Conference turris::cooks

     I have owned a dehydrator for about 5 yrs. and really like it.  I make
    fruit leather, jerky, dried onions(one of the best), and many complete
    meals for hiking and climbing trips.  In general, any food can be dried
    but some work better than others.  Diced onions work great and are
    really handy to have around for adding to meals without having to cut
    them up.  They seem to have a better flavor after drying, but that
    might be only psychological.
     There are several good books around for learning how to dry foods. 
    One of them is How to Dry Food by Deanna Long.  There are others too,
    check at a health food store or a book store.  I am surprised that your
    dehydrator didn't come with an instruction book, probably an error by 
    the manufacturer.  Have fun drying and post a note if you find any
    really good things.
    
                                           Peter
    

    Well, my dehydrator is getting a workout taking care of the overflow
    from the garden.  We tried the onions, and then tomatoes.  I can't
    believe how much they are reduced.  Ten of fifteen pounds of tomatoes
    are reduced to about 10-15 oz.  They take less time to prepare and
    store easier.  We hoped to do apples, but our apples were wormy this
    year.  Probably all the rain we had.  Have to try that next year.
    
    -.1  Could you share your jerky recipes?
    
    calen

    I'm thinking of buying one of the advertised dryers. Are they hard to
    clean? Is there a significate cost advantage for drying veggies and
    fruits? Can you make yogurt like they claim? Sell me on getting one or
    stir me away.
    
    Dee Hydrated
    

    re:  .3
    
    By all means, get one.  Give it a good workout, including doing the
    yogurt.  Then report your experiences here.
    
    :-)
    
    Steve

    Well, in response to the question asked elsewhere, I have the RONCO
    dehydrator that's advertised on TV for 59.nn.  
    
     I think it's great, I use it mainly for drying chiles and herbs 
    that I grow in my garden, and my wife uses it for drying flowers.
    
     It's easy to use and works exactly as advertised. I was told 4-6 
    weeks for delivery, however it showed up at my door 8 days after 
    ordering.  
    
    Lv

    
    Hi,  Do you still have the (I presume) 800- number to order it?
    
    Thanks,
    
    Adele
    

    I was in a store last Friday, and they had food dehydrators
    for $29.99.  I have been wanting one since I saw the one advertised
    on the TV, but $60 was a lot for something like this....
    I took a chance on it, and spent this lovely rainy weekend
    dehydrating herbs from the garden.  It worked fine!  The directions
    are a little sketchy, but having seen the commercials I could figure
    out the details!  I can't wait to make banana and apple chips, and
    fruit roll-ups!  It's not as fancy looking as the one on the tv, but
    the price was right!
    
    Anyone have any ideas/recipes I can try? (;
    
    Lynne  
    
    

    Seriously, I would like any recipes (jerky, etc.) that you
    might have....
    
    Lynne

    
      I know that this is a little late for this year.  But I dried
    blueberries.  The first batch was like little pebbles, I over dried.
    They got eaten anyway.
    
    	The second batch, I tried to pick through them when they were
    dry but not hard.
    
    	Mine sounds a lot like yours, but enough money to see if it 
    works.  Herbs dry just fine.
    
    	Linda
    

    Hello I am interested in dehydrating vegetables for easier storage. A
    few questions:
    			-how easy are the vegetables/fruits to prepare and
    			 dry
    			-can the dehydrate process be carried out in a
    			 microwave oven
    			-is it true that you can submerge the dehydrated
    			 fruit/vegies in water and revive them to their
    			 original mass and consistency and taste
    
    Looking forward to your replies !!!!
    
    
    						Regards
    							Frank

      Hello , I looked at note 2189, but it didn't really answer my
    question, which were:
    			-can you use a microwave as a dehydrater
    			-is it true that the dehydrated food when exposed
    			 to water go back to normal size and shape
    
    
    				Regards
    						Frank Z

In response to the questions posed in 3686 about dehydrating:

1) Fruits and veggies are quite easy to dry.

