Make It Yourself: Dried and Frozen Minced Vegetables

This is a handy way to use up celery before it becomes too old, or to store away a nice harvest of peppers. Drying a batch of vegetables is an easy way to keep them chopped and handy when you need them. Freezing chopped, uncooked vegetables is another way to store them for cooking, and if you use them without thawing, the vegetables will reconstitute rather well.

1 to 2 cups vegetables, finely chopped: onions, mushrooms, red or green peppeers, scallions or celery.

Preheat oven to 120 degrees. Spread finely chopped vegetables in a thin layer on a cookie sheet. Dry in the oven until crisp. The drying time will vary, depending on the amount of moisture in the air and in the vegetables. Plan on leaving the tray in the oven for at least 12 hours, stirring occasionally.
Cool and store immediately in a sterilized dry glass or metal container with  a tight-fitting lid for up to 6 months in the pantry.

Variations: To dry citrus skins, place a roomy basket on a sunny windowsill and drop your peels from oranges, tangerines, lemons, limes and grapefruit into it. Toss the peels occasionally and when they are completely dry, you can break them up for a bit for use in potpourri, or you can grind the dried peels in the blender and use them for oatmeal and citrus scrubbing grains.

To dry corn:  Husk and clean ears of corn and steam or blanch for 3 minutes. Drain, cut kernels from the cob and dry as for the vegetables. When fully dry, the corn should be hard and brittle.

To use dry corn: Pour two cups boiling water over 1 cup dried corn and simmer, covered for 1 hour.

Hint: If you want to conserve energy, try drying the vegetables in the sun. Pick a dry sunny day and place the tray in full sunlight. Cover loosely with cheesecloth or arrange a screen above the trays. The trick is to ensure circulation and the drying effect of the sun and at the same time protect the vegetables from insects and small animals. Take the trays in at night and repeat the drying process for 1 to 3 days, or until vegetables are fully dried.
If you use the sun-drying method, place the food in the oven at 125 degrees for 1 hour or store the food in the freezer for 24 hours before using to kill any insect eggs which may be invisible but there.

Frozen Minced Vegetables:
You can wash and chop your vegetables and place them in a single layer on a cookie sheet or in a cake pan. cover with plastic wrap and freeze until firm. Store the vegetables in a freezer container or plastic bag suitable for the freezer.
To use:
Use the frozen vegetables only for cooking and drop them in while still frozen into soups and stews, or use them for braising.