Food drying - Dehydrators (merged)

ceridwen

Well....I'm planning on trying out the limes I dehydrated in drinks, sweet things, my morning porridge, maybe a bit in quorn type "mains" for dinner.....

I've got very "citrusy" tastes personally - so I'll probably chuck them into everything I do over the next few weeks/months...hm....pancakes with yogurt dressing with a bit of citrus "dust"??? hmm..dried yogurt circles with a bit of dried lime in???

I'm sure I'll think of loads personally....:)

Pitlanepiglet

Hmm maybe I'll review the dried ones. I froze the rest of mine rather than drying them. We're also five miles plus from a shop so I tend to keep lemons in the freezer. Would like to like the dried ones....will start to experiment!

[Deleted User]

The oranges and lemons turned out fantastically well and took 6 hours for a 9 tray. We cannot go anywhere today so I have been doing kitchen stuff and put bramley apple slices to soak for an eves pudding and then thought I would add some dried orange. I just broke the flesh into pieces and added a touch on cinnamon and it is all soaking now. The rind smells divine and was easy to break away so I have added it to shop bought dried fruit ie apricots pears etc. It smells gorgeous and I can see the orange slices being wonderful in christmas drinks like mulled wine. A few days ago I also added orange slices and fresh rosemary to a roasting chicken

I am very very pleased with the results so far and will dehydrate loads over the next year or as soon as I can get to costco, at least for tomatoes and mushrooms

I will def use rind in cakes

Pitlanepiglet

We bought a big bag of horse carrots yesterday so I need to get the book out to work out how best to dehydrate some of those. Will try using some of the dried lemons and see how they work out.

Still need to do some more apples!

Glad yours is working well Kittie

Seakay

Sunnyday wrote: »

Midnight raven your lemons look lovely!

I`ve just been sorting through a cupboard and the oranges and lemons that i dried until they were brittle previously are now bendy and supple :eek:

Will they still be ok? Any comments appreciated.

I had intended to use most of them as christmas decs or maybe pot pourri but it would be nice to be able to throw a couple of slices in the slowcooker with a chicken.

SD

Bendy lemons will be ok to use, but best to keep them in something airtight if possible, as eventually they will get so moist that they go off. The drier something is the more likely it is to pick up some moisture from the atmosphere
(See QI, stale biscuits go soft because they start off with less moisture than the atmosphere, cakes go hard because they start off with more moisture than the atmosphere so lose it)

purpleivy

Last year I cut up some rather iffy oranges and dried them for use on our wreath and some other decorations.

Pitlanepiglet

I know what I meant to ask earlier. Does anyone make a veggie stock powder? I seem to use quite a lot of stock cubes to make soups and because I don't like the MSG type stuff in cheap cubes I tend to buy more expensive ones. I remember reading that I can make stock with dehydrated vegetables, I think by just blitzing up some mixed veg to a powder and adding that.

Does anyone do this and could give me some advice?

Sunnyday

Seakay wrote: »

Bendy lemons will be ok to use, but best to keep them in something airtight if possible, as eventually they will get so moist that they go off. The drier something is the more likely it is to pick up some moisture from the atmosphere
(See QI, stale biscuits go soft because they start off with less moisture than the atmosphere, cakes go hard because they start off with more moisture than the atmosphere so lose it)

Thanks so much for this Seakay :T I was putting off using them until i was sure that they would be ok.

I`m wondering if the ziploc bag that they are in has a small hole in as everything else is fine, nice to know that they won`t have to be wasted - i`ll just use them soon and use some for christmas decs.

Thanks again.

SD

[Deleted User]

I have onions, peppers and porcini soaking to use in a stew later. Mornings I chop dried apple and add to oats with a little cinnemon. Lovely. Dried foods are very useful in my store cupboard this cold spell

re ziplock: the costco ones have 2 zips and are very secure and I`ll be using them in the future

[Deleted User]

I am going to be dehydrating foods all summer as I have come to the conclusion that they will be the most reliable in the event of a power cut. They are absolutely lovely when rehydrated