Homemade Dehydrated Green Nutritional Powder

 Homemade Green Nutritional Powder

If you ever feel like you need a nutritional boost, but don't want to spend the high prices for green powder, make your own!

I LOVE THESE POWDERS!  I add them to protein shakes, sauces and baked goods.  I'll pour a little over my yogurt for a boost.  I'll even shake them with water in a mason far if I feel like I need some green goodness.  

You can use any green edible leaves, fruit, vegetables.  I like to use spinach, kale, lettuce, mulberry leaves, dandelion greens, squash leaves.

I often use any leftover greens growing in the garden that may have gotten bitter or that I have excess of.   During the dehydrating process, the bitterness seems to go away.  You can also use store bought greens when they are on sale or when you won't use your entire supply.  In this example, I am using organic store bought spinach.  

Required equipment:

- dehydrator or oven

- blender (I use my cheapy just fine)

- air tight jars for storage

First, place your washed, dried greens on the dehydrator trays.  I pack them in pretty good but not to dense.  They will shrink significantly as they dry.

If you are using the oven, place the greens on trays and set the oven to your lowest setting and keep a close eye on the greens.  They will be done much more quickly.  Some people like to just use the oven light to dehydrate and leave them for longer periods of time.

Next, set your dehydrator between 105 - 115 degrees for "raw" green powder.  Some folks recommend dehydrating at higher temperatures (over 145 degrees) to kill bacteria and for faster results.    Higher temperatures will dehydrate the greens faster, but will kill a lot of the healthy enzymes.  Make your choice based on your situation and goals.  

For 115 degrees, dehydrate for 8-10 hours

For 145 degrees, dehydrate for 4-6 hours

Make sure the leaves are super crunchy and not at all damp when they are done.

Place them all in the blender, and blend on high until they are a fine powder.  This may take a few minutes if you have a mere mortal blender like I do.  

Once you have a fine powder, spread the the powder out on a fruit leather tray or wax paper on put back in the dehydrator for another hour or two at 115 degrees.  This will remove any remaining moisture that might have been added during the blending process or were still in the leaves.

Next, place the powder into an air tight glass jar.  I use a piece of wax paper to transfer the powder onto then funnel it into the jar.  

The powder should last 6 months to a year in a dark cool location.