Learning Dehydrating

[Skyowl's Wife]

Want to try ginger and then I've got to get on the canning.

Have all that butter and 10 lbs of bacon I bought to put up.

[Lostinoz]

Nice looking green beans! What's next on the drying agenda? Hopefully I can do some veggies soon, IF it ever quits raining here. :( One other thing I like to dry is pre-made (frozen) hashbrown patties. They are easy to prepare and the kids like 'em.

[Skyowl's Wife]

Okay, green beans. I could only get 6 lbs into the dryer. Again, it took about 20 hours on very low heat setting.

The 6 lbs was 7 oz when done!



We decided we'd store them in jars for now, using used lids. It works well.

[Skyowl's Wife]

I have Excalibur's Preserve It Naturally, but online resources including you ladies have been more help.

[Lostinoz]

Did any of you get any of the big recipe and how to books that are sold?

HP, the only book I have on dehydrating is the Ball Blue Book. It has very few recipes in it. I did purchase my husband a jerky recipe book and it even includes a recipe for jerky cake with jerky frosting. :)

[herbalpagan]

Did any of you get any of the big recipe and how to books that are sold?

[Skyowl's Wife]

Went ahead and put in the green beans. Could only get 6 lbs in there. Didn't thaw them this time. Will see how they are in the AM, headed to bed, sleep well all!

[Skyowl's Wife]

Woo Hoo, Wife! Those look nice. You did a great job! Give her a kiss SkyOwl! :D

Ahhhhh! :o He gave me a sloppy wet one!

Dried, my 8 lbs of mixed veggies was 9 oz.

8 lbs of green beans tomorrow.

[bambam55]

My dehydrator cost about $230 at Cabellas it has 10 shelves and an electric heating coil and fan it , also comes w/a thermometer that slides into a hole in the front door to monitor the temp. it has a thermo control and a guide on the top just set it, but, watch it because as the water dehydrates the heat climbs. I use mine mostly to make jerky but I'm going to try some other stuff to Thanks everyone for the great Ideas Brian

[Lostinoz]

Woo Hoo, Wife! Those look nice. You did a great job! Give her a kiss SkyOwl! :D

[Skyowl's Wife]

Started out with 4 bags totalling 8 lbs:



I thawed them first and then loaded the trays:



Took them about 20 hours to dry, did an internet search to see if you can overdry them. They said, no, as long as you don't overHEAT them. My 8 lbs turned into this - empty bag is there for comparison:

[Skyowl's Wife]

:rolleyes:

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/st...11000_325-11-1

Nice one, Oz!

Here's mine: http://www.harvestessentials.com/ed3900.html

Laying out 8 lbs of mixed veggies as we speak!

Another fairly good reason to dehydrate is canning jars and lids. You will eventually run out of lids if TSHTF. I've bought about 500 of them, but WILL run out eventually. If I dehydrate, I don't expend any resources for storage, since I can use an airtight cannister if nothing else. I have plans for a solar dehydrator if we are w/o power for a season or more. Someone also suggested that you can use a closed vehicle to dehydrate during the summer/autumn. I want to be very familiar with drying stuff just in case...

[pathfinder3081]

Path, I have heard good things about this dehydrator. It is smaller, but less expensive. However, I have never tried it personally.

http://www.herbalremedies.com/food-dehydrator-grey.html

Roger that,
That is a nice little unit as well. However, I think that the 800+ watts, the size of the larger unit, makes it a greater deal in the long run. Those things are not cheap to operate. So if your gonna turn it on. "TURN IT ON".. Fill it up and get the biggest bang for your buck. Our time is valuable as well, sitting around for two or three days watch the food cook is no fun either.
Now I just gotta sale the idea to the wife. She was talking about new shoes or something the other night:confused: and she just work part time. (My sweet little Ukraine princess :p)
Thanks for your help OZ!

[Lostinoz]

Path, I have heard good things about this dehydrator. It is smaller, but less expensive. However, I have never tried it personally.

http://www.herbalremedies.com/food-dehydrator-grey.html

[pathfinder3081]

Path, this is the one I have and I like it just fine..

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/st...11000_325-11-1

thanks for the link. Yeah that is a nice looking unit. I imagine the difference between an oven like that and the small round platic job is like night and day ... I am sure if I started out with the smaller ones I would become frustrated.. I see the wattage differences as well..
Thanks oh.. "Oz of the Dehydro":D

The bird lady.. her and her husband have some serious looking kitchen Gizmo's as well:cool: