What are you dehydrating today? Part 2

[Simplegirl]

Lots of okra

[Prickle]

Last night I opened a can of peas to go with dinner and neither one of us was much interested in eating them so I threw them in the dehydrator to see what would happen.

 

Oddly enough this morning when I lifted the lid I had dried peas.

[Lavenderflowers]

hmmm, dried canned peas, interesting idea

I finished up some free potatoes and plums. Plums aren't crisp, but more like leather, very tasty, probably put them in the freezer tho.

[Jori]

I broke my dehydrator. Dropped it and it cracked the base all the way to the heating element. I am waiting for my MIL to drop off hers so I can do a few things but in the meantime I'm going to do some research and figure out how to use the oven to do it.

[Leah]

Red, yellow, and green bell peppers. Pretty, pretty, pretty.

[Violet]

Jori,

You put the oven on the lowest it can go. Open the oven door. Place a fan beside the door to blow out the moisture. Not very energy efficient, but this is how it is done. Hope that helps you.

Ok, I am drying zucchini candy. Yep, zucchini candy. It looks rather bad since I am using grape koolaid, but that is what I had. That or cherry. My husband likes grape things.

I can post the results later and the recipe. I just tasted a bite before it went in. Tastes good !! Simmer peeled zucchini in sugar, water, and dry unsweetened koolaid powder.

So, for 20 cents of koolaid and the sugar, it is cheap. Dry for about 14 hours, it says, then dip in sugar if you want more like gumdrops. Turn and dry a few more hours.

You can use fruit juice, too, if you want. Pineapple juice is one idea.

 

[bluegrassmom]

Zucchini, squash, and celery.

[Jori]

Jori,

You put the oven on the lowest it can go. Open the oven door. Place a fan beside the door to blow out the moisture. Not very energy efficient, but this is how it is done. Hope that helps you.

Ok, I am drying zucchini candy. Yep, zucchini candy. It looks rather bad since I am using grape koolaid, but that is what I had. That or cherry. My husband likes grape things.

I can post the results later and the recipe. I just tasted a bite before it went in. Tastes good !! Simmer peeled zucchini in sugar, water, and dry unsweetened koolaid powder.

So, for 20 cents of koolaid and the sugar, it is cheap. Dry for about 14 hours, it says, then dip in sugar if you want more like gumdrops. Turn and dry a few more hours.

You can use fruit juice, too, if you want. Pineapple juice is one idea.

 

Thanks Violet! It helps, in that I know it's not workable with the 15 month old DS.

[Jori]

4 trays of peaches. Can the base tray be used, also? Solid tray that is "beveled" so produce wouldn't be on bottom of tray.

[Christy]

Drying tomatos and mashed potatos right now. The house smells great from the tatters.

Found a backpackers site that suggested dehydrating potatos or mash and mixing in a ziplock with other dried veggies, seperate baggie of broth-cube and/or sauce powder. Even a baggie with a big of milkpowder if the need arises. All to do is add water, place i ncosy to keep warm while rehydrating and voila, ready meal.

 

Could have smacked my head at this one!

We have all those mylar (grades harder than the foil stuff, really sturdy ones) and I've just dehydrated leek or something and sealed them.

Now I'll make ready made dehydrated meals in one pouch that can be sealed and stay well for 10+ years.

 

Just went to the market at closingtime and scored 5kg of green beans. Part to be dehydrated, part pressure canned.

[vigilant20]

Doing a dozen kiwi right now. Have another mixing bowl full of tomatoes waiting to go next.

[Andrea]

Peppermint! I have a plant that escaped it's pot and was set out for world domination! I found some tea diffusers on clearance for 3/$1.00 so I'm going to dry up a ton of peppermint and lemonbalm leaves, package them in canning jars with a bit of gingham and ribbon and call them Christmas Presents!

 

My house smelled wonderful for the first day or so, now we're all sick of the peppermint smell!

[Violet]

Making more zucchini candy. Black cherry now.

Jori,

No, don't use the base to dry on. I am afraid you will ruin the dehydrator.

 

[Cricket]

I have a tray of sliced Roma tomatoes, two trays of sliced okra, and a tray of diced peppers in the dehydrator right now. Harvested from the garden an hour before!

 

I am taking a quick iced tea break and will be back in in the kitchen dicing more peppers in a few minutes. I have two more trays I can fill.

[Christy]

Got a 2 liter jar full of mashes dehydrated potatos now. Colour stayed well and dry as anything.

 

Blanched 3kg of green beans already and they are drip drying to go into the dehyrator.

They'll make good mals in pouches with spices and saucepowder.

 

[Cricket]

Two pound frozen peas and two pounds frozen corn in the dehydrator since this morning.

[Christy]

The green beans shrivelled to next to nothing. Made some ginger syrup yesterday (2,5 liters) and the ginger is rolled in sugar. It's not as dry as I'd like it to be.

So in a moment I'm going to harvest the smal pumpkins here, cook them and dehydrate the puree. One tray will be sugared ginger, the rest pumpkin puree.

 

[Cricket]

Two more pounds of frozen sweet white corn and two pounds of frozen baby lima beans went in before bed last night. I am pretty much drying all my veggies for 12 hours. I want them totally dry!

 

After each batch is cool, I am putting them in zip top bags but not closing them all the way, then putting that bag into a Foodsaver bag and sucking them down to rock-hard little packets. Label and store!

 

The link Stephanie provided to http://dehydrate2store.com/videos/?id=45 has really inspired me and helped refine my techniques.

 

Thank you, Stephanie!!

[Simplegirl]

Made fruit rollups for Dad from some persimmon puree I had in the freezer from last year. I didn't know what I was going to use it for and he mentioned that he thought it would be good. So, got that out of the freezer and made Dad happy.

[zophiel]

Last Friday I got a dehydrator! ^___^ So far, I've dehydrated some corn, leeks, onions, limes and green bell peppers. Right now I've got lemons and my first attempt at fruit leather (strawberry-banana). ^____^ The limes and lemons I'll turn into flavor powders. . .

[Jori]

Well, we had a half gallon jar filled with dehydrated peaches but I think it's about halfway gone now So, when I hit the market tomorrow, I'll be picked up a bushel or 2 of peaches and putting more on the dehydrator.

[FINE]

5 pounds of sliced potatoes yesterday and another 6 pounds going in right now.

[Vlynn]

All nine trays of my Excalibur are loaded with tomatoes, and when they're done I have another load waiting to go in.

Edited September 7, 2009 by Vlynn

[Carie]

I've got basil finishing up in the oven. I mainly just dry herbs.

Blessings,

Carie

 

[Jake]

I dried some prune type plums. Blanched them in boiling water for 1 minute, cut them in half and removed pits and dried. They taste OK but don't look like store bought. I tried to do a couple whole but they too forever and I gave up on them, not worth the time. I will just can the rest of them. I also did more peppers and celery tops a couple days ago and used some of them in my spagetti sauce for dinner tonight, it added some very nice flavor and saved me a lot of time too.