Leek powder is easy to make: cut a bunch of leeks in small pieces, dehydrate them and grind them up. Ready.
For cultural reasons, large portions of the leeks are often declared inedible and simply composted or thrown away. I hate food waste and this is totally unnecessary. Not a single part of a leek needs to be thrown away. Everything, including the roots, can be consumed. This is a true zero-waste product.
All that needs to be done, is to wash them to remove any soil that remains on the roots and inside the leaves and the only good reason to do this is that sand between the teeth tends to be unpleasant.
Even though a store-bought leek is essentially composed of several leaves grown together with a few sorry excuses for roots at the end, I see it as consisting of two parts: a multilayered stalk and a bunch of more or less loose leaves attached to it. Leeks are of the onion family, and a close-up look at a single slice illustrates this rather well:
Starting at the part where the root is, a number of round discs is sliced off until the part is reached where the leaves start losing coherence:
After putting the discs on one or more dehydrator trays, the remaining part is cut lengthwise so as to obtain a number of more or less thin strips. Since these can be too long to deal with, I also cut them to shorter lengths that are easier to handle:
Those strips are put on the dehydrator trays as well. I just love the sight of fresh leeks on dehydrator trays:
When I have excess leek powder, I like to put it in 1 litre Sistema containers I can efficiently stack in the fridge. I put 250 grammes of powder in a container, which means that one container represents 3 kg of leeks, which is about 9 good-sized leeks.
Food powders have any number of culinary uses, but I tend to use them for one purpose only, and that is to add them to the soups I make in the rice cooker. This makes the soups flavourful, there is no effort involved once the powder has been made and as can be seen here, making leek powder only requires very little time and effort (including cleanup) and only simple equipment.
I always like to check food labels, but since these are provided as they come from the field, with only some cleaning and removal of parts considered useless by the local culture, there is no requirement (and no realistic possibility) to provide such labels in this case. So, I looked up raw leeks in the USDA food database. Per 100 g:
Source: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/342617/nutrients
From this, it is easy enough to calculate the values for 100 g of powder:
Keep in mind that this is a rough estimate and that the actual values will vary wildly from batch to batch. That said, it gives a good idea and it should be rather obvious that dehydrated leeks are to be used with caution and in moderation.
Please note that I make no health claims and no nutritional claims. There are enough alternologists and quacks on the Internet already and I have no intention of joining them.
I sincerely encourage you to talk to an actual medical doctor or registered dietitian before making any health- or nutrition-related decisions.
If I made any mistakes in this post, please *do* feel free to point them out to me.
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| Bunch of three leeks bought at Metro in Toronto weighing 1219 g |
All that needs to be done, is to wash them to remove any soil that remains on the roots and inside the leaves and the only good reason to do this is that sand between the teeth tends to be unpleasant.
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| Leek, ready to be cut into small pieces Bamboo cutting board Stainless steel vegetable chopper |
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| Cross-section of a leek stalk |
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| Partly sliced-up leek |
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| Sliced up leek stalks on dehydrator tray |
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| Part of the leek where leaves are starting to split off |
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| Leek leaf strips |
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My dehydrator does not have a timer, but it does have a thermostat. I put it on 55°C and switch it on:
All that remains to be done for now is to wait for everything to become brittle. For my dehydrator, in my situation, that tends to be somewhere between 12 and 24 hours. I prefer to err on the side of caution and therefore, longer is better than shorter and I usually let it run for a full 24 hours. |  |
Once the leeks are dehydrated, they can be used for a very long time indeed. Just put them into jars and keep them somewhat cool and out of the light until they are needed. Dried leeks can also be used for decoration as they are really pretty, especially the flower-like dried round slices:
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This particular bunch of leeks started out weighing 1219 g and ended up weighing 100 g, 8.2% of its original weight:
That said, I prefer to use them in the kitchen, and since I like convenience, I think there is hardly anything more convenient than using them powdered. So, I put them in the Vitamix, about 30 s at the lowest speed to break everything up in smaller pieces and then 30 s at the highest speed to really pulverise them into a fine powder.
That said, I prefer to use them in the kitchen, and since I like convenience, I think there is hardly anything more convenient than using them powdered. So, I put them in the Vitamix, about 30 s at the lowest speed to break everything up in smaller pieces and then 30 s at the highest speed to really pulverise them into a fine powder.
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The dried leeks are now ready to be used: just put a spoonful of powder in any soup.
I put most of the powder in containers I then store in the fridge. The fridge has the advantage of being dark most of the time and since it is also a cool environment, it helps to maintain freshness. Another reason is that I have but little space, and while the freezer is usually overflowing, the fridge is largely empty, so it is simply a convenient space to store things, space that would otherwise remain unused.
Some of the powder goes in a container I use with a small cookie-dough scoop.
The scoop has a volume of about 1.5 tablespoons which is about 8 grammes of powder, the equivalent of a little less than 100 grammes of fresh leeks. A good rule of thumb is to multiply the weight by 12.
The container has a ridge on the inside. This makes it easy to ensure I always use the same quantity and don't inadvertently go overboard. The reason for the cookie-dough scoop is that it has a long handle that makes it easy to use.
I put most of the powder in containers I then store in the fridge. The fridge has the advantage of being dark most of the time and since it is also a cool environment, it helps to maintain freshness. Another reason is that I have but little space, and while the freezer is usually overflowing, the fridge is largely empty, so it is simply a convenient space to store things, space that would otherwise remain unused.
