Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Linsday, Nancy,

I am looking to bag my kale chips and eat them for a week or two after making. Can I do that with either technique?

I just did some reading on this for DH. They said to store then in paper not plastic for eating soon, but they can be food savered for longer tern storage after they are fully cooled. Once thing my mom used to do for homemade plantain chips, etc. was to save the waxy inserts from cereals etc., wipe them thoroughly and then put any food she wanted to stay crispy in them. She then placed the wax bags in an airtight cookie tin. I still do that rather than use Ziplocs for some things. The food saver gives them a nice seal.

Sorry, I don't have an answer - I always eat mine right away. But except for the fact that they might lose some of their crispness over time I can't imagine why you wouldn't be able to.
Let us know how it works if you do try it!
Nance

Just saw this on The Kitchn -10 Kale Salads:

http://www.thekitchn.com/a-superfood-salad-10-delicious-kale-salads-172981

Nance

You can keep them, but they go soft pretty fast -- they're definitely best eaten right away. It's amazing how light they are -- one leaf is like nothing (reminds me a little of cotton candy) so we pretty much eat them all.

So, not working.

I think the issue is that our apartment is 65-85% humidity. There's just no way to get the chips crispy ... or have them stay that way for more than 30 minutes. I'd need an actual dehydrator.

I have a Nesco dehydrator. It's fairly inexpensive, and does a good job.

Amy

Amy,

I'd have to buy a LOT of Kale chips to add up to the cost of one dehydrator.

I've had to store meringues in high humidity. This is what I do --

Fill a smallish plastic container (I use a pint freezer box.) with baking soda (Silica gel works better.).
Punch holes in the lid of the container.
Place smallish container in the bottom of a large airtight container.
Fill the large container with whatever you're trying to keep dry and cover.

Even with just plain old baking soda, my meringues often come out of the container crisper than they went in.

Thanks for the baking soda tip for meringues. I must admit I've never paid attention to the humidity when making them, but have noticed a difference in consistency after a few days. Now I'll check and add the baking soda to the tin if needed.

BTW, I always store stuff I want to keep crispy in metal tins such as those large saltines round ones, never in plastic containers (I use mainly Pyrex for general storage, and though I own Tupperware, I sometimes go months without using it at all).