Food dehydrating

[tripletfeb]

Starting a new journey. Bought a Nesco food dehydrator from Walmart today and filled it with bananas and strawberries. I'm excited to see how they turn out and how well they store. I've done a lot of research but am always willing to learn more so if anyone has any hints or tips, let me know! I plan on doing more fruits and veggies in the future. And I bought herb seeds today, will dehydrate those too when it's time

 

[tripletfeb]

I'll let you know in the morning, it says they take 6-12 hours to dry. But could be more. I'm excited to eat them!

 

[tripletfeb]

I’ve had a dehydrator for years. I love mine.
My kids love the jerky best.
Fruits: pears, dates, apples, bananas, apricots, plums, tomatoes.
Experiment with peaches and mangos…we didn’t like them as well.
Vegetables: all peppers, onion, garlic, carrot, peas.

You can pressure can the dehydrated veggies or seal in bags for your freezer. Vacuum sealers are great too.
A coffee grinder makes quick powders for spices.

Nice! One good thing is it's making the house smell wonderfully strawberry banana!

 

[WIchickMama]

Would love to see how they turn out, I have been researching dehydrators too!

 

[NanaKat]

I’ve had a dehydrator for years. I love mine.
My kids love the jerky best.
Fruits: pears, dates, apples, bananas, apricots, plums, tomatoes.
Experiment with peaches and mangos…we didn’t like them as well.
Vegetables: all peppers, onion, garlic, carrot, peas.

You can pressure can the dehydrated veggies or seal in bags for your freezer. Vacuum sealers are great too.
A coffee grinder makes quick powders for spices.

 

[Chuckie chicken]

My better half used ours all the time back in the homeland. Among many other things, she makes raw chocolate in it, which is amazing.

 

[tripletfeb]

My better half used ours all the time back in the homeland. Among many other things, she makes raw chocolate in it, which is amazing.

That would be awesome! Care to share how?

 

[addctd2plnts]

Very neat thread. We are currently renovating our farm ranch and have a large walk in pantry. I like to garden and also have an area for fruit trees and veggie garden. When I had 8 children at home, I always had a food storage area that was amazingly organized and we made sure to rotate recipes to use things. I like to gourmet cook which takes a variety of food. One thing that I always kept on hand was cans of freeze dried fruits and veggies, but the cost was astronomical. I found Harvest Right Freeze Dryers ( https://harvestright.com/home-freeze-dryers/ ) and we decided to invest in being more prepared and to better save and store our harvests. You can also freeze dry meat when prices are down or buy in bulk. I've dry pack canned in the past, and it's super easy. After losing 2 large freezers of food, more than once, when electricity went out in storms, it would be nice to have a food supply that not dependent on electricity. Plus, we want to continue fostering personal responsibility and preparedness in our children and grand children.

 

[saysfaa]

Let us know how it goes! I never thought about dehydrating zukes

The dehydrated summer squash did very well on pizza. Dh liked the pizza very much until he asked what was on it. Then he said squash does NOT go on pizza! But was only a principal thing; not because of the results.

I used slices of one at the almost gone to seed stage, so it had a rim tapering quickly to nothing. I don't think I like the idea of solid pieces either. The lacy ones sort of mostly disappeared into the sauce and/or among the other toppings.

Otherwise, we are still eating fresh zucchini and yellow summer squash (and other vegetables) so haven't used the dried ones in anything else. Those summer squash were just in the way at the time.

 

[tripletfeb]

Well, the bananas and strawberries are done. Pretty yummy! What should I do next? Apples maybe