What are you dehydrating today?

[Andrea]

We used to have a dehydrating thread but I can't seem to locate it.  These days, I tend to use my dehydrator and freezer more than my canner.  For the next few weeks, I'll be drying gallons upon gallons of sliced persimmons.  These not only make awesome gifts but they are an amazing natural sweetener for my baked oatmeal.   And of course, they make great snacks.  (stock photo)

 

[Mt_Rider]

DEHYDRATOR.....ACK!  Of all the things that happened today.....turning ON THE DEHYDRATOR was important.  I just RAN and did that...tonite...right now....11pm.  It will run all night, I guess.   

 

 

Answering your question......and welcome back, Andrea!!!!!!!!

 

Bananas.  That's what went into the dehydrator yesterday and we shut it off thru the night......meaning to turn it back on and finish this morning.      Sheeesh, so much went sideways today. 

 

MtRider  ....thanks for the reminder!     ....getting a baseline for dementia soon! 

[Mother]

I will be dehydrating mixed veggies soon.  I found a super buy on frozen ones.  They are so convenient to dehydrate.  I just spread them out on trays and dry.  I like to toss a handful or two into the crockpot along with broth, seasonings, and leftover meat for a rich, nutritious soup. 😋

[Andrea]

I'm on my third batch of persimmons.

 

[Mt_Rider]

Bananas are now dried and in a jar.  Since they had that long interlude with not dehydrating, we'll eat that batch first. 

 

MtRider    

[Homesteader]

Just pulled a jar-full of chopped celery out of the dehydrator this morning. We were gifted with about ten packages of celery sticks yesterday. Each one was 1.25 pounds. Not much left of them when the H2O is removed.    SIL is coming over today and we're processing about 15 heads of cabbage into freezer slaw, dehydrator, and sauerkraut. I sure love my SIL. We've become even closer since my brother died 6 years ago. She makes up for not having a real sis in life. And, she lives close. Her second hubby is a real gem too.  

[Andrea]

Can you guess?!? LOL

Homesteader - I don't like dehydrated celery, it reconstitutes weirdly.  BUT, I dehydrate it and grind it into a powder and it is the bomb in broths and salad dressings.  I also do the same thing with Egyptian Walking Onions.  Onion powder is okay, but green onion powder puts things over the top. 

 

(I planted 3 celery plants over a decade ago.  They freely reseed themselves EVERYWHERE)

[Homesteader]

17 hours ago, Andrea said:

I don't like dehydrated celery, it reconstitutes weirdly.

I blanched them first. I'll see how they reconstitute. I do have Egyptian Walking Onions but have never dried them. Thanks for the tip. What machine do you use to powder your products?

 

 

[Andrea]

I've always used a coffee grinder that I use only for dried veggies, sprouted wheat berries, and herbs.  

[Mt_Rider]

Ok.....THIS is an odd thing to dehydrate.  However, dehydrating always saves on weight and volume.  That's quite important for supplies in a B.O.  Or just having limited space.

 

How to dehydrate HONEY...and reconstitute it:

 

https://modernsurvivalonline.com/dehydrating-honey/

 

 

MtRider   

[Mother]

How vellllllly interesting!  🤔

[Littlesister]

I need to get back to dehydrating foods again. Haven't done that in over a year now. When I get the freezer cleaned out, I have a lot of frozen veggies in there. I will have to get those in dehydrator as I need to get freezer as empty as possible. Need the space for when I can find meats on a reduced price. I freeze it till I can get it all canned and in soups and stews that I want to can as well.  Trying hard to get back to doing things that Dh and I always did. Just makes it harder when you don't have him to be here to help you with it any longer, but he's here in spirit. 

[Mt_Rider]

Actually, I had honey mostly dehydrate in a container one time.  Odd...but still worked for eating.

 

MtRider 

[Jeepers]

I always wanted to have some powdered honey. I want to use it in it's powdered form. 

 

I looked every place on line. Every kind I saw had added sugar or corn syrup. All of them. 

 

I thought about dehydrating it myself. Wasn't sure how to go about it. Oh yeah. put it in my dehydrator. Sigh. 

 

Someone was over thinking this one. 

 

Thanks for the link Mt. Rider.

[Jeepers]

I bought four of the big bags of mixed veggies from Sam's club yesterday. I'm going to put them in the dehydrator tomorrow. I want to start back up dehydrating some food again. I'm thinking long term storage in case my regular food runs out. Back up to my backs ups I guess. To keep from starving. The veg is already prepared so all I have to do is load them up and wait. Easy Peasy. Especially with frozen food. Should have been doing it all along. 

