Dried Fertmented Veggies

[dogmom327]

Okay I'm weird...I had a dream last night that I dried sauerkraut. I have no idea why I was doing that (in the dream)--possibly an unhealthy love for my dehydrator.

This got me thinking though, has anyone every dehydrated fermented veggies? I'm thinking maybe at a nice low temp (not above 110 or 115 so they would still be raw)? Maybe some sliced carrot chips? Sauerkraut as a crunchy addition to a salad?

[FairyRae]

Love this idea dogmom--and totally want to make my own dried ginger carrots now! If only I could be sure using my oven (lowest temp 200, although w/ the door open maybe lower?) wouldn't kill the good buggies.

If you do try it, let us know how they turn out!! I'd be willing to do this too! Sounds yummy!

You know you have a serious passion for fermentation when it enters your dreams...

[Magelet]

As fairyrae mentioned the "good buggies",(love that term ) I had a thought about this. I'm not sure it would work. (or at least, I'm not sure it would remain pro-biotic).

The reason to dry food to preserve it is because bacteria need the moisture of a wet enviroment and when there is no moisture, there isn't bacteria (why salted meat works too, it draws the moisture out so the bacteria can't get in). So.... one could suppose that the good buggies might not be able to survive the drying process/being dried, even if the temp was low enough.

However, you would presumably still have the other benefits of fermented veggies (better absorption of nutrients). So say dried kraut might not have good buggies, but it will have more accessible vit. c and maybe taste a little sour.