Drying Kale

I love the nutritional benefits of kale the the actual act of eating it for me leaves a little something to be desired. I blanched and froze a bunch of it last year and while we did eat it this winter I always wrinkled my nose a little when we would have it. I am not sure if it was to mature but it is always way to fibrous for me to truly enjoy. This year I thought, "there has to be a better way!"

I got to talking to one of the farmers at our farmers market and she said to try drying it and putting it is soups and stews. Ok, here goes nothing.

First I harvested the larger outer leaves of the kale, saving the smaller inner leaves for a later harvest.
Then I brought them in and rinsed them (ok, actually I didn't rinse them but YOU should. We had just had a good rain and they were clean anyway)

Then I started to de-rib them and put the leafy part in my steamer. You need to blanch them before you dry them the same as you would if you were going to freeze them.

Once my steam baskets were full I steam blanched the kale for about 3-4 mins

I love my bamboo steamer, It works great for these types of things. Once the 3-4 mins was over I laid the steamed kale leaves on the trays of my dehydrator.

I have an Excalibur dehydrator so it really does not take long to dehydrating things. I only let it run for like 4-5 hours and it was dry as a bone.

There you have it, a "how to" on drying kale. I will do an update post when I actually make something with it.

So tell me, have you ever dried kale? Or what is your favorite kale recipe?

Homestead Barn Hope #69

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