I got a food dehydrator for Christmas and have been experimenting with it recently. I was doing some research on blanching and if it is necessary. It sounds like it is very necessary for some vegetables, like potatoes and tomatoes and less so for others, like zucchini or onions. Like freezing, if you don't blanch before processing, enzymes, bacteria and other unwanted substances can remain in your dried food. This can reduce the nutritional content or even cause the food to spoil. So, I'll choose to blanch some veggies before drying.
Water blanching, which is what I usually do with tomatoes, is not recommended for dehydrating. They recommend steam or microwave. I recently got an Instant Pot pressure cooker with a steamer basket. It seems like the perfect solution for blanching. Online, they recommend cooking for one minute at the highest pressure for vegetables. But that is for full cooking, not just for blanching.
Any recommendations on what to set my Instant Pot to in order to blanch vegetables like potatoes, tomatoes and carrots?
Thanks!
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You can steam the tomatoes for 0 minutes and then do a natural release. The skins will slip off
Thanks! What do you think about harder root vegetables, like carrots or potatoes? The same? And would I add in 1 cup of water?
I know you must have 1 cup of liquid in the bottom or it cannot come to pressure. I have been looking up and can't find anything other than the tomatoes. I belong to the Instant Pot Community on Facebook and posed the question there and got no response.
Great, thanks! I'm going to experiment with potatoes and carrots using the same setting as you gave for tomatoes and see if that does the trick.
How did that work?? I was hoping to do some sweet potato chips in the dehydrator, and was wondering about blanching in my instant pot
I haven't tried it yet. I dried garlic for an entire week and haven't started a new batch of anything. I'm waiting for veggies to come into season. I will certainly let you know when the time comes.
Let us know how your sweet potatoes turn out.
Hi! I'm dying to know how the sweet potato chips turned out!?
Well, just tried blanching carrot rounds 1/4-1/2" slices for 1 min. All were completely cooked, some too much. Would think 0 min might work.
I had exactly the same issue. Eating those carrots tonight, but I had intended on vacuum sealing and saving them. Did you figure this out?
I just did yellow green beans we bought at a Farmer's market on Saturday and snapped the same day but stored in baggies in the frigerator for 3 days. I washed the beans, put a cup of water and steamed them in a steamer basket in my Instant Pot on high pressure for 0 minutes and let pressure release after 10 minutes which cooked them. So my second batch doing all the same things above except releasing them immediately after IP beeped, has the beans on the crispy side.
How did the green beans turn out that you prepped by blanching in the IP? Im eager to do mine this way!
Here is my Instant Pot set to "0". I used Manual and just dialed down the time. The pot will get up to pressure and then shut off.
If you don't have this type, it's possible that your settings are different. Maybe try just 1 minute and see how it goes.
Good luck! I really love my Instant Pot, although I find blanching tomatoes to be easier on the stove.
Just dont set a time when you select pressure cook.
Just tried this with potatoes cut into 1" cubes, steam 2 min came out soft, steam 1 min came out like i would expect for blanching.I have an Instant pot LUX 3 qt.
I am making a scalloped potato recipe that calls for 3/8 inch thick slices that are blanched. Wondering if I could do that in the IP
I think it would work. Since you are cooking them afterward, I would set it to "0" instead of 1. That is what I do with tomatoes to remove the skins.
Let us know it turns out!
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