Dehydrating fresh blueberries

[sassenach]

I have heard complaints of how long it can take to dehydrate blueberries if they are whole or even with a hole pierced in each berry.

 

What about just slicing them in half and then dehydrating? Has anyone tried that? If so, how long did it generally take to dry them that way?

[Mt_Rider]

Hi Arby, I dehydrate blueberries when they come cheap to the stores. Slicing or poking holes would be too time consuming . I dip them in boiling water for a few seconds. Lift the sieve and shake or drain. Then CAREFULLY - cuz that blue stain is hard to get out - arrange them on the dehydrator trays. More messy than just rolling them onto the tray fresh, but this gets past that waxy shell they have.

 

BTW, you might see fluffy, purple,papery stuff after they are dry. I believe it's the outer coating and I include that in the bag with the blueberries.

 

These are really good in granola cereal, etc. They are potent flavor.

 

For cleaning the dehydrator trays, I soak them in some soapy water. In necessary, I put a tiny bit of bleach in a rinse soak. [not mixing the bleach with the soapy water, of course.... ]

 

MtRider

[sassenach]

ok, that sounds just fine to me , how you do it! I can do that and its not as time consuming. Thanks for the explanation!

It works!

[ma & pa steel]

here is a link for slicing them in half to dehydrate them.

http://knol.google.com/k/how-to-dehydrate-blueberries-cranberries-raspberries-blackberries#

[sassenach]

thanks ma and pa! that works to and is what I would have done if I did not find Mt Riders information. copied it and pasted it too for my notes on dehydrating!

[FarmLife]

Would you be able to dehydrate previously frozen blueberries without cutting in half or blanching? I'm thinking the freezing swelled the berries and split the skin just as blanching or cutting would do? I've got lots of last year's berries still vac packed in the freezer - dehydrating would be a great option to free up space!

[Daylily]

I think you could dehydrate frozen ones without any further treatment. The point of blanching is to get rid of the waxy "bloom" on the skins so the insides will dry.

 

I've tried both ways and much prefer blanching. Slicing each berry takes forever and I don't have that much time! When you blanch, it's just a quick dip in and out of boiling water.

[sassenach]

Thanks Daylily.

[FarmLife]

Thanks for the answer, daylily! I've got the dehydrator running right now drying some sprouted wheat berries. I may have to go defrost some blueberries and try it out!

[sassenach]

honestly I wont be doing alot all at once and it sounds like blanching would work just great for my purposes.

[Mt_Rider]

Farmlife, you can skip the defrost for anything you wish to dehydrate. Frozen peas, beans, beets, cauliflower, ....... Just spread them out on the trays and let the defrost move into dehydrating. Add a bit more time but

 

Just watch cuz there will likely be more juice from the previously frozen berries of any kind....kinda messy. Might want to wipe it up half way thru the drying. Unless you are trying for fruit leather.

 

And yes, once frozen, the coating is broken up already.

 

MtRider :pc-coffee:

[Jeepers]

I dehydrate straight from the freezer to the dehydrator too. I line my plastic trays with wax paper anyway so there is no mess. But then again corn, peas and carrots etc. doesn't have that much water to drip. I haven't ventured into the fruits yet.

[sassenach]

good tips, I was thinking of doing frozen blueberries but would do blanching and drying if I can figure out a way to get up to Rulfs and get blueberries there on the farm. But can try the wax paper in the trays too with the frozen. that should help with clean up.

[FarmLife]

All good tips! My dehydrator trays all have the fruit leather inserts, so I wouldn't have to line with wax paper, but the blueberry juice may discolor my trays

[sassenach]

Yes I have a couple fruit leather trays but blueberry stain is really sturdy so wax paper would be easier clean up for me and probably every one

[Jeepers]

I don't have the leather making inserts. I started using wax paper when I was dehydrating peas and they kept falling through the slits of the trays. Corn will fall through mine too. It also keeps veggies/fruit from sticking to the trays. Mine are the cheaper plastic trays and not the Excaliber (sp) one.

 

I use the paper over and over for numerous loads of produce. If I'm doing carrots, I'll use the same paper for 4-5 loads.

 

When I dehydrate carrots without the wax paper, sometimes some of the carrot slices will wrap themselves around a piece of the slit on the tray and dry on it. It can be really difficult getting it untangled. On the paper, they slide right off.

[Mt_Rider]

Just a touch of bleach water should clean up the fruit-leather trays.

 

One of the things I've lost thru the years was all of my fruit leather inserts except one. You know the thin plastic cutting boards that are sold now. I'd bet you could cut them to size for that purpose.

 

MtRider