Dehydrating Okra-Great for Frying and Gumbo

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Okra is a staple crop that we grow yearly. My main uses for okra are for frying and gumbo. So dehydrating okra for us was the way to go this year. I have canned it in the past, but my favorite way to preserve it is by far dehydrating it.

Before I start prepping I always turn my dehydrator on and let it heat up. For okra is needs to dry at 125 degrees.

Always give your veggies a good rinse to clean off any bugs or dirt. Now, you can prep your okra two different ways. One way is to put your okra in a strainer, and pour boiling water over it. The other is just cut it up. I prefer to just cut it up. It is less of a mess.

Cut of the ends of the okra and cut it into however you prefer. Place it onto your trays and put them in your heated dehydrator.

Okra will take around 8-10 hours to dry. It will be extremely brittle and should crush easily. If it is not, put it back in to dry longer.

Always remember that you may have to remove it and let it come to room temp (2-3 minutes) before you can really know if it is dry.

When it is dry, place the okra in an air tight container, and be sure to condition it for a few days. If you do not know what conditioning is, be sure to check out my YouTube video. Here I explain how to properly condition your dehydrated foods.

I had so much okra dehydrated this year, that I vacuumed saved some of my jars. I don’t always do this. It isn’t something that you have to do, unless you plan on keeping your jars for a year or longer. I have about 4 half gallon jars full and a few small jars. So I decided to vacuum seal my half gallon jars. If you place your dehydrated okra into bags, you may not want to vacuum seal them. They could get crushed. When I vacuum seal my jars I do place and oxygen absorber pack in them.

I bought my 1/2 gallon jars from Tractor Supply. I believe they were around 10-12 dollars for 6. I went to amazon to link up some, but the prices are absurd. Check your local Tractor Supply, Wal-Mart, or Royal King for jars.

Now you may be asking how to you use dehydrated okra. Believe it or not, but you can rehydrate it and fry it up!! You can enjoy fried okra all year long!! You’re welcome!! Also you can just toss it in a big ole’ pot of gumbo, YUM!

To rehydrate place the okra in a bowl and pour boiling water in. Let it sit for 10 minutes. You don’t want the okra to get mushy if you plan on frying it.

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Blessings!

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