Drying Zucchini Chunks

From this.....

To this!...

I took that great big zucchini and used a spoon to scoop out the seeds.

Then chopped it into chunks (because I like chunks better than slices for soup) and put it in the dehydrator.  

After about 12 hours I ended up with the above 3/4-full quart jar of very, very dry zucchini chunks.  

I dried the zucchini because it seems like frozen zucchini always gets slimy when it's cooked (even with blanching).  My goal is to find ways to store foods that don't require any type of refrigeration or freezing and have them taste as close to fresh as possible. 

I don't know if the electricity expenditure used during the drying process is worth the final product - it takes such a long time.  But, if the zucchini chunks rehydrate nicely and taste good in a soup then we'll definitely look into building a solar dehydrator!