Dehydrating and freezing vegetables are quick and easy ways to preserve food.
If you want save all those cheap vegetables of summer in the least amount of time, yet want to preserve the quality of your food, then drying (dehydrating) and freezing are your best bets.
Drying
You can buy food dehydrators in a wide range of prices and sizes, or you can use your oven or microwave, or a solar dryer, but you really only need a tray and a dry place to put it.
It doesn't matter a bit where the warm, dry air comes from, so being frugal allows you to look around and experiment. The rooftop of your house, inside a car, hung from the branches of a tree or from the rafters of a hot attic are all sensible solutions to dry vegetables.
Spread food on a tray made of some kind of mesh, but avoid metal and any material that might give an off flavor.
You can easily make a drying tray with scrap wood to fashion a frame and a loosely woven cloth tacked to it.
A sheet of plastic canvas fastened to a frame of some kind makes a frugal tray, too. Look around to see what might work; you don't have to spend money on special trays or equipment.
(If you know someone who works on dryers, see if they will save you the lint filters they replace. These are just right for drying small amounts of anything.)
Most vegetables can be dehydrated with a little preparation; some don't even need that, but find out what to expect if you haven't dried foods before.
Freezing
Freezing is sometimes the easiest way keep vegetables, herbs and meats from spoiling, especially if you have a seperate freezer. Most foods will benefit from a quick dip in boiling water first, then a quick cool down. Package the food in air tight containers and freeze as soon as possible. Any container that is food safe and air tight will do, but not all containers that look air tight, are. Some plastics are porous, so don't use things like bread bags or cottage cheese containers if you intend to keep the food for a long time as they are porous and will allow your food to freezer burn. (Some foods like sauces that are intended for cooking, are not really hurt by freezer burn.)
Invest in some good freezer tape if you intend to wrap your food. With good tape, you can use potato chip bags, or foil inner packaging from crackers and other foods. These are air tight. Get as much air out as you can and tape well.
Today, my new dehydrator arrived. Very timely. I immediately prept some green bell peppers, and MUSHROOMS.The timing for the two vegetables are different, but the temperature is about the same.
I'll let youse all know how they turn out.
I just took the first batch of dried mushrooms out of the dehydrator. All went well. They seem to have a more concentrated flavor. Much lighter, for sure.
The peppers are still drying. Lots more water, so lots more time needed.
We use to dry fruit slices all the time. They are great in cereal and milk in the morning or pop them into a shake, or just eat them out of the bag. Good idea to put in lunch boxes too. Kids love them.
I just finished drying 3 lbs. of portabellas. When drying mushrooms, you have to keep in mind that they absorb moisture rapidly, so get them into your storage containers as soon as the dehydrator is finished with them. Don't wash them before you dehydrate them, a simple gentle sweeping with a mushroom brush will do. I like to use a camel hair brush.
I found a good deal on strawberries at the grocery store, and I'm looking forward to having a nice batch of dry strawberries for my morningly oatmeal.
Last night, I sliced a couple banana bunches, and put them in the dehydrator. The direction table said 10-12 hours, at 135 degrees. I checked them after 12 hours, and it seemed that they needed more time. I also cranked the temperature up a few degrees...maybe 7, or 4 or so.
It's been 14 hours now, and they still seem somewhat moist, so I'll give them 2 hours more before I check them again. I'll try using the fruit leather sheet to dry the honey coating, after the bananas are dried enough.
Here is an article I found to be helpful. I noticed it says to dry the bananas 18 hours...
How To Make Your Own Dehydrated Bananas
By Lee Dobbins
Dehydrating any types of fruit and especially dehydrating bananas can be a very difficult task. Do you really want to have your oven on for 15 hours at a temperature of 130 Degrees Fahrenheit may dry them fine, but they just do not taste very nice? Unfortunately when dehydrating bananas they lose a lot of their flavour and you are often left with a faintly sweet, spongy feeling disc of fruit.
But those bananas which have been dehydrated commercially are beautifully crunchy and taste great. However, the way they are produced is not good for those who are extremely conscience about what they eat as they are deep fried. What happens is that the slices of banana are deep fried in coconut oil and then dipped into sugar water to provide that glistening sheen to them.
So as you can see producing dehydrated bananas takes more than just using high temperatures and lots of patience and surely there is a much healthier way of cooking them that does not involve us using fat.
Well hopefully the recipe shown below will produce the ideal dehydrated banana without removing any of the fruit’s flavour and nutrients.
Firstly cut the bananas into equal sized slices and place them on a mesh sheet. Now soak them in some fresh lemon juice for about 5 minutes (however, any citrus juice will do so if you want use any time of unsweented juice that you like). To dehydrate them place them in an oven set at 125 Degrees Fahrenheit for 18 hours and take them out of oven as soon as they have become pliable and are not crunchy. Remember the ones that you purchase in stores which are crunchy are dehydrated by deep frying them rather than actually drying them.
Now that you have dehydrated your own bananas why not try using them in alternative ways for example add them to your banana bread to produce a pleasant zing taste your recipe. Or why don’t you just throw them in to your next bowl of porridge or oatmeal in the morning to add a pleasant crunch and some natural sweetness, why not add some honey as well.
But as you can see making a sweet alternative healthy snack for yourself is simple and won’t taste like bits of bricks.
I read this article incorrectly before I posted it. :roll:
I never thought they were talking about an 'oven', and thought they were talking about a food dehydrator and just was calling it an oven. LOL
I wondered why they started it asking,..do you really want your oven on for 15 hours? I thought, well most of your foods take that long anyways.. lol
I was mainly focused on the actual recipe where it stated that it takes 18 hours to cook properly and how to soak them in lemon juice first. and it also gave the tip on when you purchase them in stores which have crunch they are dehydrated by deep frying them rather than actually drying them...I thought oh, so that is the difference! lol
You mentioned that your banana's were still a little soft after you did them for only 12 hours so I thought you could see where this said 18 hours.
