Dehydrating potatos (HELP)!

[NappturalBeauty1980]

Hello,

I just bought a dehydrator and I have tried 2 times to dehydrate potatos and it didnt work. They end up turning black! Any suggestions would be extremely helpful.

Thank you!

[Stargazer2]

The only time I've had dehydrated potatoes was when friends made a kind of chip out of them; they tossed them with a mixture of olive oil and lemon juice mixed with a couple of spices, and then spread them out in a single layer to dry. If you are just trying to do plain potatoes, I'm not sure that will work unless perhaps soaking them first might help? My guess is that the oil helps because of keeping out the contact with the air, preventing oxidation, and the ascorbic acid in the lemon would help retain the color as well.

Peace,
Valerie

[Rawkinlocs]

Stargazer,

Did they taste starchy this way? I've tried a few times to dehydrate potato chips and they always end up tasting too starchy. I also tried soaking in apple cider vinegar but they were still too starchy for my tastes.

How did they turn out with the olive oil and lemon?

[Jennalle1771]

I tried to dehydrate potato and I had soaked it in Apple cider vinager and sea salt. i found that they were very starchy too. I remember reading another post and it seemed that not many people have had luck with dehydrating potatoes. So I just sort of assumed that they don't dehydrate well. I was thinking about maybe dehydrating jicamma. In alissa's book she has a "potato salad" that is made with jicamma instead of potato so it makes me wonder if jicamma would work better dehydrated.

[smasty]

Yep, ditto, too starchy.

[Smileen]

You might have better luck with sweet potatoes. I made a batch using the saladacco for thin slices. I added celtic sea salt, but unfortunately added too much! I found a few slices that weren't too salty and they came out pretty well.

[yeahbethany]

Over the summer, Matt made some amazing zucchinni chips! He sliced them in the food processor (you have to slice them thicker than you would potatoes because they dehydrate down to nothing!), tossed them with...let's see if I can remember...I think it was coconut oil, garlic powder, celtic salt, dried dill, and a splash of apple cider vinegar. Dehydrate till crispy...They were soooooooo delicious.

[Rawkinlocs]

Over the summer, Matt made some amazing zucchinni chips! He sliced them in the food processor (you have to slice them thicker than you would potatoes because they dehydrate down to nothing!), tossed them with...let's see if I can remember...I think it was coconut oil, garlic powder, celtic salt, dried dill, and a splash of apple cider vinegar. Dehydrate till crispy...They were soooooooo delicious.

Re-heh-heeleeee...hmmm, might have to try this, thanks!

[yeahbethany]

They get nice and potato-chip-greasy from the coconut oil....=)

[Stargazer2]

Sorry I didn't answer earlier, haven't been much on the computer since Friday. RE: STarchiness, I think it depended on the kind of potato you used; she used new red potatoes which dried very crisp and light, but a friend used russets later and they did not work so well. I have to say I've not been crazy about them no matter where I've encountered them, so I don't try to make them myself now.

Peace,
Valerie

[Rawkinlocs]

Thanks Stargazer! I red one place else about using red potatoes so I will try that next and see how they turn out.

[Olive]

ooooooh Bethany, those sound fantastic! I just happen to have an extra lonely zucchini in my fridge right now!

I've heard that if you dehydrate jicama, it just gets kind of crumbly instead of chip like.

Anybody dehydrate carrot chips? What about taro root, beets or other veggies? I got a tip from someone yesterday that orange slices are awesome dehydrated--sort of chewy and candy-ish! I'm going to pop an orange in the dehydrator along with my zucchini, so I'll report back!

[Sincerely Sandy]

Potatoes need to be dried slower than most things and should also be dried at a lower temperature. If they are turning black it is probably because of too high a temperature.

[Granny in Texas]

I do a lot of dehydrating and here is how I do it. Potatoes are tricky. The best way I've found is first wash and scrub the potatoes, peel, then wash again in cold faucet water. I slice mine in circles using a food processor. You will find a lot of starch in the bowl with the slices of potatoes. Rinse all the starch off until the water runs clear. In another large bowl pour 1/2 bottle (or more if necessary) of bottled lemon juice. The brands matter -- get the top brand of lemon juice. Now take your washed potato slices and put them in the lemon juice, swish the slices around and let them sit in the lemon juice 5 minutes or so. Dip the slices out of the lemon juice and drain on a towel for a few minutes. Don't use paper towels. The paper will stick to the potato slices. Now arrange the slices on your dehydrator trays and don't let the slices touch and don't pile the slices on top of each other. Make it neat so the air flow can get around the slices. Now put your trays in the dehydrator and dehydrate overnight. In the morning, turn the slices over and dehdrate all day. Depending on the weather and the kind of dehydrator you use, and the kind of potatoes you are dehydrating, it could take more time for dehydrating. I also rotate my trays, not only rotating them but turning each in different positions. I have five inexpensive dehydrators I bought from Harbor Freight and two dehydrators I got from a resale shop. I usually do between 50 and 100 lbs of food at a time. The lemon juice is the very best I've found for all vegetables. I've tried steaming, boiling, pineapple juice and vinegar and none worked anywhere near as well as the lemon juice. Wear gloves, though, because the lemon juice will hurt your hands while you are doing all the prep work. Also, I store all my dehydrated foods in jars, vac seal bags or zipper lock bags. Make sure also that you break one of your potato slices to make sure the center got dehydrated and slices need to be cut all the same. Make sure all potato slices are completely dry. The potatoes I've done always retain a pretty white color and they taste very good when cooked. Hope this helps!

[Granny in Texas]

I dehydrate carrots. I wash, slice, soak in lemon juice, then arrange on the trays and dehydrate. Carrots shrivel when dehydrated but return to normal when rehydrated. If you get new crop carrots (or new crop oranges, grapefruit, lemons and limes), they won't turn dark from dehydrating and yes they are really good. I've heard that you can make chips from carrots, potatoes and corn flour in your dehydrator. Cook your carrots and potatoes together, mash, roll out or smear on your smooth trays or line your trays with plastic wrap and dehydrate. Don't know how good it is, I haven't tried it. Hikers make a lot of it and seem to like it fine. To make sweet potato chips, wash, boil and peel them. Slice in circles, then roll out with a rolling pin and then dehydrate. I always do lemon juice treatment on everything I dehydrate except citrus fruit.

Since I do such big quantities for my family now, one problem I've had is I'm not getting new crop or fresh crop produce a lot of the time and it doesn't dehydrate as nice. The foods aren't soft or rotten or bad looking or anything, so I don't know how long they've been in the store -- until I dehydrate them. I do buy grocery sales and Farmer's Market. I have much better luck with Farmer's Market bulk produce. Now I do test dehydrating to determine what I've got, and if it's not new crop I'll go ahead and pressure can the food rather than dehydrate.