Food drying - Dehydrators (merged)

Ken68

Thanks Kittie, not sure if farmers have to wait the normal 10 to 14 days after spraying before sending for drying and storage.
My bible is Frances Moore Lappe' "Diet for a Small Planet".
More about combining non meat High Protein food.

D&DD

kittie wrote: »

Tbh I just don`t know why people don`t get a good dehdrator instead of a second freezer. No constant running costs and such a small space for the unit and now that I am well into it, I am thinking it is so much more versatile. The foods turn out beautifully and the flavour tends to be much better

ooh you are a little minx,I've been resisting the call of an excalibur...til I read this

I have 1 full height freezer,a chest freezer and a fridge freezer and I'm always moaning about the lack of space in my kitchen..

The majority of the contents in the chest freezer can be dehydrated as its garden produce.

I have a few backpackers books and they are great as are the raw food sites for different types of recipes crackers etc
I also have the dehydrator bible and mary bells great book so I have no excuse for not using mine more now I've got the knack of it all and using the dried stuff in my cooking..
Any ideas where the excaliber is the cheapest at the mo??

D&DD

Ken I have tons of freshly picked yellow cherry plums do you think they're worth dehydrating then?
I was planning to use some for jam and freeze some for crumbles etc
(I only have the Tchibo dryer )

Pineapple,cherries etc always come out great in it but I just read your post above about your plums ooer that sounds dodgy but you know what I mean!!
Thanks

Ken68

Hi D...not a lot of pulp on my small yellow plums, so after drying was a lot of skin.
I cut out most of the stones with a knife but did some with a cherry de-stoner. Perhaps using the latter would leave more fruit.
Maybe better jammed and some in the dryer as an experiment.
Not everything comes out tops and also some surprises like the extra colour and enhanced taste as with pineapples.

D&DD

Thanks very much Ken,I'll use some for jam then and I'm going to turn some into leather I think ..will let you know how it turns out.
It's the first time we've found that tree on the downs so not used them before.

[Deleted User]

I was given a load of cherry plums and simmered to soft, then used my big metal grown up mouli, which separated the stones, so I was left with quite a thick puree. I made bottled plum sauce but could easily have put blobs on the paraflex sheets and dehydrated, to use in the future

D and DD I don`t know where is cheapest but highly recommend getting the 9 tray one, mine is in use all the time at the moment.

My tomatoes took me by surprise this afternoon, I have been removing when orange and wrapping individually in newspaper. Many of them are suddenly very ripe and they are mostly large. I have already dehydrated slices so I skinned and removed seeds, liquidised with a shot of lemon juice. Blobs put on the paraflex trays and I will powder the result, which will give me an awesome useful product

9 trays of sliced jonagolds today, 22 large apples, filled about 3 litres. I put my small dehumidifier in the utility and the produce is drying much quicker. Tomorrow will be beetroots and some of my courgettes and the green beans are ok in green bags in the fridge for now

I tried all sorts of preserving methods last year, including brining and my brined beans are still good but no more as I am trying hard to get value for space and for that it has to be the drying

[Deleted User]

is anyone else at it? I`ve been so so busy as autumn is coming to the allotment. Today green beans and courgettes and waiting in line I have about 10 kg of swedes and enough beetroot to fill 9 trays and more. Am loving using the prepared dried foods already and it is so worth being shattered at the moment. Am finding the dried bananas a really good standby for adding to all sorts of fruit crumbles

prepareathome

I didn't have that much from the garden but all bar tomatoes which are still green and celery which I am hoping will grow a bit more have been dehydrated so I went out to a cheap fruit and veg shop yesterday and bought a whole lot of fruit and veg to dehydrate( what he sells lasts a few days then starts to go off, why he can sell so cheap as not the freshest, but at price he sells I can stock up on dehydrated food.

Doing my first very wet fruits just now apricots and flat nectarines( never seen them before but they taste nice), just waiting for jars to sterilise and then going to take my bananas out of dehydrator and put them in the jars. Up till now I have only frozen my dehydrated foods.

D&DD

I can get my Excalibur :j:j

I love my mum and dad lol..I've just had to pay out nearly £300 to get my sewing machines repaired so was trying to recoup the outlay into the emergency fund before I bought the new dehydrator but today my parents offered to pay for the repairs for me :A sooo I'm going to take the plunge and order one once the money clears..no dithering or I'll chicken out of spending it.

Reporting back on the plum leather it worked really well so will be off to the tree tomorrow to get some more in readiness for the 'new arrival'

[Deleted User]

:j:j:j
so PLEASED for you DDD

Did loads of swede today, much easier than spuds. Peeled and made cubes about 3/8 " and that is it. 125 degrees

Tomatoes are on going, did 9 full trays yesterday and looks as though more will be ready to dry by tomorrow. I have a tomato glut. 145 degrees for tomatoes

DDD ask at the market for trays or sacks of whatever, unless you grow your own. Onions apples bananas courgettes and mushrooms are very easy to start with. A mandolin is good but watch fingers

Am thinking about dehydrating compote, made two lots fresh so far ie frozen rhubarb, blackcurrants, strawberries, blackberries all just quietly simmered. Don`t try unless you have paraflex sheets. I used greaseproof once!! Depends on freezer space