Dehydrated Olive Tapenade
Olives and peppers chopped, dried at home, and brought back to life on a cracker at noon.
- calories
- 140
- weight
- 1.2 oz
- cal / oz
- 117
- protein
- 2 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 20 min
- water
- 60 ml cold
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Lunch
- Snack
- No cook
- Backpacking
- Canoe / raft
- Day hike
- Bikepacking
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Pimento stuffed green olives | 1 cup | drained well |
|---|---|---|
| Pitted black olives | 1 cup | drained well |
| Marinated artichoke hearts | 1 cup | drained, squeeze out the oil |
| Hot banana pepper | 1 | |
| Sweet red pepper | 1/2 | |
| Garlic | 1 clove | minced |
| Dried basil | 1/4 tsp | |
| Capers | 1 tbsp | minced |
| Lemon or lime juice | 1 tbsp | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | carried separately, added at camp |
Method
- At home: pulse the olives and artichokes in a food processor to a coarse chop. Stop before it turns into paste. Move it to a bowl.
- Pulse the two peppers to the same size and add them to the bowl with the garlic, basil, capers, and citrus juice. Stir.
- Spread thin on lined dehydrator trays and dry 8 to 10 hours, until nothing feels wet or tacky.
- At camp: add water at roughly two parts dried mix to one part water. About 60 ml for the whole batch.
- Wait 10 minutes. Add water a splash at a time if it is still stiff.
- Stir in the olive oil and spread on crackers or flatbread.
Olives are mostly water and salt, which is exactly what makes them heavy and exactly what makes them dry well. Pulled down to a coarse dry crumble they lose the weight but keep the brine, and 10 minutes of cold water at lunch puts the texture back. No stove, no pot, no waiting on a boil in wind.
The oil is held back on purpose. Fat does not dehydrate, and if you dry it into the mix it goes rancid on a long trip and coats the bag. Add it at camp from the same bottle you already carry. Drain the artichokes hard for the same reason: their marinade is oil, and oil left in the mix keeps the tapenade from ever drying properly.
Packing
Dried tapenade in a quart freezer bag. The oil goes into whatever oil bottle you are already carrying, so you are not packing a second container for one tablespoon.
Variations
- Stir the rehydrated mix into cooked pasta instead of spreading it.
- Skip the banana pepper if you want it mild. The red pepper carries enough sweetness on its own.
- Crackers with wheat in them break the gluten-free claim. Rice crackers keep it.
https://backpackerrecipes.wordpress.com/2009/08/12/another-no-cook-trail-lunch