I just found my wifes dehydrator. (It was misplaced about a year ago) That started me to wonder What is your favorite thing to dehydrate? We've really not gotton a lot of use out of this thing yet. So some ideas, pointers and imagination would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

-- Kenneth in N.C. (wizardsplace13@hotmail.com), August 21, 2001

Answers

I'm not going to be any help. The only thing I have dehydrated so far is apples and I'm not sure I did it exactly right. They were okay but probably could have been better somehow. I am about to try to dehydrate tomatoes. My mom says they work really well.

-- Deena in GA (dsmj55@aol.com), August 21, 2001.

Neil bought an air-drying dehydrator thing for me as one of my Christmas gifts. I had visions of drying bananas and tomatoes, and pineapple slices..yummy....then I read the book that came with the device. It said that if you live in the deep South, you don't have a prayer of dehydrating anything unless you use an oven...whaaah! Anybody up North want a once-used hanging dehydrator for cheap??? LOL

-- lesley (martchas@bellsouth.net), August 21, 2001.

Dip banana slices in pineapple juice before drying. Apples in heated honey then dipped in cinnamon. Herbs dry nicely. Potatoes dry very well, they have to be blanched first. Jerky. Pears, strawberries, peaches, blueberry leather, then cut up in granola. Yum Yum.

-- Cindy (S.E.IN) (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), August 21, 2001.

Assemble all the vegetables that would go into your favorite soup if you could have those available year round and dry them together then bag it all up. This way I can have things like parsley root and kohlrabi in my soup even after the cellar stores are gone, wilted or rotten.

When I dry tomatoes I first cut it all into thin sandwich type slices and dry them until they are hard like wood chips. I layer the tomato chips in a jar and cover in olive oil with a ring and lid (just tight enough to keep the bugs and dust out). When Im cooking then and need just a little color or just a hint of tomatoe in with a roast or something I can just throw a couple chips in which rehydrate right back to tomatoe slices. The stem and blossom ends dont dry well. Those I grind up and dry into leather. Crumple up the leather and stick it to the bottom of a small crock (like a lard tub). Cover with olive oil and leave it sit next to the stove. When you are cooking and have a receipe that calls for a few tablespoons of paste you just dig some out of the little crock and dont waste 1/2 a can.

Wild currants grow all over the place around here and out of season currants are too expensive for this wallet so, I make a bunch of dried currants and save those for winter baking and breakfast cereal.

-- William in Wi (gnarledmaw@lycos.com), August 22, 2001.

Spinach is good. Crumple the dried leaves and store in a ziploc bag. then rehydrate in a little water and use in quiches, omelets, pasta, and so on. Apples and plums are standard, but they often don't last long enough to have many to store! Too much sampling. Zuchinni is very good dried and then used in soups, minestrone or whatever. I have had dried huckleberries (talk about willpower! Who could sit around watching whole trays of huckleberries drying?)and they were quite good. If you get one of the apple corer-peeler-slicers, that will cut your work considerably and you can dry a lot of apples. They are really good eaten as is or thrown into a pot of oatmeal.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), August 22, 2001.

Answer: Myself, if I'm not careful, cuz I am such a workaholic I hardly ever stop for a drink! NOT! Sorry Kenneth, just couldn't help myself. ;)

-- Cynthia in MN (farmsteader@gvtel.com), August 22, 2001.

HELP! My wife has burnt 4 trays of food and melted 3 trays. The banana chips were black and not tasty. Yes she coated the banana slices with lemon juice.

So give us suggestions. Is there a way to get the dehydrarted result using the oven? Someone said being in the south messes with dehydrators is that true of the electric variety?

-- Kenneth in N.C. (wizardsplace13@hotmail.com), August 23, 2001.

Kenneth, I live in middle Tn and use electric dehydrators all the time. One has a fan and the other doesnt. I dont know about the bananas. I found I could buy the chips at an amish store for less than I could buy the fruit. But everything else I've tried has worked great. My favorite is roma tomatoes. It makes flavored pasta not just colored but actually flavored. We like it a lot. Blessings Peggy

-- peggy (wclpc@cookeville.com), August 23, 2001.

Peggy, Ours has no fan. Do you do anything different in preparation for the no fan unit?

-- Kenneth in N.C. (wizardsplace13@hotmail.com), August 23, 2001.

Yes, you can use the oven on low heat, use cookie sheets. You can also hang screens from the ceiling, especially in the winter when the stove is going, that is when we dry the apples.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), August 24, 2001.

Kenneth, I dont do anything different. The one with the fan drys faster so I have to check more often. I rotate the trays about every 30 minutes. Put the top on bottom etc. because the top trays dont dry as fast, especially the one without the fan. I've use it on the back porch (no ac) and inside with it with the same results. I tried leaving it on all night but didnt like the results on either dryer. It works better to rotate the trays. I sure hope this helps. Drying stuff is a real good way to preserve food as it takes up so little space. I highly recommend the book Mary Bells Complete Dehydrator Cookbook. Its like the bible of dehydrating and has all the information you need plus a lot of stuff you'd never think of. Blessings Peggy

-- peggy (wclpc@cookeville.com), August 25, 2001.

Peggy,

WEnt to the library. Didn't have Mary Bells book but we did check out, "STOCKING UP III" by Carol Hupping, "The Big Book Of Preserving the Harvest" by Carol Costenbader and Sunset Books "Canning, Freezing, Drying, Pickling and Smoking"

Once we figured out the right set-up the thing seems to work ok. Apples turned out fine. Tomotaes on now.

-- Kenneth in N.C. (wizardsplace13@hotmail.com), August 25, 2001.

We dehydrate our extra zucchinni. Use them for chicken feed in the winter. :-)

-- Donald Clark (don@gemsociety.org), July 05, 2003.

IVE DEHYDRATED TOMATOS FOR YEARS. I USUALLY DRY THEM TILL THEY ARE CRISP AND THEN FREEZE THEM,(I WAS TOLD YOU NEEDED TO FREEZE THEM TO KILL ANY BACTERIA). THEY ARE GREAT IN SOUP IN THE WINTER OR CRUMBLED IN SPAGHETTI SAUCE. I'VE EVEN GROUND THEM UP WITH SPICES IN A FOOD PROCESSOR AND MADE MY OWN SEASONINGS. SLICE THEM ABOUT A 1/4 INCH THICK. CHERRY TOMATOES SLICE IN HALF AND THEY WILL DRY FASTER. THE RIPER THE BETTER.

-- dave biggers (dvbigears@aol.com), July 08, 2003.

There are tons and tons of ideas on the web...... I have been looking at solar dehydrator plans and have an idea of what modifications I will make to mine.... I live in Marietta Ga. and am looking for advice on dehydrating here. Anyone out there with experience in this area? Solar vs electric. Any Hanging dehydrator experiences in this area? Thanks in advance!

Phil in Ga.

-- Phil Young (pyoung@ssumc.org), June 10, 2004.