I’m trying to increase my side dish selections to go with fish as the main course. Has anybody ever tried dehydrating collard greens? If so, how did it turn out? I’ll be giving this a whirl in the next week (at least the cooking and dehydrating part).

Hex

I've never dehydrated collard greens, but I assume you do them just like you would Kale chips. Pull the leaf from the stem and dehydrate around 150 for 4-6 hours or so. We do kale chips like that in the oven with a little olive oil. I'd leave out the oil.

Another option might be to steam them and then dehydrate.

Interesting idea with collards. I've never thought about that before. We plant turnips in the garden for the greens. I may try to figure out how to use them in dehydrated meals.

The problem I've had with dried greens is that they are pretty fragile. And they don't pack tighly unless you smash them quite a bit.

I've had success blanching (30sec) and dehydrating kale. It's tough enough to hold some of its shape. I usually mix the kale flakes with something bland like couscous - lessens the punch of the kale. The dried kale might work well in an ova-easy egg omelet - if I make a bag of dried kale and freeze it my family steals it all for that. Eggs, kale, parmesan, maybe bacon bits.

I've also had success blanching (30sec) and lightly chopping spinach in a blender with some tomato sauce and water. Then spread that liquid on deydrator liquid teay and dry it (don't be afraid to add liquid. It actually makes the concoction dry faster because you can spread thinner). You can mix that dried mixture with cooked and dehydrated chickpeas/garbonzo beans. I forget what I added for spices, but there are lots of Indian chickpea spinach curries on the web.

I am planning on doing traditional collards slow cooked with bacon, onion, and garlic and chicken broth. I'm just curious if they turn out OK texture wise when reydrated or if I'll be feeding my companions green slime.

Hex