DEHYDRATING

[The WE2's]

Bludberries...my preference is to blend them and put them in my leather trays. They're wonderful!

[Jeepers]

Blueberry leather sounds so good.

[The WE2's]

Curently have two trays of fresh parsley in my dehydrator. It will be tasty for cooking :-)

[Mt_Rider]

Bludberries...my preference is to blend them and put them in my leather trays. They're wonderful!

 

 

Whoa....that would be easy and it could be turned into syrup from the 'leather'....

 

MtRider ...

[RoseMarie]

My blueberries in the freezer were many years old. Found them near the bottom. They were SO dehydrated from being in there so long. I simmered them with sugar/water for a while. They plumped right up. Then added a bit of corn starch and had the best topping for pancakes.

 

MtRider .....assume it would work for blueberries that you've INTENTIONALLY dehydrated too.

Good idea I hadn't thought about that! Might have to make some syrup out of some of them. I have a whole bag of them in the bottom of it.

[RoseMarie]

Bludberries...my preference is to blend them and put them in my leather trays. They're wonderful!

THANK YOU for that idea to! That way the hulls would be put to good use to when doing the syrup. Although one could deh. the hulls as well. Although my chickens would love me for sure if they got the hulls! lol you should see their little butts jumping up after the blueberries on the bush. SOOOO stinkin' cute!

Edited February 2, 2016 by RoseMarie

[kyles mom]

How long does dehydrated fruit and veggies last when packaged in mylar or glass jars with oxygen absorbers?

[The WE2's]

How long does dehydrated fruit and veggies last when packaged in mylar or glass jars with oxygen absorbers?

 

I've got gallon size jars of pasta that were vacuum sealed (with the cannister lid attachment) and I opened one, it was fine. I have frozen vegetables that I thawed & dehydrated and vacuum sealed in jars, 3 and 4 years ago. Their fine also. Even chocolate candy, watermelon chips, canteloupe chips, and lots of other things I've dehydrated and vacuum sealed in jars, including herbs and spices. In the beginning (4 years ago) and didn't use oxygen absorbers, but I do now...just to make sure. As for mylar...I'm very careful what I store in mylar bags. I've had mice chew holes in the bags. Now we always put the oxygen absorbers in the bag (little, medium or large sized bags), seal them with an iron and then put them in gasket seal buckets. I have the rotating-type lids for buckets that I'm in and out of, and I only put small bags of food in them since I know I'll be throwing away the oxygen absorber when I open it. I have (several times) tested the oxygen absorbers when I open a jar, by putting it into another jar of "used" absorbers and was quite surprised to hear the familiar "ping". I guess if you do it fast enough you have a chance of saving it for something else?

[kyles mom]

Thanks for sharing We2's - nice to know most things will keep more than a year!

[RoseMarie]

I'm just getting started so that is great to know it will last for awhile when vacuum sealed right. Rooting around in the freezer again this morning and I found about 6 qts. blueberries. I took out a whole laundry basket of those, yellow squash, okra, pumpkin and butternut squash to dehydrate but wasn't able to get it all on there. I was minus 2 trays since I made 2 bowls out of my sheets for the wetter stuff. With that I have to skip every other hole where the trays go since it's so thick.

[Mt_Rider]

As with everything, the freshest and best food will keep the longest. If it's been in the freezer a long time, it might not keep as long as fresher items.

 

I also dehydrate only the best of any garden produce in summer. The faster it's processed by dehydrating, freezing, or canning, the better success you'll have.

 

MtRider

[The WE2's]

I've had good success buying frozen vegetables when they're cheap and/or on sale and dehydrating them. We're planning to put our garden in again this year so we'll have some fresh goodies to can and dehydrate.

[Mt_Rider]

Me too, WE2. I first heard about that shortcut here years ago on MrsS. But I do use the most recently purchased frozen veggies for dehydrating.

 

I just used up some old-and forgotten frozen green beans last nite. Another example of ...ahem, "freeze-drying" accidentally. I put them in the boiling water with cooking pasta. Then were added to the variety of ingredients in the hot dish. Having been lost-in-freezer, they weren't in the best shape so boiling for a while seems to make them better. Hiding them in a stew or hot dish ....well, ...better than trying to feature them as a solo act of "green beans and butter".

 

MtRider ..hate wasting unless something's gone rancid/toxic...

