Bacon

1. Wash your eggplant and beets well. Run your beets through the juicer and set the juice aside. Don’t forget to admire the amazing juice color.

2. Slice your eggplant lengthwise to create 4 long wedges. Then carefully take those wedges and slice your eggplant into long strips with you mandoline slicer. The mandoline blade is extremely sharp and wants to eat your fingers. Be very careful.

3. Let’s create the marinade. Place your fresh beet juice, olive oil, sea salt, vinegar, and honey into a casserole dish and stir until completely mixed. Please note that the marinade will not look uniform in color because of the oil. Just mix all of the ingredients until they are blended to the best of your ability. You can always add a step if you wish, and blend your marinade on low speed in the blender too.

4. Pour a little bit of your marinade into a bowl. Dip a slice of eggplant into this bowl, coating both sides with the marinade, and then place your dipped slice eggplant into the casserole dish.

5. Repeat with all strips of eggplant, creating layers of coated eggplant until all slices are nestling in marinade in your casserole dish. Pour the marinade from your dipping bowl on top of the eggplant.

6. Cover the casserole dish with plastic wrap, or a cloth and place in the fridge. Marinate for 8 hours.

7. Every 2-4 hours re-coat the strips with marinade by spooning the marinade from the bottom of the dish onto your strips. You could also flip the pieces in the dish with a spatula as well. Whatever works. Just coat.

8. After the slices have marinated, place your “bacon” flat on Teflex sheets on your dehydrator trays. Dehydrate for 4 hours anywhere from 95-110 Fahrenheit.

9. After 4 hours, you will want to transfer your “bacon” from the Teflex sheets to the dehydrator screens so the air can get to both sides of the “bacon”. To do this, simply place a dehydrator tray with the screen on top of your “bacon” that is already on the Teflex sheet and dehydrator tray. Place one hand underneath the Teflex tray and one on top of the screen tray. Quickly flip. Remove the top tray and then peel back the Teflex and your “bacon” should be resting proudly on the screen. Pop the tray back in the dehydrator for another 4 hours.

10. Keep checking on your “bacon” and when it is super crispy, you are good to go and you can turn off your dehydrator. If you reach the 8-hour mark and your “bacon” is still not crispy enough, keep dehydrating until you reach the crunch-factor that will make you happy. You can keep your “bacon” in a covered glass dish on the counter or in your pantry since it is dried. You can also keep it in the fridge.

Options: 

Try adding the Liquid Smoke. Try raw maple syrup instead of honey or agave. Use less olive oil. Just have fun with it.

Crumble your “bacon” on salads, spread some almond butter on manna bread and top with “bacon”, munch on it plain, make a BLT with your “bacon”.