Preserving Food ~ Zucchini Candy

Every garden has one. The zucchini that got away. The one that was left on the stalk too long and is now not really good for anything, but perhaps a baseball bat. They are usually around 3ft long and tough as rocks.

And they are PERFECT for this project.

When I was little, my mom was a lot like me when it came to food. Always store what you can and use what you have. I am not sure if that was how she came up with this recipe or if someone gave her the idea, but either way, it is brilliant... we make candy out of those monster zucchini.

What you need:

Materials:

A food dehydrator with at least one fruit leather mat

potato peeler

large pot

good slotted spoon

Ingredients:

a monster zucchini or two

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 packet Kool-aid ("Invisible" is dye free)

8 cups water

1. First you peel the zucchini.

2. Then you cut it into 1 inch chunks (as uniform as you can so they dry evenly).

3. Add Kool-aid, water, and sugar (recipe can be doubled) in a large pot and bring to a boil. Add zucchini chunks and turn down to Med, mixing occasionally. Cook until starting to go clear (if you use invisible they will start to look like pineapple.)

4. Place them on the food dehydrator racks and (if you have a temp gage) set your dehydrator to 130*. If your dehydrator came with a fruit leather mat, place an extra rack on the bottom level of the dehydrator and put the mat on that. This will stop any drips from getting onto your dehydrator base and makes for MUCH easier clean up.

5. Let it dehydrate until it feels squishy but firm. It will take about 18 hours (or more).

6. When they are done, put 3 Tbs of powdered sugar, and 1 Tbs corn starch in a bag and toss them in with it. This keeps them from sticking together in the bag or jar.

They look like candied ginger, and taste just like fruit snacks. Kids love them! Who would have thought? Zucchini!