[The WE2's]

I've had great success in pressure canning frozen green beans. Caught them on sale some time ago (49 cents a bag!) so I canned up a nice mess of them. They are really tastey if you add your salt and a slip of bacon and can them like you would can any meat...75 pints at 10# for pints etc.

[Annarchy]

Question about re-hydrating.

 

How long do they take to re-hydrate, and do they taste the same?

 

I usually freeze my left over diced tomatoes, and they last months (frozen/refreeze).

[The WE2's]

Dehydrated tomatoes...depends on the size and what you want to use them for. If you want to use them as a sprinkle on a salad you don't need to reconstitute them. If you're going to grind them into a powder just use a coffee grinder or mortor & postule. For soups etc., just pitch them in and let the cooking process do the work. If you're wanting to use them as a "wet" tomato just put them in your bowl (remember just a few will make a lot!) with some hot water, cover them and let them soak (probably about 10 minutes) until they're good and soft. You can pat them dry if you want. They'll be flimsy, but will taste just like 'maters :-)

[Mt_Rider]

What she said. We do use things like dehydrated & powdered spinach as a sprinkle ....on omelets, stew, salads, hot dish, ...anything. Since reconstitution is as WE2 said....less than "back to factory original' , using in this way is potent flavor and no "limp texture" issues.

 

MtRider

[Mt_Rider]

Here's some dehydrating ideas. Some fruit leather ideas. Etc.

 

http://growyourowngroceries.org/5-dehydrator-recipes-for-home-grown-fruits-and-vegetables/

 

MtRider

[Jeepers]

Looks like a lot of good info there.

[The WE2's]

He puts out lots of good info...we call him "Mister Hyper-active" LOL

[Jeepers]

I just finished a prep book written by Daisy Luther. It's called The Pantry Primer: A Prepper's Guide To Whole Food On A Half-Price Budget. It's not a bad book especially since I got it free.

 

She said that you shouldn't use an oxygen absorber in stored dehydrated food because there is usually some traces of moisture left in the food. And any moisture + lack of oxygen is a breeding ground for mold and botulism.

 

When I store my dehydrated fruit/veggies in 1/2 gallon canning jars, I only use The FoodSaver vacuum sealer attachment to suck out the air with no oxygen absorber and I've never had any of the food go bad. I'm thinking she might be right.

[kappydell]

 

 

I don't even try to dehydrate potatoes :-) Tried it ONCE when I got my first dehydrater and even spraying with lemon juice, they turned black. Yuck!

 

Did you blanch them first?

 

 

 

John

 

 

Yep, and they still were white in the middle and black or gray around the edges (cubes). I now just buy potatoes, bake them, then freeze them when they're cool....or I simply can them :-)

 

I had my best luck dehydrating spuds from the frozen foods section (hash browns, cubes) or sliced from the cans (rinse excess starch off very well, first). Since both kinds are already blanched (and doubtless treated to prevent discoloration) they turned out beautifully. Yes, I know they have "chemicals" on them , but apparently thats what I needed to get pretty ones...

[Daelith]

When I store my dehydrated fruit/veggies in 1/2 gallon canning jars, I only use The FoodSaver vacuum sealer attachment to suck out the air with no oxygen absorber and I've never had any of the food go bad. I'm thinking she might be right.

I store dehydrated apples in quart jars and seal the them same way. No problems.

 

As for potatoes - I dehydrate sweet potatoes for dog treats. I spray them with a little coconut oil. They discolor some, but not that much. I've never tried regular potatoes.

[The WE2's]

Did some Amish store shopping and one of the stores had HUGE bell peppers...a big box (maybe ten pounds each?) for $5.00 so we bought 3 boxes. We shopping them up using the Vidalia onion chopper and dehydrted them...27 trays...ended up being 8 pints (i I remember right). Then was "gifted" with a 20# bag of Roma tomatoes, so we canned all day yesterday...8 1/2 pints of tomato sauce. Sure glad we have the Vita-Mix, makes tomato work much easier! We'll enjoy this stuff while we're waiting for our garden to pruduce. System wouldn't let me upload pics...sorry!

[TheCG]

Jerky is in the dehydrator right now. 2 1/3 pounds of meat (they sell it already sliced thin for tacos 'round here) takes up about 3.5 trays.

 

*crosses fingers*