"Chips" and Dip, Anyone?

I might as well warn you: it's the height of garden season, so my articles will be short and to the point. Nitty-gritty how-to's for preserving what you're picking----after all, none of us has time for much more than the basics this time of year, do we?

Want to do something different? Need to use up that zucchini and summer squash that you are harvesting daily? Here's something I have just recently discovered: Squash makes a yummy"chip" for snacking and dipping.

Pick young squash, ones that have yet to develop seeds, or whose seeds are just starting to develop. I slice mine as thinly as I can. If you have a "mandoline," it will come in very handy about now. I like mine almost paper thin. Definitely no more than 1/16 inch thick. If you have to make it thicker, anything more than 1/8 inch yields a very tough product.

No blanching is necessary. Place the slices on your dehydrator trays, not touching, and dry them at 120-125 degrees for about 8 hours (for thinnest). It may take up to 12 hours or so, depending on the thickness of your slices. They will be crisp when dried.

You can season them with seasoned salt, plain salt, garlic salt, or whatever you like. Use them with dips, crush them for a salad topping, or just eat them by themselves. You'll be hooked!

If you have questions, please post to the discussion area, or join our Preservers egroup at http://members.aol.com/preservers/group.... , where you will meet a lot of very helpful canners.....both experienced and not-so-experienced. And look for tasty recipes in which to use your garden produce in the other topic areas at www.suite101.com .

If you are always looking for new how-to's about canning, freezing, and dehydrating, and want to try new recipes, check out Home Food Preservers Magazine at http://members.aol.com/preservers/index.... Be sure to check this site for information on our newest publication, The Preserving Cook, a newsletter dedicated to cooking with what you've put up. It will be filled with oodles and oodles of good recipes for using all those goodies that you've canned, frozen and dehydrated.

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