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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