Some of the powder goes in a container I use with a small cookie-dough scoop.
The scoop has a volume of about 1.5 tablespoons which is about 8 grammes of powder, the equivalent of a little less than 100 grammes of fresh leeks. A good rule of thumb is to multiply the weight by 12.
The container has a ridge on the inside. This makes it easy to ensure I always use the same quantity and don't inadvertently go overboard. The reason for the cookie-dough scoop is that it has a long handle that makes it easy to use.
One word of caution: this is a highly concentrated product. In my experience, one kg of leeks will typically turn into a little more than 80 g of powder. A flat tablespoon contains about 5 g of leek powder which is therefore the equivalent of about 60 g of fresh leeks. While we can never eat too many vegetables, the taste might be somewhat surprising and offputting if the concentration factor is not taken into account.
When I have excess leek powder, I like to put it in 1 litre Sistema containers I can efficiently stack in the fridge. I put 250 grammes of powder in a container, which means that one container represents 3 kg of leeks, which is about 9 good-sized leeks.
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| The result of dehydrating 12 bunches of leeks, i.e. 36 leeks, yielding a little over 1 kg of powder |
I always like to check food labels, but since these are provided as they come from the field, with only some cleaning and removal of parts considered useless by the local culture, there is no requirement (and no realistic possibility) to provide such labels in this case. So, I looked up raw leeks in the USDA food database. Per 100 g:
| Energy | 61 kcal |
| Protein | 1.5 g |
| Fat | 0.3 g |
| Carbohydrate | 14.2 g |
| Fibre | 1.8 g |
| Net carbohydrate | 12.4 g |
From this, it is easy enough to calculate the values for 100 g of powder:
| Energy | 732 kcal |
| Protein | 18 g |
| Fat | 3.6 g |
| Carbohydrate | 170.4 g |
| Fibre | 21.6 g |
| Net carbohydrate | 148.8 g |
Keep in mind that this is a rough estimate and that the actual values will vary wildly from batch to batch. That said, it gives a good idea and it should be rather obvious that dehydrated leeks are to be used with caution and in moderation.
Food dehydrators, a few thoughts
Food dehydrators do consume energy, but they are also light and small, inexpensive to acquire, own, use and maintain, and it can be argued with some confidence that the whole dehydration process is not more detrimental to the environment than running a freezer.
Years ago, I had an entry-model Excalibur, hailed by many as the Rolls Royce of dehydrators. Maybe so. I hated mine. It was impractical, did not even have an on/off switch, was rather bulky and I couldn't really find a convenient spot to put it in while it was in use.
Blue sparks coming from the back may or may not have been innocent, but they certainly made me rather nervous.
Despite the claims of even drying, I found it necessary to regularly take out the trays and turn them around because when the back of a tray was already well-dehydrated, the front almost never wasn't. This was not only inconvenient, it was also annoying because this device was quite literally a black box in which it was difficult to see anything at all. Also, there is not much of a raised edge around the trays, which tends to make it easy for the stuff being dried to fall off.
I ended up giving the Excalibur away and I did not give dehydration a second thought for a decade or so after that. But then, a small dehydrator appeared on the shelves of our local Loblaws under the President's Choice label. It is just a generic device that is sold in several versions under different labels.
It is light and small, even sort-of cute and because the trays are transparent, it is easy to see what is going on. That renewed my interest in dehydration and I am very happy with it. It is just what a person who lives alone needs. The only thing that annoys me are the big holes in the centre of the trays.
Keep in mind that I make very limited use of it. I mostly use it to dehydrate leeks and celery to make powders for my soups. While I have tried, successfully, to dehydrate okra, Brussels sprouts and cabbage, that was merely out of curiosity since these things are easily available in the freezer sections of local grocery stores.
Blue sparks coming from the back may or may not have been innocent, but they certainly made me rather nervous.
Despite the claims of even drying, I found it necessary to regularly take out the trays and turn them around because when the back of a tray was already well-dehydrated, the front almost never wasn't. This was not only inconvenient, it was also annoying because this device was quite literally a black box in which it was difficult to see anything at all. Also, there is not much of a raised edge around the trays, which tends to make it easy for the stuff being dried to fall off.
I ended up giving the Excalibur away and I did not give dehydration a second thought for a decade or so after that. But then, a small dehydrator appeared on the shelves of our local Loblaws under the President's Choice label. It is just a generic device that is sold in several versions under different labels.
It is light and small, even sort-of cute and because the trays are transparent, it is easy to see what is going on. That renewed my interest in dehydration and I am very happy with it. It is just what a person who lives alone needs. The only thing that annoys me are the big holes in the centre of the trays.
Keep in mind that I make very limited use of it. I mostly use it to dehydrate leeks and celery to make powders for my soups. While I have tried, successfully, to dehydrate okra, Brussels sprouts and cabbage, that was merely out of curiosity since these things are easily available in the freezer sections of local grocery stores.
One extra bonus is that my room smells great when I am using it, especially at the start of the process. It is as if I am making a big pot of fresh vegetable soup. Mouthwateringly lovely.
*****Please note that I make no health claims and no nutritional claims. There are enough alternologists and quacks on the Internet already and I have no intention of joining them.
I sincerely encourage you to talk to an actual medical doctor or registered dietitian before making any health- or nutrition-related decisions.
If I made any mistakes in this post, please *do* feel free to point them out to me.
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