Dehydrate Canned Pumpkin – Make Pumpkin Powder

Don’t let the overstock of your fall canned pumpkin go to waste! Learn how to dehydrate canned pumpkin, and make pumpkin powder to use throughout the year and save space in your pantry!

I have a confession to make. I hoard pumpkin. Lots of it. Do you remember the pumpkin shortage of 2011? My habit started then. I’m sure of it.

I use pumpkin all year long. We love muffins all throughout the year, and will make pumpkin pancakes or smoothies if we’re in the mood. Especially if we’re partaking in a little Harry Potter movie marathoning. But seriously, we eat pumpkin all year long.

Why dehydrate pumpkin when you’ve already got it canned or frozen in your freezer? Space saving, my friends, space saving. Especially if you are one who tends to be a bit purist about when you can eat pumpkin, you can stockpile through the season, and create space by dehydrating your overstock.

Plus, it’s another powder to add to your powder collection in the pantry!

How to Dehydrate Canned Pumpkin

And bonus that this works on your home pureed pumpkin as well!

Canned pumpkin is super easy to dehydrate because it is as easy as pouring onto your tray, spreading it out and putting it into your dehydrator trays. Homemade pumpkin puree is best, but there’s just something fundamentally awesome about easy dehydrator projects that require very little work!

►Always preheat your dehydrator when you begin to prep your produce, and dehydrate at the appropriate temperatures. Running at 160F  doesn’t make things dehydrate faster, it just promotes case hardening, which you don’t want! Have you ever tested the temperature on your dehydrator?

1. Wash can tops

This is important as can tops can collect all sorts of ick from the store shelves, and even from your own, so always give them a good cleaning first. A simple wipe with a hot rag or vinegar dip is fine.

2. Open can and pour pumpkin onto trays

You’ll want to use parchment paper or tray liners for this project. I have both the Excalibur Paraflexx sheets and a generic set of nonstick sheets. Both work equally well, though the Paraflexx sheets move around less as you spread. You’ll find more ideas of what I recommend on The Purposeful Pantry recommends page.

► Tip: If using homemade pumpkin puree, measure by the cup as you put them on trays. It will help you later in knowing how to store and reconstitute.

3. Spread onto trays in a thin layer

You may find that you like using an icing knife (or even better, an offset spatula) better than a regular silicone spatula.

Make sure to spread the puree out into the thinnest layer possible. It will make it easier to dehydrate and go more quickly.

► Tip: In her book, The Ultimate Dehydrator Cookbook, Tammy Ganglott suggests using a pizza cutter to carve a checkerboard pattern into your puree to make it easier to break into pieces later. I don’t bother since I just break up to grind. But it’s a nice trick if you want to try it.

4. Dry at 125F for 10-12 hours

5. Store when flakes are brittle

Final

I rotate my sheets every two hours or so. I find that with my Excalibur, it dries from the back to the front, so rotating the trays every couple of hours helps it dry evenly for solid leather like this.

A note about Dehydrator Sheets

The last time I dehydrated pumpkin, I didn’t use the Paraflexx sheet. I had enough of the generic sheets for the project. This time, I did use both and I noticed something …

The generic sheets are allowing the pumpkin to dry much faster, cracking (which is fine for this process since I’ll be powdering), and browning up faster. Now, I may have spread these a little too thin on both sets, but I was surprised to see the difference in how each tray is responding. And all the generic sheet trays are doing the same. I’ve been rotating them often to keep them from getting too dry on one side and not the other. Nothing is burned, but it was interesting to see how each sheet reacted.

This is not to give preference to either as being better than the other. But just something to notice that if you do things differently between trays, be sure to keep your eye on it so that you can react accordingly.

STORING DEHYDRATED CANNED PUMPKIN

At this point, you can store your pumpkin sheets in airtight containers to rehydrate as needed. I use a vacuum sealer + jar attachment (which are one of my favorite budget-friendly food storage tools!) to vacuum seal my pumpkin chips in a mason jar. If you don’t have a vacuum sealer, O2 packs (oxygen absorbers) can be put into your jar, and which will help form a vacuum after about 24 hours. This would be necessary if you’re going to be storing these for three months or longer since they are one-time use items. If you’re in and out of the jar often, desiccant packs are better to help control moisture.

This time, however, I’m going to show you how to take it one step further and make pumpkin powder!

How to Make Pumpkin Powder

If you plan on making pumpkin powder from your dehydrated pumpkin puree, you don’t need to worry about how much each sheet holds. You’ll be measuring out the powder in a ratio to water to get the final end product.

Grind your dehydrated pumpkin until you’re down to a powder. You’ll want to sift it through a wire mesh strainer

Repeat this with the leftover bits as many times as you need to. It took me 3 times of running through the blender to get to the point where I was happy with the amount of powder I got , and threw the last little bit into my coffee grinder for the last bit because it works better that way than in a large blender. If I had loaded my blender with a bit more of the pumpkin chips, it may have produced a better effect since the jar is so large. Your mileage may vary depending on which blender you are using.

Want more?

If this intrigues you to start more of your own dehydrating projects at home, be sure to check out the dehydrating section here on the blog, and subscribe to my newsletter where you’ll get more projects delivered to your mailbox each week, plus it will give you exclusive access to my Resource Library This is the place you can download ALL the printables and exclusive content! I’m also posting tutorials on my Youtube channel, and would love for you to join my Dehydrating Tips and Tricks group on Facebook for more immediate help and ideas!

How to Use Dehydrated Canned Pumpkin Puree

The ratio of rehydrating powdered pumpkin is this:

To rehydrate, use a 4:1 ratio of water to pumpkin powder and allow it to sit for 20-30 minute to fully rehydrate.

2 C water to 1/2 C pumpkin powder = 2 C pumpkin puree

This particular ratio was 1/4 C to 1 C of water and was a little too thick. I added about 1 C more to make it more of the consistency of the original canned pumpkin. Though the ratio is 4:1 – you may have to play a little to get exactly the consistency you want.

Use puree as normal in pies, muffins, etc!

When I realized just how much of my pantry could be dehydrated to save space for more food storage, I was astonished! This is my favorite thing to have handy to make soup, pie, muffins, and anything that helps me get the feeling of fall again, all through the year. So why don’t you give dehydrating canned pumpkin a try!

How to Store Pumpkin Powder

Pumpkin powder should always be stored in an airtight container to help preserve its nutrient levels and to keep from clumping. You can learn how to keep powders dry here, and how to fix it should your powders begin to clump.