Dehydrating

[yotetrapper]

Ok, So I got a new dehydrator for my birthday. I wanted it for jerky mainly, and was thinking of dehydrating small berries to use in muffins and breads later on. But what else??

I'd like to dry out stuff to get a stock of non perishable (or long lasting) foods built up. What all do you dehydrate, and how do you use it when your ready to cook with it?

Thanks!

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

We dehydrate just about everything from our garden. My favorite - tomato chips! Slice a meaty tomato relatively thin. Put a fresh basil leave on top and sprinkle with sea salt. Yum. We do plain sliced tomatoes, okra, hot peppers, eggplant etc. Great for soups and stews in the winter.

Got mine just for jerky too and have only made it once...veggies are much better! Have FUN!

Oh - forgot green beans!! They are wonderful. Just soak in hot water until soft, then add to soups/stews so they don't suck up too much liquid.

 

[dangerouschicken]

ZUCHINNI! Makes great chips to add to soups... plump right up. Make lots of fruit leather, too. Really tasty! Figs are nice, as are making your own raisins. Our kids love the apple chips, too.

 

[flakey chick]

We use dehydrated stuff for camping and emergency supplies (hurricane kit). We put things in small sandwhich bags and then put the freezer bags and store them in the freezer. We have one freezer bag for fruits and one for veggies. Sometimes we bpre-mix recipies. My husband has one for cinimon apples with dried apples red hots and I forget what else.

When I buy a package of mushrooms, I dehydrate what I won't be able to use fresh. Do dehydrate the food while it is at its freshest.

 

[yotetrapper]

Thanks all. Does anyone know if chicken can be made into jerky or dehydrated any other way?

 

[Sandrachx]

what about onions? also, "winter onions" as my husband calls them - look like very large chives or green onions. can they be dehydrated and how? after dehydration, should they be put in zip lock bags + freezer or can they be put in jars and kept on a shelf?

 

[Carolyn]

I love having peppers and onions to put in soups etc as well as adding to spices, garlic, etc and grinding for my own seasoning mix. I dry veggies until they aren't soft any more.

Mother Earth News and Countryside current issues both have articles on drying. I am playing with it even more this year, after prices at the groc keep going uppppppppp!

Does anyone do the one minute blanch or steam before drying veggies? How can you use potatoes except in soup?

 

[SterlingAcres]

I've never had a dehydrator, but I'm considering it.
My grandfather has one and we loved banana and apple chips when we were kids.

 

[chickymama25]

I like to use mine to do fruit leather or fruit roll-ups (any pureed fruit mixture, including apple sauce will do). The problem is that I usually eat them before I can put them away...plus they do tend to stick to the sheet. I don't know if spraying them with nonstick spray would help.
I think I am going to try some zucchini slices too since we have them coming out of our ears!

 

[Wildsky]

I've done the fruit leather and jerky - you can dry herbs and such as well.

I've got Garlic in the mail (seconds) going to dry that for feeding to animals.

(OH I dried my husbands pager in there after it fell in the river

)

I make snack/treats for the dog - using meat.