dehydrating

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I've just always sliced ( or small cubes) then steamed a batch for 6 mins and then cooled in cold water, patted dry with a tea towel and then dehydrated. Came out great each time

and the commercially frozen potatoes I just dump on the trays and then they dry up perfect
 
Cutting up extra celery for the dehydrator.
Then another shelf in the refrig will be empty.
Got another 10 pounds of potatoes in my CSA boxes.
Will be trying potatoes again.
Will be washing, dicing, blanching, dehydrating.
Hopefully will have better luck this time around.
I have a load of celery in too. Going to make celery powder.
 
Got 4 trays of thinly sliced red potatoes, blanched in the dehydrator.
And the last tray of celery.
All the celery I have been dehydrating yielded 1 quart of celery powder.
1 pint of celery salt(I control the salt).
1-1/2 pint of the start of another pint of homemade version of Mrs. Dash seasoning.
Not bad, I think for as much celery I had.
Will be hitting the grocery stores for produce next month.
Will have to do something with 5 pounds of apples soon.
3 pounds of oranges, clementines,10 pounds of sweet potatoes.
I think I will be more careful when people ask me what I want for Christmas in 2020.
Got all this produce from the families I sew, mend,knit, crochet, quilt for.
Wasn't expecting all of this, but it will be canned, dehydrated,frozen for future use and weekly use.
 
Recipe please
I just saw this - will find it and get it posted. They were easy.

Spaghetti squash on the dehydrator today. I can fit 3 in my oven at a time which is just about right for filling the dehydrator too.
Have 4 more yet to do.
 
This spring there was a run on vacuum sealers. I found out in June mine had stopped working. Stores were sold out, slim pickens’ on what was available at on line stores. After waiting for seems like months for a vacuum sealer I got one, came a couple of weeks ago. It wasn’t what I wanted but it’ll have to do.

My cayenne peppers have been falling on the ground for a month. Today… finally I picked a nice mess. I’ll put them in the dehydrator tonight. When ready I’ll vacuum seal them in 1/2 pint jars. They’ll stay nice and fresh for a year.

I need a good pepper mill so I can have red pepper flakes on my pizza. I have a spice grinder but it doesn't flake, just grinds them into powder.

Cayenne 04sep 04seo sm.JPG
 
I'm new to dehydrating but am eyeing up some NESCO ones with top fan and 5 trays. One is 400 watts one is 600 watts and if I spend double they have ones that are like 1,000 or 1,200 watts. I was thinking mainly for jerky but also for fruits and veggies.
The worker said the higher the watts the quicker but more electricity you use. In your experience for jerky what is good? They both go up to 600°F but I don't want to wait forever for jerky.
 
@BadgerLandHunter I've never made jerky. I use mine for dehydrating medicinal plants and a few veggies, done blue berries and figs a few times.

I bought a Nesco, round tray model and later won a square Excalibur in a contest. I use both of them, each has its advantages and disadvantages, usually related to the size of what I'm dehydrating.

I can take shelves out of the Excalibur and dry larger items.

Sumac.jpg
 
@BadgerLandHunter I've never made jerky. I use mine for dehydrating medicinal plants and a few veggies, done blue berries and figs a few times.

I bought a Nesco, round tray model and later won a square Excalibur in a contest. I use both of them, each has its advantages and disadvantages, usually related to the size of what I'm dehydrating.

I can take shelves out of the Excalibur and dry larger items.

View attachment 49785
Thanks. I love the idea of drying medicine plants also!
 
We've got that same Excaliber. On medium temp 18 hours would probably be good jerky.
Oh wow see I had no idea it took THAT long for jerky I was thinking over night. Shows how little I know about making jerky lol.
 
I've got the same Excalibur, too, and I'd say that's about right for jerky. Just depends how thick it is.
You know you can make jerky in the oven, too.
I should look into that for now really. I often like to try new projects then in a year move on to something else. Before investing in a nice quality dehydrator I could probably make a few in the oven and see. Thanks for the tip!
 
@DWinCO I tossed them in whole, theory being they stay fresher longer (even though I'll vacum seal them in mason jars anyway).

I usually slice off the ends but leave the seeds in. Never tried to dry them whole. I'm going to check them in a few more hours. If they are drying properly I'll continue. If they are drying extremely slowly I'll take them out, slice off the ends and put them back in.

Big peppers like jalapeno's with thick skins take forever to dry whole. I'll never try that again. I just slice off the end with the stem and cut them in half length wise.

Dehydrator 01.JPG
 

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