An Experiment: Dehydrated Gnocchi

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Adjustments. Some are easier to make than others! I knew I’d have to make adjustments in my food preservation routine when we replaced the upright fridge in my pantry with a chest fridge on the back porch. Even though there wasn’t a lot of freezer space in that little upright, I packed it full nonetheless! No longer having it means my freezer space is more precious than ever. 

One problem that’s led to an adjustment is that I can no longer save some of my canning for winter. I used to store summer pickings of fruit and tomatoes in the freezer and save the jam, jelly, and sauce making for winter, when the heat from the canning process was welcome. I can’t do that anymore because I don’t have the freezer space.

This has led to is more dehydrating; instead of freezing small amounts of some foods, I’ve been drying them. Also, I’ve been thinking about other things I can dry as well. Fruits, vegetables, and herbs are pretty routine to dehydrate, but as I was working on our winter supply of gnocchi, I started to wonder if I couldn’t dehydrate it too, like pasta.

Gnocchi (Italian dumplings) can either be made with potatoes or ricotta cheese. I make mine with ricotta (recipe toward the bottom of this post) of which I have a lot when milk is plentiful and I’m in cheesemaking mode. Gnocchi freezes well and is a delicious side dish or addition to soup. But storing several gallons of it in the freezer takes up a lot of room. A dehydration experiment seemed worth a try!

Gnocchi dough is traditionally rolled into ropes and cut into bite-size  pieces. Fresh, it’s boiled and served with sauce, but it also freezes well.

I freeze it as fat little mini-dumplings, but to make sure it dried evenly in the dehydrator, I rolled out the dough to less than a quarter-inch and cut it into small pieces.

For dehydrating, I rolled it thin so it would dry all the way through.

I dried it at the “meat” setting on my dehydrator (145°F/68°C) until it was crispy. I have to say it quite tasty as “crackers!” Then I vacuum packed it in half-gallon jars.

Dehydrated gnocchi. Look like crackers, doesn’t it?

I doubt I’ll be able to rehydrate it to anywhere near fresh standing, but hopefully, it’ll retain its shape and substance. I’ll probably try it first as an addition to our daily winter soup pot (for which I’m still saving freezer real estate for my soup jars of frozen leftovers). Dehydrated additions are a nice touch when the soup goes into the pot. I’m looking forward to giving it a try, come winter!

Anyone else trying something new in the food preservation department?