Dehydrating

I have trouble getting stuff from the dehydrator into storage as well.

Sprinkle a bit of powdered ginger on those pears before you dry them Dwight.  They will be even more like candy.  My hubby loves to pig out on those.

I've been dehydrating as well lately--I realize this thread is old, but I've dehydrated bananas, apples, lemons, limes, oranges, and croutons. Takes up so much less space than traditional canning, which I do a lot of .

A thread like this should never expire.  As long as we are all still drying stuff it is relevant. 

What are you using the dried citrus for?  Do you grow your own?  I have a single mini lime tree that is container grown here in my zone 5b garden, since it has to come in with me in the winter time.  

I used a bunch of my dehydrated goods today.  I made a crockpot meatloaf and so I filled it with garlic, leeks, onions, celery and tomatoes... all dehydrated.

I am planning to add the orange/lemon/lime slices to a cup of hot water for a citrus *tea*...figured it would be a nice treat when we no longer have access to fresh fruits.

My dh has a fruit/produce business. He buys direct from the growers. The stuff he has that isn't quite nice enough to sell is what I use to feed us and to can/dehydrate. I figure no sense letting the culls go to waste.

What a wonderful opportunity!  I would love to have access to "culls" and seconds of citrus. 

BTW... Glad that you found us here!

Yes, welcome mamatiger.

I tried to dehydrate some banana slices earlier, and could not get them to actually dry out. I had them in an electric model for four days at 180 degrees (as per the instruction booklet).

How do you dry yours?

Bananas will never be like those banana chips from the store if they are just dehydrated they will always be leathery.  Store banana chips are freeze dried to get that crispness. 

Still I know lots of people that love their banana chips leathery and chewy.

ahh OK, that's where I was messing up, the perception not the completion

Thanks FF

I think I used the 135 temp per my machine for the banana chips. I did them about 24 hours and they get crisp, but are still a tad chewy. Dh loves banana chips and he likes these, so I am happy.

I have also done potatoe cubes and slices. The first time I did cubes, I didn't get them done quite enough and they molded. But they are sure good tossed in a pot of soup when dehydrated properly.

And thanks for the welcome. I've been here before and recently got an inactive status email and decided to drop back by.

Glad to have you back, thanks for posting

Welcome mamatiger!

Welcome back.

I have spent most of yesterday and some of today working on veggies for dehydration. I went to the Farmer's Market yesterday and spent $48 on fruits and veggies. Most of it was destined for dehydration.

The more I dehydrate the more I like it. You can get really used to having a pantry full of dry veg at your fingertips; all ready to get tossed into the next recipe and requiring no refrigeration.

Yesterday, I dried two very full trays of sweet corn and ending up with about a quart and a half of product after it was dry. I (actually the Kid and I) also dried two trays of okra and two trays of leeks.

All of those things came off of the dehydrator this morning and the Kid and I packed them up in well scrubbed and dried quart size Gatorade bottles that I have saved. I really like using those bottles for dry storage. They are heavy duty, have a wider mouth that is easy to wash with a bottle brush and easy to get the product in and out of. They also are air and water tight as well as light weight, re-usable and un-breakable. The best part is they are free if you like Gatorade!

I am sure to label the bottles. I like to use some high quality cellophane tape that I attach to the bottle and the lid. Then I mark contents and date on the tape with a Sharpie marker. The tape stays on well and comes off easy enough when the bottle is washed in hot water.

Today, after emptying yesterday's food from the dehydrator, I peeled, cubed and blanched a good number of zucchini that a neighbor brought me. They are now taking up three trays and drying nicely. Zucchini cubes are great for tossing into a sauce or a casserole.

I have the dehydrator out on the three season porch while it is hard at work. That keeps the heat out of the house.

Sounds like you've got a good system working for you. I'm glad you've got the three season porch to dehydrate on.

I scored a good deal on organic carrots from the local grocery store recently. I got two 10 pound bags of carrots for $6.00 each. This was a good opportunity to stock up the shelves a bit with my dehydrator.

Here are the results.

The 20 pounds of organic carrots getting their wash up.


Here are the same 20 pounds (minus enough for dinner) after drying.


The majority went into carrot coins that will be used for adding to soups, stews, casseroles and rehydrated as side dishes. The coins were blanched before dehydrating. They were not peeled. These carrots were very sweet and you can tell that because they actually caramelized slightly as they dried. That is why they turned ever so slightly brown. I also dehydrated 9 well packed cups of unblanched grated carrot for use in carrot cakes and baking. As you can see it loses some color compared to the blanched stuff. Blanched carrots also cook faster. This was 9 very full cups fresh and ended up as 3 cups dry product.



All in all a great easy way to preserve a lot of food, shelf stable in a very small space.

Looks good, I don't care for the texture of dehydrated veggies when reconstituted. How well do the shredded ones work in the cake?

PATRICE IN IL wrote:Looks good, I don't care for the texture of dehydrated veggies when reconstituted.  

Really? Most people can't tell the difference. I especially like having them on hand to add to recipes. The shreds do well in the recipes. I either add extra liquid to the recipe and just chuck them in or you can rehydrate with some boiling water and then add to the recipe.

I'll have to keep that in mind if I find a good deal on carrots.

Maybe I need to try dehydrating veggies again, I used frozen veggie blend last time and wasn't thriled with the leathery texture of some of the stuff after rehydration.

Probably the entire problem. Start with good fresh veggies and prep them like you would to freeze.

My family loves most veggies dehydrated - green beans... not so much. Green beans do turn out leathery in my opinion. They still do fine if you are putting them in a soup or something, but as a side dish yuck.

Thanks for the advice, I'll have to give it another try.