Dehydrated Feta?

We've dehydrated tomatoes in our machine, and yes, they have the flavor of sundried ones. I would use good fresh heirloom type ones, not bland supermarket tomatoes, though. Part of the flavor of the canned sundried tomatoes is the oil, garlic, and herbs, though.

As far as the feta, give it a try. I did some last summer for a lunch salad, and while it came out a bit "squeaky" on the teeth after rehydration, it added flavor. It won't be just like fresh, but better than not having it. I'd suggest doing it separately so that it doesn't have to over dry.

I've taken Feta cheese on backpack trips before, but I don't know how successful you will be with trying to dehydrate it. Cheese has fat, but fat doesn't dehydrate well.

This may not be what you are trying to accomplish, but would you consider taking some commercially grated cheese, like Romano or Parmesan? It is already dry enough that it doesn't spoil easily.

–B.G.–

I think Bob is on the right track. Would you consider it an abomination to make your salad with parmesan? That is probably how the dehydrated feta will come out. Even though feta is a soft cheese it is pretty high in salt and will probably last a while in its sealed wrapper. If you are just looking at a couple days I would just bring fresh in its original package.

Yes, its not feta, but Romano would be ok. Orzo is a not too distant cousin to mac & cheese so I assume it would be just a good on the trail. I just made some sans olive oil and feta, and I'm going to try to dehydrate some.

" Would you consider it an abomination to make your salad with parmesan?"

Actually one of my favorite gourmet recipes, Romain hearts with lemon vinaigrette, calls for exactly that, and it is not gross at all. Of course the real recipe calls for the expensive Parmesan (and just grated) but I usually ignore that.

For a couple of days I wouldn't bother with the feta either. Its kind of a catch 22. Fortunately the orzo is fine without it, and with more almonds and cranberries it can still pack a lot of calories. Actually I better be careful testing it. :-) Dangerous job when not doing 15 miles a day, but someone has to do it!

So dehydrating feta seems to work fine. Cut it into small rectangular chunks about 1/8 inch thick. Dehydrated it until it was basically hard. 12+ hours on about 115-120 F. Re-hydrated it along with rest. It's fine. It doesn't melt, it doesn't change shape, the texture is fine and it basically tastes like feta. I would say the strength of its taste, like many things after dehydration, is dialed down a notch. Basically anything volatile is irreversibly removed – like onions where the heat is gone. I'm not sure I would be happy with this re-hydrated feta where it is the main flavor, like in a Greek salad, but it is great in the orzo as an added flavor component. No complaints at all for what it is.

Dehydrating feta does make the whole kitchen smell like feta for several hours. Yup, that's probably where that extra flavor went!

Too bad you couldn't capture the volatile gases and flavors that left the feta. You could run that through a condenser and make some feta essence.

–B.G.–

Possibly good riddance to the "essence". If the smell in my kitchen was any indication this could attract any feta-curious bear for about 20 miles. I love feta, but before dehydration it is definitely not stealthy. The dehydrated (and even re-hydrated) feta doesn't seem to smell much at all.

I dehydrate feta all the time…. works brilliantly. Some brands can be a little smelly so you might not want to do it right before you are having company.

It will rehydrate fairly decently with cold water… the warmer the water the faster the hydration.

Edited to add…. just read all the responses… guess you figured it out. I should read the whole thread before replying.