turn black. Yet.

[Harry Chickpea]

Preserving potatoes outside of canning or freezing is odd. Stowe Vermont used to have an industry of it, before Maine and then Idaho took over potato production. They are put into vats and then the starch is somehow harvested (boiling and drying?) Potato flakes in boxes are just potato starch. Shelf life is OK but not great.

[Txsteader]

Did you blanch them first? If you add a little lemon juice, it'll help prevent them from turning dark.

Sorry you had back luck. Maybe try again with perhaps one potato, until you get the results you want, then do quantities.

[SquashNut]

I tryed cutting them in sloces and dipping them in vinegar water. they still turned black on me. Now I can them or buy dehydrated #10 cans of potatoes at the Cash & carry.

[unioncreek]

I think in the long run it would be cheaper to just buy dehydrated potatoes.

[moldy]

my best results came from blanching first, then soaking in water with lemon juice or vinegar before drying.

[mightybooboo]

Ive had no problems with them.But I did find a source cheap enough (Winco Bulk item) to buy em that it wasnt really worth it to do myself,but the home made ones arent full of chemicals either.

Whatever,I eat a lot of chems as it is if it comes down to survival I will eat the store bought versions for sure.

[calliemoonbeam]

Originally Posted by moldy

my best results came from blanching first, then soaking in water with lemon juice or vinegar before drying.

What Moldy said. I don't have any trouble doing slices or cubes this way, but I've never actually done hash browns. I know they build up a lot of gluten even just to shred and cook regularly if you don't rinse them first, so maybe that was part of the problem? Then you'd also need to spread them out pretty thin on the dehydrator trays, not in bunches or clumps.

[ghmerrill]

I thought about re hydrating them and seeing if I could make mashed potatoes out of them....I could just imagine the response from wife and kids though....


Guess I should have done some research first, but I didn't think it would be hard! Got the taters cheap, but the hour I spent processing them....


I guess canning is the way to go. With the cost of canning jars, I was hoping to bypass them, at least for one item!

[NickieL]

The starch is what makes it turn colors. I soak mine while I'm cutting/shredding in water, then I blanch it quickly and into the ice water. Strait from the ice water, into the dehydrator...never had that problem of them turning icky.

I use my dehydrated potoates when I am camping

[Terri]

I ALSO heard that the starch must be rinsed off, or it will turn black. I never have tried it: it is just what I have heard.

[Spinner]

Glad you got them cheap, but it still hurts to lose a batch. Here's how I dehydrate potatoes and they've always turned out fine.

Peal & slice. Drop into boiling water for 5 min. Drain & cool. Mix 1/2 cup lemon juice with 4 cups water. Dip and put on dehydrator trays.

If I'm using the oven, I leave them in overnight, if using the electric dehydrator, I do them about 10 to 12 hours (depending on weather.)

I haven't done them shredded, but I will try that this year. What I've done is either sliced or mashed. The mashed ones get dried on a solid surface, then get broken up (like peanut brittle.)

[titiana]

best resource for dehydrating food that I've found is http://www.dehydrate2store.com/
She dehydrates all vegtables and fruit.

This is the link for potatoes http://www.dehydrate2store.com/videos/?id=21

To sum it up, she says to cook all the way through, but not falling apart, cool, and then slice or grate and dehydrate.

[Texasdirtdigger]

Yep..... Check out the site that titiana posted..... she'll show you exactly how to dehydrate.....the no fail way!! Good Luck!!

[Ohio dreamer]

Thanks, I never could figure out how to do hash browns, I always dry sliced potatoes. Maybe I will pick up that 50# sack of potatoes and do them up while waiting for the garden to grow in.

[ghmerrill]

Great info! Thanks! Looks like I'm going to try another SMALL batch soon....

[halfpint]

Although I've dehydrated potatoes and with blanching and lemon juice did not have any blackening, I've found them cheaper to purchase than to dehydrate myself. For hash browns I usually purchase these when on sale (about $14 per bag last time on sale) http://beprepared.com/product.asp_Q_...206%20lb%20Bag
I've found that for each ounce of potatoes you get about 6 ounces (6x) the amount of potatoes. So 6 lbs dried is about the equivalent of 36 lbs of potatoes.

I do dehydrate sweet potatoes though and we prefer home made chips both from regular and sweet potatoes.

Dawn
Dawn