Dried Asparagus

by | Recipes

dried asparagus

Many people really like asparagus – they cut it and place it into various meal servings, or store them in the freezers and use them later. There are many methods for making different dishes out of this veggie, and we’re about to show you one that involves using a dehydrator – it is quick and easy, and we’re pretty sure that you’ll like the results. Let’s have a detailed look at the whole process:

Preparation:

1. The first thing to do here is, of course, to wash the asparagus as carefully as possible, as you don’t want you meals spiced up with any sorts of chemicals or dirt. Once they’re clean, take a sharp knife and cut off the tough ends, leaving only the soft shafts.
2. Don’t leave the knife yet – at this point, you will have to cut the stalks into smaller pieces. One inch of length per piece should be enough, but you can go a bit bigger or smaller if you like.
3. The next step involves blanching. Take all those little pieces of asparagus that you cut and blanch them in a hot water bath for at least three minutes, and then move them into the ice-cold water in order to avoid the cooking process. A word of advice – when it comes to boiling, the three-minute timer starts when the boiling begins, not when you put the chunks into the water.

4. The final part of the recipe is the dehydration itself. Lay the chunks of asparagus in single layers onto your trays, and dry them in the dehydrator for at least 12 hours. Make sure to rotate the trays now and then, moving the ones that were closest to heat back to the top, in order to achieve the even drying. Once they’re done, your pieces of dried asparagus’ will be ready for storage.

How to Use the Dried Asparagus

If you’d like to cook your dehydrated asparagus, make sure to soak them in water for at least 15 minutes. In that way, their tips will become supple and will plump up.

You can use whole chunks in your stews and soups, but always add some additional water to your recipes for the rehydration. It’s not a good idea to put the dry pieces in the stew pot since you’ll have to make additional adjustments to your soup recipe, which almost certainly requires the rehydrated asparagus.

dehydrated asparagus
You can also grind the dried chunks into a fine powder that you’ll be able to use as a quality base for soups and stews later. You don’t need any kind of professional grinder for this process – a simple coffee grinder works the best! Also, let’s not forget that the dried asparagus is a pretty great choice for the cream soups, but don’t forget to sift it and thus get the stubborn pieces out.

As you can see, the whole process of drying and cooking the asparagus is very easy – and we can assure you that the result is absolutely delicious!

2 Comments

  1. fred
    fred on March 18, 2019 at 3:42 pm

    I usually rinse / soak asparagus left-over peelings & pieces in water sterilized with a sprinkle of salt and vinegar…… then slice open scraps & pieces to expose inner pulp, then dry in dehydrator at 135 deg f (without pre-cooking) for 16-20 hours or until dry enough to grind into powder with coffee-grinder. Stores well in left-over jars…..

    Powdered asparagus makes great soup using white beans ground into paste, to make cream-of-asparagus soup etc.

    Reply
    • Jodi
      Jodi on March 5, 2020 at 3:03 pm

      thanks fred, asparagus is on sale and I want to process lots**without freezer for longer storage life and i usually avoid the blanch process if the outcome is near the same!

      Reply

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