 

My goal will be 9-10 different veggies in half gallon jars. Lets see:

1. Mixed Vegetables

2. Corn

3. Peas

4. Green Beans

5. Carrots

6. Bell Peppers

7. Celery

8. Tomatoes

9. Mushrooms

10. Onions.  Will buy those. I've heard they stink too bad! Even when done in a garage. 

 

Lemon Slices

Spicy Apples

Bananas

 

What else am I missing?   

 

[Mother]

What about other fruit?  You can, of course, buy them already dehydrated but I haven’t looked at the prices recently.  
 

We really like to dehydrate bananas.  We often get good buys on them and bags of brown spotted ones are good to dehydrate if they are not too ripe.  They are so easy to peel and slice right onto the trays.  We dry them until they are leathery, not brittle, as they are chewy then like banana flavored caramels.  When they aren’t dipped in lemon water they will get a bit brown but that only enhances the caramel like experience.  Our grands always head to the banana jars when they come and even the grand dogs love them as a treat. 

[gallovidian]

Started using my new dehydrator; mushrooms are done, I'm pleased with how they turned out.  Mixed veg now in there, apple slices next.

[Mother]

Gallovidian,  don’t forget to save and dry the apple peels to make roasted apple peel tea with.  The instructions are here somewhere in this thread I believe. If not and you want them, ask and I’ll post them.  

[Annarchy]

@gallovidian Congratulations!  Doesn’t it inspire you?  I’ve always enjoyed looking at and using the foods I have dehydrated and canned.  
 

@Jeepers Every year, around Thanksgiving and Christmas, we get a bag of apples to make one apple pie.  The rest are sliced, soaked in sugar and cinnamon, then, dehydrated.  DH puts them in his cereal.  
 

@Mother That’s something I never thought of.  Can you coat them with  cinnamon, and get apple cinnamon tea?

[Mother]

4 minutes ago, Annarchy said:

Can you coat them with  cinnamon, and get apple cinnamon tea?

Most certainly but the roasting of them tends to roast the cinnamon too, giving them a different taste.  I use cinnamon chips or sticks when I make the tea.  A whole new taste experience. 
 

 

[Mother]

I didn’t find the roasted apple peel tea here so will give it again.

Roasted Apple Peel Tea (My grandmother’s recipe)

 

Make sure the apple peels are organic and/or well washed.  Dehydrate the peelings until they are leathery dry.  Spread them on a baking sheet in a thin layer and roast in a 350° more or less oven.  Watch them closely.  The time will depend on the thickness of the peels.  Usually only five or ten minutes.  Roast until they are dark golden brown.  Cool and store in air tight containers.  It takes the equivalent of peels from two apples for eight to ten ounces of almost boiling water. Cover and let steep 8-10 minutes.  Adding cinnamon chips or stirring with a cinnamon stick gives it a wonderful taste.  Our kids loved it with Cinnamon Hot candy added. That is when they weren’t just snacking on the roasted peel.  

[Jeepers]

Cinnamon sugar apples are so good. 

 

I make my own vanilla sugar that I love. I'll bet cinnamon, vanilla and sugar would be good too. Or just vanilla sugar apples.  

[gallovidian]

On 1/28/2022 at 2:48 PM, Mother said:

Gallovidian,  don’t forget to save and dry the apple peels to make roasted apple peel tea with.  The instructions are here somewhere in this thread I believe. If not and you want them, ask and I’ll post them.  

Will be dehydrating with skins on, they're thin skinned eating apples. 

BTW, I'm not new to dehydrating, just this machine.  I used to have a large one, but it was sold and this small compact one suits me much better now.   

Edited January 30, 2022 by gallovidian

[Homesteader]

I was gifted with a case of baby carrots so dragged out the dehydrator and went to work. This is 16 pounds of carrots. Sure doesn't look like much.    Just a small handful will make a large pot of stew, though. They are in a cold dark room so should last several years, if I'm stingy with the amounts. I'm not. 

[Jeepers]

I was busy dehydrating this winter. All of the jars are 1/2 gallon jars and the bags are quarts. Most of the food was frozen food from Sam's Club. I bought the potatoes and onions already dehydrated. I accidently showed dried bell peppers twice but I only did two jars and not four. My carrots didn't turn out. They turned out black. A word of warning. I am terrible at taking pictures! When I sized them down they lost a lot of their clarity. BTW, the labels from the Dymo machine won't stick to the jar. I used the glossy Scotch tape over them and they came out nice. Next will be carrots...again. 

 

Green Beans. Corn.

 

Onions. Tri Color Bell Peppers.

 

Diced Potatoes. Sliced Potatoes.

 

Peas. Tri Color Bell Peppers.

 

Chicken Veggie Mix. Veggie Mix. Beef Veggie Mix.

 

 

Not dehydrated but...

 

2 Cream Of Wheat. 1 Quinoa.

 

 Barley Flakes. Pearl Barley.