Dried vegetables and spice blends

In short

• Vegetables are dried at 50–60 °C (120–140 °F) and leafy herbs (parsley, celery leaf, dill) at 35–40 °C (95–105 °F), until they are brittle and snap, not bendy.
• 1 kg of fresh vegetables leaves roughly 50–150 g dried (garlic about 330 g).
• Before packing, 7–10 days of conditioning in a jar: it reveals leftover moisture.
• Never grind mouldy peppers or vegetables, not even partly; mould produces toxins that drying doesn't destroy.
• Spices in a dark, tightly closed jar; ground paprika is best in its first 6–12 months.

What's inside

Chapters

1. What to dry for the kitchen
2. Drying vegetables: the basics
3. Recipe: dry vegetable stock powder
4. Recipe: wet (salted) stock base
5. Ground paprika: sweet and hot
6. Onion, garlic and tomato powder
7. Spice blends
8. Dried vegetables for soups and broths
9. Packing and storage
10. Common mistakes
11. Printable checklist

Worksheets

• Drying and spice calendar
• Dry weight and salt calculator
• Drying log
• Spice inventory
• My blends