steveh_131
Grandmaster
Over this last week I have started some experimenting with dehydrating foods. Since I started out a total n00b I thought I would share my experiences with anyone else who is interested in it but is also a n00b.
I picked up an old Excalibur 4-tray dehydrator on ebay for $65. (It seems to be nothing more than a heating element and fan, so I wasn't too concerned about getting one that is old and used).
I purchased it because we have fruit trees that produce way more fruit in the fall than we can possibly eat, and I thought this might be a convenient and easy way to store it.
So far I have only experimented with cheap produce bought on sale at Aldi.
My results are as follows:
Strawberries - Sliced into 1/4" slices, didn't do any pretreatment. Dehydrated for around 16 hours. Rotated trays every 4 hours. They are very hard and chewy. I think 16 hours may have been too long, I may try the second batch at 12 hours. Overall, I'm not a big fan of these.
Apples - Peeled, cored, sliced into 1/4" slices. I put 1 teaspoon of citric acid into 1 qt of water and let them soak in it for 10 minutes. Dehydrated at 150 degrees for 3 hours then 135 degrees for 10 hours, rotating trays periodically.
Next I plan to try pears, bananas, beef jerky, and various types of fruit leathers.
Does anybody else here do much with this? I'd love to hear ideas. I'm mostly interested in anything that saves money and allows for some extra food stores to add to my supplies.
And if you have any other recipes, feel free to share. My biggest problem so far has been figuring out when they're finished drying. The apples still seem to have a little moisture in them, especially the thicker slices.
I picked up an old Excalibur 4-tray dehydrator on ebay for $65. (It seems to be nothing more than a heating element and fan, so I wasn't too concerned about getting one that is old and used).
I purchased it because we have fruit trees that produce way more fruit in the fall than we can possibly eat, and I thought this might be a convenient and easy way to store it.
So far I have only experimented with cheap produce bought on sale at Aldi.
My results are as follows:
Strawberries - Sliced into 1/4" slices, didn't do any pretreatment. Dehydrated for around 16 hours. Rotated trays every 4 hours. They are very hard and chewy. I think 16 hours may have been too long, I may try the second batch at 12 hours. Overall, I'm not a big fan of these.
Apples - Peeled, cored, sliced into 1/4" slices. I put 1 teaspoon of citric acid into 1 qt of water and let them soak in it for 10 minutes. Dehydrated at 150 degrees for 3 hours then 135 degrees for 10 hours, rotating trays periodically.
Next I plan to try pears, bananas, beef jerky, and various types of fruit leathers.
Does anybody else here do much with this? I'd love to hear ideas. I'm mostly interested in anything that saves money and allows for some extra food stores to add to my supplies.
And if you have any other recipes, feel free to share. My biggest problem so far has been figuring out when they're finished drying. The apples still seem to have a little moisture in them, especially the thicker slices.