2) The microwave is not that effective as a dehydrator.  It tends to cook 
   the food before it dries, which is what you avoid by using the LOW temps
   in a dehydrator (or oven that goes down to 100-125).  You can use a microwave
   to dehydrate SOME things that render their moisture quickly, like thinly
   sliced mushrooms (done between layers of paper towels), but any unevenness
   in the drying can cause the drier parts to burn (even start a fire!).

3) No. When you rehydrate fresh fruit and veggies, it is never the same.  
   Usually, you do not put back as much water, which means the flavor is a bit
   more concentrated.  You also get food that is somewhat softer in texture 
   than the original. If you really do provide enough water to get them to 
   the original mass, you'll end up with a mushy, watery food.

Dehydrating is great for food that can be eaten dehydrated, like fruits, or in
a semi-rehydrated form, like sun-dried tomatoes, or cooked into other foods,
like veggie soups and stews.  It can also be used to create dry concentrates
to add flavor and color to foods, like powdered spinach for homemade pasta, or
onion powder, garlic powder, etc.

				-JP

ps: a topic will never answer the question you haven't asked yet!

    Someone has asked about dehydrating in a microwave.  While low will
    tend to cook, you can dry apple slices on the "defrost setting".  It
    only takes about 3 minutes.
    
    I have not tried this myself.  My microwave lapsed into a coma this
    past summer.
    
    					Cynthia

    I have just purchased the Ronco dehydrator ... I've wanted one for a
    very long time.  I intend to dry herbs, tomatoes, onions, and fruit. 
    
    One item I really want to prepare will be honey/dried banana chips.
    I've bought these at health food stores for years and they are a
    passion.  There are lots of hints and recipes for drying plain bananas
    -- but nothing on honey dried.  It seems to me that you would dip the
    bananas in honey and simply put them in the drier for the requisite
    time.  Does anyone know?
    
    Tnx,
    
    Carel

       In your book that came with it is a recipe for this. Its a mixture
    of water and honey. I have done this and found that the bananas will 
    stick to the trays but will come off. This also puts a hard coat of
    honey on the trays but came off in the dishwasher.

    To eliminate the sticking, just spray a light coat of Pam, or some
    	other non-stick spray onto the trays.  This should help.
    
    	-VT

>       In your book that came with it is a recipe for this. Its a mixture
>    of water and honey. I have done this and found that the bananas will 
>    stick to the trays but will come off. This also puts a hard coat of
>    honey on the trays but came off in the dishwasher.

	I have a question about drying banana chips, but first I should say...

	I'm having a blast with my food dehydrator! It's a Harvest Maid model
	that circulates hot air through the drying trays.  In response to
	someone's question about which kind to get, I would definitely spring
	the extra few dollars for one with a fan.  The Ronco type just has a
	heating element and nothing more, and takes twice as many hours to dry
	the same foods.  In my opinion, why spend the money on the Ronco
	'dehydrator' in the first place, save the money and dry things in your
	oven, it's the same process.  Also, fwiw, I initially liked the Waring
	model because it had a clear plastic lid so you could see the food
	inside.  I liked that feature.  But I bought the Harvest Maid instead
	since it is more powerful and dries food faster.  When I got it home,
	HM listed a non-clear cover as a feature, since light destroys some
	vitamins (also suggested to store dried food in non-clear containers
	too).  I had forgotten about that, and am happy I didn't pick Waring in
	the end.

	On to the food...  apples come out great!!! My favorite.  Surrounded by
	apples, what a win this machine is.  Sun-dried tomatoes from the garden
	are a big win too, they taste _wonderful_ and it's a great way to store
	our garden produce.  I used dried carrots in a soup last night, they
	added a fantastic flavour.

	I've only had two things not come out right.  After drying my basil, it
	didn't come out crumbly paper-dry like they do from store-bought jars.
	The leaves maintained some form of moisture (dry but not really dry)
	despite drying for twice the specified time.  I even burned some in
	experimenting with the extras, yet still the same problem.  Anyone have
	this problem too?

