# Dehydrating beets



## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I've been looking for recipes for dehydrating beets and beet greens.

Is it necessary to boil them before dehydrating? I'll be using them for boiled cabbage dinner.


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## BlackFeather (Jun 17, 2014)

Yes, cook your beets, cool them and slice them and dehydrate them. You can eat them as beet chips and they are pretty good.
I haven't tried dehydrating the greens, I usually cook them down and freeze them to put into spinach lasagna or make spinach bread out of them. (I know they aren't spinach but any green works in place of other)


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Thanks. What if you don't cook them before dehydrating? My neighbor cooks them, slices and then freezes them.

They will get cooked along with the cabbage later.


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## BlackFeather (Jun 17, 2014)

Never tried not cooking them as they are much harder to slice and slice thin, re cooking them shouldn't hurt since as you recook them they will absorb the water and rehydrate.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I did the second load uncooked. We'll see if there is a difference. I only use them in boiled cabbage dinner so they will be cooked before eating.

I'm drying some leaves and stems now. They were hung up for a couple of days before going into the dehydrator.


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## pmondo (Oct 6, 2007)

how did the beets turn out? I would like to try it too


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I haven't tried them yet but will be making some boiled cabbage soon.


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

You are supposed to steam (or boil) them before dehydrating in order to slip the skins. The skins are tough, so you want to remove them.


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## light rain (Jan 14, 2013)

A friend of mine cooks them without anything on them in the microwave. She says the skin on them while cooking holds in the flavor.

If you eat a lot of beets chips does your mouth turn pink?

I have read recently that eating beats help folks with chronic heart failure. Something about nitric acid...


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I don't skin them when I use them fresh in boiled dinner. I just chop them into cubes and toss them into the pot. I use the stems and leaves too.


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## mistletoad (Apr 17, 2003)

light rain said:


> If you eat a lot of beets chips does your mouth turn pink?


It's not just your mouth that turns pink! lol


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## Marcia in MT (May 11, 2002)

The greens don't need any pre-treatment before being dried. I also dry kale and chard. I use a dehydrator.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I finally put a kettle of cabbage, (uncooked) dried beets and stems, carrots and onions on the stove. The water turned purple in less than 2 minutes.

The dried beet chips were really tough to break with my bare hands and they were sliced pretty thin for drying. I think you would need to put them in a steel cylinder to break them up. They might do bad things to a blender.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

The dried (uncooked) beets came out of the cooker just fine. They even retained some texture and didn't mush out like to potatoes.

I won't bother cooking them before drying any more.


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