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Monday, 8 May 2017

Dehydrating Yakon

 On my never ending quest to dehydrate everything in sight after buying my new, pink, dehydrator last month I decided to quickly dehydrate he last of my yakon before it all went bad.
a rather goofy picture of me with some yakon
Last year was my first year growing this unusual tuber, and I wondered how it would do in storage, kept in my frost free shed it kept well over the whole winter and only in the middle of April did it start to rot from the broken ends or where it joined the main stem.
Dehydrating ti was simple, I pealed it, cut it into slices and laid them out on a tray, I think I dehydrated it on the vegetable setting for around 16 hours, so they're really dry and really chewy.



They taste like a sweetened parsnip when dry, I can't say that I'm a 100% fan but I'll happily eat one or two crisps when I pop the lid. The kids, on the other hand, go absolutely mad for them, wanting them as an after school snack when they get in from pick up, the great thing is that as sweet as they are they can't digest any of the sugar they contain so it won't send them loopy!

A good way to use this harvest up and something I'll certainly be doing again next year, in fact I'm going to plant extra with this in mind. 

10 comments:

  1. I have never heard of Yakon! There are a lot of veggies and herbs that I'm trying for the first time this year. I was never brave enough before lol...I'm glad you found a way to preserve them!

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    1. Yakon is a really interesting one that's easy to grow, give it a try!

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  2. Kev - i'm glad the kids have a snack they won't go loopy on. but you? that's whole nuther box of screws!!! bahahahahah! that's just something we say in cape breton. it's a compliment for ya buddy! we also say "yer all that AND a bag of chips". you'll know them as crisps. so buddy, you keep keepin' on with your yacons - bahahah! congrats on such a harvest and for dehydrating them with a purpose!

    sending love to you all and love seeing pics of you! and the family too! your friend,

    kymber

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    1. I'm always slightly loopy, although this week I certainly haven't got the energy I normally have - both me and my eldest girl have been poorly.

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  3. Be a bit careful - large quantities of these 'sweet' molecules that can't be digested can go through the system rather fast & in the link it does say that it can help cure constipation. This is a genuine, well understood side-effect of these 'sweeteners' often found in diet & diabetic products.

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    1. Haha - your comment reminded me of the sugarfree gummy bear reviews on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R3FTHSH0UNRHOH/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_viewpnt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B008JELLCA#R3FTHSH0UNRHOH). This shouldn't be so bad as it's not concentrated. I tend to only let them have a handful of crisps at a time.

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  4. I dehydrated some Yacon last month trying to use it up, i still have a few tubers to go think it will be a batch of syrup which is lovely on pancakes or waffles

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    1. I plan on making some syrup with this years batch. I think I'm going to put ten plants in and see how I do.

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    2. This sounds like so much fun to grow. I could only find one source for it and it was pretty pricey. :(

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  5. One of Cooking Granny's favorite dehydrated foods is Greek yogurt. fruit dehydrator

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