Dehydrating Potatoes

When I grew potatoes a couple years ago, I grew far more than I needed and unfortunately many of them went to waste.  Last year I cut back how many potatoes that I planted and I think I have more closely matched how much I will actually use in a year, but I still have a few more than I will not be able to use before they start to go bad.  Some of them will be used to plant my garden again in the spring, but in the meantime they were starting to look a little wrinkly and they had begun sprouting.  In an effort to reduce wasting them this year I wanted to attempt dehydrating some to see if I can supplement my home made backpacking meals.

I started by cleaning and peeling a bunch of smaller potatoes.  The majority of them were my Purple Viking potatoes, but I still had quite a few Yukon Gold, so I did a bunch of those as well.  Each potato was then cubed and then dunked into a bowl of cold water while I accumulated enough for a round.  

The next step is to blanch the cubed potatoes in boiling water for a few minutes.  This will help to neutralize the starches in the potatoes and help them to retain a nice color while they dry.  I wait long enough that they are partially cooked so they hold up better when rehydrating them.  They will finish the cooking process after they are reconstituted. 

After blanching they get an ice water bath until they are fully cooled and then they are drained for a few minutes before I spread them on a dehydrator tray.

Several pounds of potatoes dried down to a few ounces of potato pieces that will keep for a very long time in a mason jar.  When I want to use them I only need to add boiling water to them and let them sit for a little while before I cook them up.  They should make a welcome addition to my camping dinners and I look forward to using them on camping trips this summer.