best brand of couscous for cold water rehydration

Cous-cous is best interred deeply some distance from your tent.

Cheers

I use couscous for summer backpacking. I don't find a great deal of difference from one brand to another. Obviously you get the best results with hot or boiling water. Cold hydration is very hit-or-miss. It may work, but you may not like the result.

What one friend does is this. Get a plastic peanut butter jar with a wide mouth. In the morning at breakfast, you throw in your portion of couscous and whatever hot or warm water you have left. The exact amount is not too important. Seal up the jar and carry it around with you all day. When arriving in camp in the evening, you check on it and maybe add cold water if it doesn't look right. Then at mealtime, you add in some olive oil, salt, and whatever flavorings.

I've done this, but I find it much easier to deal with air dehydrated cooked quinoa. It does nicely with cold rehydration.

–B.G.–

Never tested it, but why? It takes so little hot water.

Rooooger! Couscous can be a wonderful dish, but it is as bland as other grains that all benefit from a little garlic, onion, olive oil, etc. I wouldn't eat plain pasta either.

Tabouli is a good cold water prep alternative. As above, there is much benefit from added spices and veggies.

I see there is a vendor making instant/dehydrated quinoa for those who don't want to make their own:
http://outdoorherbivore.com/instant-dehydrated-quinoa/

I'm not too picky on brands, often I grab the bulk at WinCo – having said that, give it at least 30 minutes to plump up.

Bob,

Do you air dehydrate the cooked quinoa yourself or can you buy it readily in that form? The only thing I saw regarding "dehydrated quinoa" you could buy was http://outdoorherbivore.com/instant-dehydrated-quinoa/

thanks

rhz

I buy ordinary quinoa, then cook it normally. Then I plop it in my food dehydrator and run it overnight. I get little brown granules and store those in an airtight jar until I need it.

On the backpacking trail, if I get hungry enough, I eat some of the granules straight. Normally I make a hot flavored stew with it. Sometimes I just let it rehydrate in cool water if I am running low on cooking fuel.

–B.G.–

"interred"

Had to look this up.

Rafi,

Quinoa dries up perfectly. I line the trays with parchment paper. Dry till crisp. Use just like instant rice in any recipe.

"Use just like instant rice in any recipe."

Exactly. The only thing is that quinoa has complete proteins and more flavor than rice.

–B.G.–

Interred–that's what vegemite is for, mate. Blimy–what to do with the downunderfolk?
Sheila, go tell Roger how to act.

Hi Sarah,

Forgive my ignorance, but does your suggestion require a dehydrator (I don't have one and know nothing about them)?

Thanks,

rhz

Nope! You can do it in your oven, spread out on a cookie sheet. Stir every 30 minutes, until dry, then cool before packing up. If your oven runs hot, prop the door open a tiny bit with a wooden spoon. If you have a convection setting with a fan in your oven, even better (I have that in mine).
Things dry quite fast in ovens, so check often!

Just as Sarah says, you can use an oven for a dehydrator. That was the way that I worked it 35 years ago. You have to set the oven thermostat to the very lowest possible, maybe 150* to 200* F with the door open an inch or more. This is not the most efficient method, but it is better than nothing.

Food dehydrators are not very expensive to purchase. One local store here sells them for $45, and one would require a square foot of counter space.

I went overboard and hooked up a big solar panel system with batteries and an inverter, and that supplies power to run the dehydrator overnight. Otherwise, you will see the electric bill for running a dehydrator.

–B.G.–