	The other problem is banana chips.  The honey dip came out excellent,
	it imparts a great flavour on the chips.  However the chips never dried
	completely, nevermind as dry as the store-bought ones where they're as
	crisp as potato chips.  They came out goo-ey and chewy.  The only
	problem I can think of is...  I started drying them at night, and ran
	the dehydrator overnight for 10 hours.  My book gave the upper limit of
	12 hours for the drying time, so the next morning I turned the
	dehydrator off before going to work, so I wouldn't dry them too long.
	I turned the dehydrator back on when I got home.  I let it run for
	another 8 hours in the end, because the chips never became crisp.  Does
	turning off the dehydrator mid-way interrupt the drying process such
	that you cannot continue it afterwards? Perhaps the 'skin' outer-layer
	hardens and seals the inner moisture in? The book said to use 1/4"
	banana slices.  I thought that was too thick, and experimented with
	wafer, 1/8" and 1/4" slices.  None of them dried to crispiness.
	Perhaps it was the goo-ey honey batter...  18 hours of running and no
	crisp, argh.  What am I doing wrong.  I have 7 trays loaded (it says
	you can go up to twelve).  Perhaps that is stretching out the drying
	times too.  [I ran out of patience and didn't try longer, plus running
	an electrical appliance for 18 hours straight made me worry about my
	electric bill. 18 x 500 Watts = buy store-bought :-)]

    	Anyone else have this banana-'chip' problem?

    	-Erik

    -Erik
    
    The cost is still low, 18 hours using 500W is only 9KW. And at about
    8cents per KW that is only $0.72, Of course if you are only drying
    2 bananas it could get expensive.
    
    And I agree, get a model with a fan. As for how long it takes to 
    dry any one item, I never looked at the book. I just wait till its
    dry.
    
    Bert
    

    	Thanks for associating the wattage to dollars, for some reason I
    	didn't take it that far. I guess it's not so expensive after all,
    	so I'll dry to my heart's content . :-)

	But no answer to the banana chips anyone? Am I the only one who 
    	has ever made them? That can't be, so...  how'd _yours_ come out?

    	-Erik

Scoop the seeds out, peel and slice.  The slices dry very quickly.  Sugar
pumpkins have a sweet candy-like flavor when dried.  As an experiment, I also
blended a bunch of dried slices until it became pumpkin flour.  It can be added
to breads and muffins, as well as adding it to pumpkin puree to dry it up a bit
and boost the flavor.  I suppose you could also dry cooked puree to make rollups.

    As I said in an earlier note I have a dehyrator -- and love it!  I'm
    now in the habit of doing a "batch" of something every week --
    fruit, veggies, onions, herbs, tomatoes (wonderful "sun dried" type). 
    I always have a bag of dehydrated stuff to throw into a stock pot. 
    My wasted uncooked food has been drastically reduced.
    
    Now I'd like to do "instant" soups, stews, etc. to take back-packing or
    to fill up my emergency shelves.  Anyone have experience in this area?
    I looked  cook-book at Lauriat and couldn't find anything.  Any titles
    you could suggest that I might order?  Is this impractical?

Erik,

I tried to make banana chips, and they came out very chewy.  My recipe book
said they would be leathery.  The ones I have had from the store that have been
crunchy have always been fried.

I tried canned pineapple slices, these were very good, also chewy. Broccoli
came pout crisp, but tasted kinda wierd as a snack.  I also dried celery and
carrots, and precooked all the veggies as directed by my book.  Also did
beef jerky, and that was very good but too salty.

In the fall I'm looking forward to drying herbs from my garden, and also summer
vegetables if the garden does well!

Laura

    	I know it has been awhile, but the last few replies about bananna
    chips make me wonder. I have the less expensive model (without fan) and
    have had no problem getting crispy bananna chips. Yes, it does take
    about twice as long (2 days), but they are crispy when done.
    
    	Not sure what (if any) difference the fan would make with this. My
    bananna slices were just under 1/4" thick. Perhaps the chewy ones were
    thicker and did not dry thoroughly ?
    
    	As I mentioned in another note, they come out nothing like the
    commercial (fried) ones. The flavor is much stronger and concentrated.
    Almost too much so. I haven't tried it, but I suspect plantain (sp?)
    would come out closer to to flavor of the fried ones.
    
    	Ray