Enough Zucchini (Maybe)

[hrj]

The zucchini experiments continue apace! I seem to have achieved a delightful "BBQ-flavor zucchini chip" product using the forced-air food dryer.

Flavor mix: equal quantities onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, and Trader Joe's mushroom/umami powder

Prep: slice zucchini crosswise (ideally using a mandolin-type cutter for uniformity) into ca. 2-3mm thick slices. Lightly oil the food dryer racks (run an olive-oil soaked paper towel over the upper surface). Place the slices on the racks and sprinkle with the flavor mix.

Dry: I used the "vegetable" setting of 135F. I did the first batch overnight because that's when I'd set it up, but the second batch I started in the morning and they were done within 3-4 hours.

Result: Crisp and crunchy and definitely have the "BBQ chip" flavor. I wasn't actually aiming for that specific flavor, just tossing together some spices that seemed likely to work. I may do a "sour cream and onion" batch using Ranch dressing mix. The zucchini itself adds a bit of tang, but isn't strongly present.

Evaluation: This is a definite success for "something to do with zucchini if you have extra." As a manual process, it's rather a bit of work just to create a lo-cal crunchy snack, but it definitely is a success for that too. It would definitely work as a way of preserving zucchini for later use, but is less efficient than pureed-and-frozen.

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Today's tea is a sample of Ippodo Hojicha, courtesy of Gurdymonkey. (I've never yet figured out how to get DW to do user tags.) This is a "toasted green tea". Per the suggestion, I used the whole 4g I was sent in one pot, in boiling water, steeped for 1 minute. (I used a strainer to cut off the steeping time.)

The dry aroma is very faint, hard to call it much of anything at all. When steeped, the aroma is definitely "toasted", sort of like those toasted rice brews. In the cup, it has the lightness of a green tea but a more solid body of "toasted flavor" -- don't know what else to call it. Very refreshing and more *umph* than an ordinary green. This may sound lazy, but I don't have to concentrate as hard to appreciate it as I feel like I need to for regular greens. (I think I'm intimidated by green teas. That's one reason I've been trying more of them.) Definitely no bitterness. I don't know what longer steeping might do, but I don't feel the need to try. Part of that may be that the particle size was fairly small (not whole leaves, I guess because the toasting makes it brittle?).

I'll definitely follow up and get more of this. Thanks, Gurdymonkey!

Comments

[gurdymonkey]

That tea is about a year old, so the aroma is not as strong as a new package would be. A fresh package should have a bit more of the roasted scent to it.

You could also try it as a cold brew.

[sporky_rat]

Gurdymonkey. (I've never yet figured out how to get DW to do user tags.)

Depending on which update page you're using, you can set it to Markdown text and put an @ in front of the name.

[kareina]

"It would definitely work as a way of preserving zucchini for later use, but is less efficient than pureed-and-frozen."

Less efficient today, but to my mind such things are worth doing as one never knows when something might happen to either the power to the house, or the freezer itself, so having some veg in the pantry that doesn't rely on being frozen is a nice backup.

[hrj]

I'm not operating on that level of homesteader self-sufficiency!

[hrj]

Testing sporky_rat's suggestion for how to tag people.