Food drying - Dehydrators (merged)

purpleivy

purpleivy wrote: »

OK! peppers are in dehydrator and it's on. Let's see if someone can answer before they are starting to look funny.:rolleyes: WHat will they look like when they're ready .

Bump! nearly 2 hours!

savvy

Haven't you got a leaflet with it that tells you??

Hawthorn

purpleivy wrote: »

I have decided to get my dehydrator out of the box for the first time today. How long do pepper slices and apple slices take...approx?

Which dehydrator have you got?

purpleivy

savvy wrote: »

Haven't you got a leaflet with it that tells you??

Can't locate it at the mo. I got the dehydrator in March, took the paperwork out of the box and.... well you know...

My dh can't fathom why I would want such a gadget, so need to get some stuff made!

apple_mint

It depends on the thickness of the slices as to how long they take. I haven't done peppers since I first got mine as I tend to just chop them and put them in the freezer.

I have a cheap dehydrator and tend to use it for drying apples. OH slices them thinly using the mandolin (I'm not too good at using this safely :rolleyes:). It takes around 7 hours for a stack of 6 or 7 trays to dry in my machine. At first the apple slices used to stick to the trays, but we worked out that if you take the trays off one at a time and remove the sliced apples immediately then they come away from the trays cleanly.

Unfortunately, I never get to use them in cooking because OH sneaks into the pantry and steals my stash of dried apples :cool: They are lovely crumbled into a museli mix.

AlwaysHappy

Hope the peppers turned out well for you purpleivy - let us know how you got on. I must get my dehydrator out again - in the garage, used only the once - did strawberries, apples and mushrooms. They were all a success - next time I get some cheap supplies must get myself motivated!

D&DD

Purple just zooming in as its time for DS3's [STRIKE]flood[/STRIKE] bath

I generally do mine til they are still bendy/leathery takes around 6 hours in mine.If you do them til they are crispy you can whizz them down into your own seasoning,similar to chilli powder but not so hot.
I'll be back later once all the tykes are in bed :rolleyes:
HTH
D XX

tiff

I've been researching dehydrating food and ordered the cheap Westfalia one. I do like the look of the Excalibur ones and might invest if I use this cheap one enough. You can always line the trays with baking paper or foil to prevent food sticking to the tray.

I found a series of 10 videos on youtube about dehydrating fruit and veg, storing and using dehydrated food in recipes. Hope it helps anyone thinking of doing this.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Dehydrate2store

Apparently 5lbs of potatoes will fit in one jar so that shows how much food you can store in little space.

AlwaysHappy

found a series of 10 videos on youtube about dehydrating fruit and veg, storing and using dehydrated food in recipes. Hope it helps anyone thinking of doing this.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Dehydrate2store

I've just watched the first few of these, she is amazing- I've got the cheap one from westfalia and only used it once, though am now thinking of getting it back out. The excalibur seems a lot better, but so expensive, perhaps if I start using mine loads could justify it from Santa? Anyway, am now more confused than ever - what does everyone else do with their stuff thats dried, I just chucked mine into screw top jars, but she is talking about oxygen packs, sealers, special bags....... I'll need a remortgage and what would be the cost saving?

tiff

Did I not just say that? lol

I've been looking into the oxygen absorbers, those are only used if you plan to store the dehydrated food for a very long time. Otherwise the food will be fine in an airtight jar. A lot of Americans are planning and storing food for an expected food shortage, which is why they are vacuum sealing and using oxygen absorbers.

This company produce the oxygen absorbers in the UK http://www.emcouk.com/Oxygen_CO2Absorbers.shtml

and I've seen the mylar bags on http://www.selfsufficiencyshop.co.uk/