Celery and rhubarb might seem like odd choices to freeze-dry in our Harvest Right Freeze-Dryer. But hear me out here. Both are underrated ingredients to be used. Freeze-dried celery can be crumbled into small dices, and added to many meals for a boost of green. Rhubarb can be made into a tart sauce, to have over pancakes, in just a few minutes.
And let’s be honest…..I grow both really well on our homestead. The cool start to the 2023 growing season had both growing well. I harvested an entire work table of celery in July. I never need a lot of it at any point in the kitchen, even at Thanksgiving. Just here and there I need a stalk or two, in both trail recipes and at home cooking. So why not preserve it? Now I have a year’s worth that I can use as needed, with no waste.
Celery:
Trim the bundles of celery, removing the top part with leaves, setting aside. I cut the bottom off, then put all the stalks of celery in a sink of cold water to wash any soil off. The upper parts I had cut off I pulled the leaves off and then tossed those tiny “stalks” in as well.
Should you like celery leaves, those can be washed, spun dry in a lettuce spinner. They can then be dehydrated in a food dehydrator. It will only take 1-2 hours for that to happen. They are great to add to stuffing come the holidays.
Drain the celery stalks, shop into thin slices.
Lay flat on cookie trays, and put in the freezer till frozen. At that point I transfer to bags, and wait till I have enough frozen to do a run in our Large Harvest Right freeze-dryer.
Rhubarb:
Trim off the leaf, it it has it attached, trim off the bottom end if need be. Wash in a sink full of cold water, to remove any dirt on them.
Drain the stalks, chop into thin wedges.
Lay flat on cookie trays, and put in the freezer till frozen. At that point I transfer to bags, and wait till I have enough frozen to do a run in our Large Harvest Right freeze-dryer.
For Both:
Spread in freeze-dryer trays, filling the trays well. We added an extra 12 hours to the dry time, as I have found items like this need more time. As in produce that has ribs. It hides the moisture well, deep inside. So just start off with extra time to be sure.
Once fully dry, remove and bag up immediately, adding in an oxygen absorber packet in each bag. Seal fully. Mark what is in the bag, and what day you did it on.
~Sarah