Strawberry

I was combing through some recipes and found one for strawberry-basil scones. And I am a sucker for scone anything. So I was looking at the recipe and it needs freeze dried strawberries in addition to the regular juicy ones. At first I looked in the grocery stores and couldnt find any. Then I got this really brilliant idea to use the dehydrated powder I made several months ago. I mean how could I not think of that first??? It has been sitting in my pantry, taunting me, "You won't ever use me Xandrea" "I was a spur of the moment idea you had with no real intentions of using me". Well you know what? No more taunting! I am pulling that sucker out and finally using it!! But before I do I thought I would share my 5 hour process with y'all. But be warned, this is not for the faint of heart or people who traditionally don't finish things. It is an all day process where you may not even reap the rewards immediately. Look at me, I made these months ago and this will be the first time I am using it!!

First thing you need to do is slice your strawberries as thin as you can possibly get them. And you can see that in some case I didnt get a full slice, but thats okay because they are gonna end up as powder. And you really need the parchment or a silicon mat because these suckers will stick as they dry. You wanna put them in a 200 degree oven.

Now that youve got them in the oven you want to let them hang out and slowly dry out. I like to turn them over every hour to hour and a half. This way both sides dry out evenly. I did find with the strawberries that the more they dry out the more brittle they become when turning them, so just be careful. I cannot give you an exact time they will be dried out since my slices may be thinner or thicker than yours, but mine took about 5 hours in the oven. Once they are dry completely pull them off the parchment and into a bowl or other container to cool off.

So at this point you have everything dried out and you may be quite proud and excited with yourself, but be warned your ego will be deflated shortly. Why? Because you are going to pull out your trusty small food processor and the large amount to your eyes now will instantly disappear into a smooth powder of absolutely nothing. It's heartbreaking really. I had my very large spice bottle all ready thinking it would be about half full. I mean afterall I dehydrated at least half of the carton of strawberries if not the whole thing. Surely the yield would be significant. WRONG!

No need to adjust your monitors, that is really the yield I got! I ended up with a little more because I did the rest of the carton of strawberries, but really...if you are doing this you probably don't plan on using this every day. So the yield will be plenty for you. I know it was for me. But you will have the privilege of saying you used your own form of molecular gastronomy and won! You are now well versed in making food powders and nothing can take that away from you....even if you do not use it at all or for some time. You can add one more thing to your "resume"!!