Onion powder

[Debra]

Onion powder is very easy to make...Before I had a dehydrator, I would dry onions in the oven...All you need is your dehydrated onions and cornstarch.  I believe I have about 1 cup of dehydrated onions in the picture below.



Put those in the blender with about 1 tsp of cornstarch...then grind...the cornstarch keeps the onions from sticking together and becoming gummy...if you look at a store bought spice, you will see LOTS of additives...if you make your own, you are getting a "next to pure" product.

After you grind it, you need to sift out any missed chunks..




blend this again....until you have all the onions ground into a powder...



place into a container and label...there you go...your own onion powder...(keep in mind that this will be a lot stronger, and you need less of the product when cooking or preparing mixes)

[Cutter]

Thanks Debra.  Can you do garlic the same way?

[Debra]

Absolutely!, but you need to grind smaller portions of garlic, especially if you grew it yourself and dehydrated it...Garlic pieces tend to dry harder...this year, I am going to try "shredding" the garlic to make it more like the commercial store bought flaked garlic...will keep you posted on that.  You can make all kinds of powders and such...and if you add salt, you have your onion and garlic salt...some of our favorites are green pepper salt and basil salt.

[Citizen Zero]

This is good info. Onion and Garlic powder are some of the most used items in our household when it comes to spices, powdered ranch is still #1 

I really like the idea of moving away from things that have so many chemicals in them that are not really needed. With the amounts of chemicals and preservatives in food these days its really a wonder that they actually have to embalm people