Let’s dive in to how to dehydrate Broccoli leaves…

Since you found us that means you were actively searching “how to dehydrate broccoli leaves.” Something not most common folk search. You are either searching this because you are just fancy and want to know more about broccoli leaves or because your broccoli didn’t do what it was supposed to do and all you were left with were a bunch of leaves and no broccoli.

We were in the second search group.

Our broccoli didn’t do its broccoli thang. But all that hard work could not go to waste. So what is to be done? We’ve got to maximize every part of this journey and if that means we are dehydrating broccoli leaves for three days straight…

…then we are dehydrating broccoli leaves for three days straight.

Dehydrating is actually a ton of fun. The things you can dehydrate are kind of endless and the finished product is incredible. We’ve actually made dog treats and fruit roll ups made with Kombucha SCOBY’s. The process is relatively easy and you are left with a product that is shelf stable for times that refrigeration is unavailable.

https://youtu.be/A7P8e-Z3e4E

There are actually a ton of health benefits to broccoli leaves.

It is actually said that broccoli leaves have the same if not more nutritional value as kale. Broccoli leaves are extremely high in vitamins A & C, as well as, calcium, iron, thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin B6, niacin and magnesium.

What are the benefits of dehydrating broccoli leaves?

The benefits of dehydrating anything is quite simple, the food you put in the dehydrator comes out the same minus the moisture. All the original nutritional value remains the same but you now have a food that has a greater shelf life and can continue to provide you with greatness beyond the season.

So when it came time to figure out how we were going to get the most out of a bunch of broccoli plants that never gave use broccoli, dehydrating just made sense.

I mean sure, you can eat the leaves in salads but with the mass amount of leaves we had, we couldn’t possibly eat that many salads before it went bad.

And I was not going to let it go bad. My husband poured so much love into these plants to provide us with broccoli but because we live in a zone that can’t make up it’s mind on whether it’s winter, spring, summer or fall, our broccoli never….well…broccoli-ed!

Or if you want to get technical and serious, our broccoli bolted before it ever gave us a harvest. Bolting means, when it gets to hot and the temperature of the ground goes above a certain temperature, the plant will then rapidly produce growth by bolting up flowers and leaves. Usually resulting in making the plant go to seed.

Before we get started a few things on dehydrators.

When buying a dehydrator, you want to think about one main thing:

How am I going to use this?

Is it going to be for a few things here and there? Are you buying it to just have some fun? Or are you serious about storing the food that you are growing or buying?

These questions really help narrow down what kind of budget you may need for a dehydrator. And something I did not ask myself when we bought ours. A dehydrator just seemed like a fun thing to have but now it would be nice to have a different one that could support large batches of drying.

Don’t get me wrong, I love this little dehydrator and it has worked beautifully for me, I just wish it was shaped rectangular rather than circular.

How to dehydrate broccoli leaves.

With our dehydrated broccoli leaves, we decided to make a powder to add to smoothies, soups or even just to take as a supplement. But you can make yourself some broccoli chips by adding seasoning to your leaves. The sky is the limit my friend. 

This process is incredibly easy.

First: You want to get to your leaves before the aphids do. Pick the best leaves possible and give them a good soak. When washing the leaves, be gentle. You don’t want to bruise the leaves. Either gently rinse them off with running water or fill a bowl with water and soak the leaves, gently washing any bugs or dirt off.

Second: Lay all the leaves on a paper towel. You want to soak as much water up as possible. This step is crucial. The less water you have on your leaves the faster they will dry in your dehydrator.

Third: Lay your leaves flat on a cutting board, back side of the leaf facing up. Now, cut out the stem as best as possible. You could leave the stem if you are making chips but for a powder you want to remove it, it just won’t be as fine of a powder if you leave it.

Fourth: Lay those leaves on your dehydrator racks (don’t freak out if they are touching each other, totally fine), turn the heat to 110-115 degrees and dehydrate away my friend. Your leaves are done when they break easily. If they are still slightly bendy, let them go longer.

This process took between 8-10 hours. And with the amount of leaves we had, it took a full 3 days to finish.

Fifth: Throw all the leaves in a high power blender or a food processor would work as well. And blend until you’ve reach desired powdery softness.

How to use this new super food powder?

• Throw a teaspoon in a smoothie. Great for hiding much needed nutrients in your kids smoothie.
• You can make supplements out of it by using your own capsule filling machine
• Put a teaspoon in 4 oz of water and chug away.
• Throw some in a soup or stew.

Well my homie, you did it. I bet you never thought you’d be researching how to dehydrate broccoli leaves but you did, you found it, and you dehydrated it.

I am so proud of you.

Until next time….

Happy dehydrating!

https://youtu.be/A7P8e-Z3e4E