OK< lol this shows that even thouugh we can read an article before posting sometimes we don't always understand what we are reading or that we sometimes focus on one section of the article when it pays to really focus on the entire article before actually posting it! lol
Thanks for responding and pointing out that you don't use an 'oven'.
You know I read this article incorrectly before I posted it. :roll:
I never thought they were talking about an 'oven', and thought they were talking about a food dehydrator and just was calling it an oven. LOL
I wondered why they started it asking,..do you really want your oven on for 15 hours? I thought, well most of your foods take that long anyways.. lol
I was mainly focused on the actual recipe where it stated that it takes 18 hours to cook properly and how to soak them in lemon juice first. and it also gave the tip on when you purchase them in stores which have crunch they are dehydrated by deep frying them rather than actually drying them...I thought oh, so that is the difference! lol
You mentioned that your banana's were still a little soft after you did them for only 12 hours so I thought you could see where this said 18 hours.
OK< lol this shows that even thouugh we can read an article before posting sometimes we don't always understand what we are reading or that we sometimes focus on one section of the article when it pays to really focus on the entire article before actually posting it! lol
Thanks for responding and pointing out that you don't use an 'oven'.
whew.
pk
That's alright, pk...you're probably a very busy lady. Try sitting down with a nice steeping hot cup of lavender tea. :wink:
That's alright, pk...you're probably a very busy lady. Try sitting down with a nice steeping hot cup of lavender tea.
Sounded so good I had to look it up and I think it may be what I need! lol
Lavender is a very special herbal tisane which has calming effects that helps relieve stress, fatigue, headache and insomnia. Drinking a cup of Lavender tea before going to bed is known to promote restful sleep.
I suppose that would be less expensive than a vacation as my 'cup of tea' that I thought I needed. lol
Today, my new dehydrator arrived. Very timely. I immediately prept some green bell peppers, and MUSHROOMS.The timing for the two vegetables are different, but the temperature is about the same.
I'll let youse all know how they turn out.
Interesting.................what is the brand of dehydrator you got?
I tried this once, several years ago with apples and I got nothing but a gooey mess. Not sure what happened.
I just took the first batch of dried mushrooms out of the dehydrator. All went well. They seem to have a more concentrated flavor. Much lighter, for sure.
The peppers are still drying. Lots more water, so lots more time needed.
What will you make with dehydrated peppers??? Will you have to rehydrate them?
ex.....can you take your dehydrated peppers and add them right to your pizza and bake or will you have to fluff them up first?
I use "Good Earth", Tea for Sleep that I found on Amazon.com. It has a mix of sleep herbs, such as Valerian Root, Lemon Balm leaf, Hops flower, Orange blossom, Peppermint leaf, Lavender flower, and Rosemary leaf. All together, I get a really restful sleep. 7 hours, no problem. Nothing crazy about the dreams I remember, all of them are quite pleasant.
I use "Good Earth", Tea for Sleep that I found on Amazon.com. It has a mix of sleep herbs, such as Valerian Root, Lemon Balm leaf, Hops flower, Orange blossom, Peppermint leaf, Lavender flower, and Rosemary leaf. All together, I get a really restful sleep. 7 hours, no problem. Nothing crazy about the dreams I remember, all of them are quite pleasant.
ooohhhh "Good Earth" tea was post #666 for you!!!! Quick post again. Those are bad numbers!
Hmmmm I'll have to look into this Good Earth Tea..........Thanks!
Carol
Brain, now that you've been using your dehydrator for a while how do you like it? Is it big enough and powerful enough to get the job done? Easy or hard to clean? If you bought another one would it be the same make/model?
I want to buy one but am looking for the pros and cons of each model so if anyone else owns one please let me know what you think.
Brain, now that you've been using your dehydrator for a while how do you like it? Is it big enough and powerful enough to get the job done? Easy or hard to clean? If you bought another one would it be the same make/model?
I want to buy one but am looking for the pros and cons of each model so if anyone else owns one please let me know what you think.
I bought this one from Amazon.com, using the link here at theBubbler to access Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...515051-4114408
It's expandable to 12 racks. Most of the dehydrating that I've done was fruits and vegetables. I have a small mushroom farm...one log, and one box. The shrooms keep the machine, and me, busy. I'm sure the autumn harvest will have it running day and night. So far, it's held up pretty well. I'm sure it will wear out sooner or later. At this point, I'm pleased with the product. If I decided to go full blown with my shroom business, and needed to do some extremely mass drying, I'd find a gas powered dehydrator with more of a commercial/industrial capacity and use options.
I guess the best advice I can give, is look around at what's out there, and get one that you feel would meet your needs.
First try....I mixed something wrong, or something. I went out this morning and picked up some more ground beef from the ranch. I have 2 1/2 pounds on hand now to mess around with. I'll made another batch, being careful not to miss any steps. Kinda like walking while drinking! Just wait and see how that one goes.
First try....I mixed something wrong, or something. I went out this morning and picked up some more ground beef from the ranch. I have 2 1/2 pounds on hand now to mess around with. I'll made another batch, being careful not to miss any steps.
OH BUMMER!!!! Ok I dont think I want to sample any of that batch. I'll wait then.
Quote:
Kinda like walking while drinking! Just wait and see how that one goes
Or talking and chewing gum at the same time! LOL!!
Carol
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