Tuesday, August 5, 2014

August Emergency Preparedness - Dehydrating



If you planted a garden this summer, you may be wondering what to do with all of the produce.  If your fruit trees are producing a lot too, you may be wondering what to do with all of the fruit.

Here are some dehydrating ideas:

The following items (from my experience) can be placed on the dehydrator racks at 120 - 130 degrees and dried until crisp.

Crookneck slices
Zucchini slices
Cabbage strips
Spinach leaves
All herb leaves
Bell pepper slices
Tomato slices
Onion slices

The following items need to be blanched (cooked in boiling water), then but into ice cold water to stop the cooking process before drying

Carrot slices, peeled – blanch 3 to 5 minutes
Corn on the cob – blanch 3 to 5 minutes cut kernels off of the cob before drying.

Hash browns – boil potatoes whole and cool overnight in the refrigerator. The next morning peel, shred, and dehydrate.

Potato slices – peel and slice. Place in cold lemon water to keep them from turning brown before dehydrating.

The following items (from my experience) can be placed on the dehydrator racks at 120 - 130 degrees and dried until pliable, but dry.  Place in cold lemon water before drying to keep them from turning brown.

Apple slices
Peach slices
Pear slices

The following do not need to go into lemon water first:

Cherries, pitted
Grapes

Make fruit leather (fruit roll-ups)

Puree desired fruit.  I like to add applesauce to make the fruit go farther.  It seems to me that it helps the apricots not turn as dark and the berry fruits not so seedy.  I use about 1/4 to 1/3 part applesauce.  Test your mixture to see how it tastes.  Add a liquid sweetener if needed.  Granulated sweeteners make the fruit leather crispy.  Dry until pliable.  Lay the fruit leather on a sheet of plastic wrap before rolling, so it doesn’t stick to itself and become a tube of fruit leather.  If it becomes crisp, crumble the fruit crisp and add to cereal.

For more details and pictures go to my garden preserving blog - http://reapitkeepit.blogspot.com/

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