Ok I’ve heard of Kale chips before but I don’t have that much kale growing. We do have a huge crop of chard though.
Today I picked several big leaves and washed them, removed the big main rib. Then spun them. Finally cut them into chip size pieces and threw into a bag. To the bag I added a few drops of olive oil, salt and pepper then I shook it all up to hopefully coat the leaves a little bit. Then I spread the leaves out in the dehydrator and dried till crisp. I started the dehydrator at a low temp and after an hour I upped the temp to about 125 for an hour or so till crispy.
Eating these is kinda like eating salty air. Very light and crisp but almost no substance. Would be perfect for those people who eat out of habit rather than hunger. These will provide some good vitamins, minerals and fiber without adding much in the way of unheathy empty calories the way many salty or sweet snacks do.
These chips would also be a fun carrier for other flavorings and perhaps next time I’ll try some vinegar on them or hot pepper powder.
I’ll also have to try some of the other leaves I have growing, like collards or the leaves off broccoli, Kohlrabi, or cabbage. Hum, what about tatsoi or mustard greens?
Another note about stuff like this. Greens and other veggies dried can be stored and re-constituted for cooking but they can also be powdered and used as a dry soup mix too.
Okra leaves would be good. And there’s lots of ’em produced while waiting for the okra.
They go good in a salad, I found out. Not as tough to the mouth as you would think from touching them…
Okra leaves, hum. I wouldn’t have thought of that but Okra is closely related to hibiscus who’s leaves of some varieties are supposed to be edible.