Dehydrating my own fruits and veggies-questions!!

[xchairity_casex]

Hello! I was wondering if anyone could help me out.
Well, i own rats-i love rats, i own many rats. The other day i went looking for some natural and healthy rat treats at the local pet shop, they didnt have much of a selection of healhty snacks, everything was pure sugar!!!
so it got me to thinking about getting a dehydrator and making my own, i also started thinking about maybe selling some to my local pet shop to sell, as im sure im not the only rat lover who wants a healthy treats for there pet.

SO, onto my question-if i did this, would i need to add a preservative to the dried fruits in order to store them in a sealed baggy NOT in the fridge?

 

[wyoDreamer]

I have dried apples in my pantry from 2 years ago - still good to eat. That is the beauty of dehydrating. I dip mine in a water and lemon juice mix to keep them from going brown in the dehydrator. I dehydrate apples, cherries, bananas, strawberries and beef jerky.

What kinds of snacks would you dehydrate for rats?

 

[erinszoo]

No, you shouldn't need any preservative for them. Like WyoDreamer said, some fruits you have to dip in lemon juice to keep them from turning brown and some vegies have to be blanched in boiling water before they will dry properly. Grapes and cranberries as well have to be dipped in boiling water to "check" their skins to help them dry. There is lots of info online about how to dry different things or you might look at your local library for a book on dehydrating to help you with specifics of what you are actually drying.