Dehydrator Disappointment

[donsabi]

I have found several uses for my dehydrator and for the most part I am happy with it. However, I tried dehydrating celery and while it dehydrated well the flavor is not very good when rehydrated. Secondly I dehydrated some homemade chili that was a pretty good batch. Upon rehydrating it I was greatly disappointed.

I always seem to be out of celery when I need it and thought dehydrating was he answer. Not so. I guess I will just have to keep running to the store when I need it.

IMO, chili is better left to freezing or canning.

I really like my dehydrator for making dog treats, yogurt, and proofing bread.

 

[Dawgluver]

I'm sorry you had problem with celery. It has worked for me. I love my dehydrator for fruit like apples and strawberries, pineapple, citrus, etc. Great for fresh mushrooms of all varieties, along with tomatoes and peppers.

I keep a mix of chopped celery, onion, and carrots in the freezer for instant soup mix.

Never considered dehydrating chili!

 

[Chef Munky]

I have found several uses for my dehydrator and for the most part I am happy with it. However, I tried dehydrating celery and while it dehydrated well the flavor is not very good when rehydrated. Secondly I dehydrated some homemade chili that was a pretty good batch. Upon rehydrating it I was greatly disappointed.

I always seem to be out of celery when I need it and thought dehydrating was he answer. Not so. I guess I will just have to keep running to the store when I need it.

IMO, chili is better left to freezing or canning.

I really like my dehydrator for making dog treats, yogurt, and proofing bread.

How did you go about prepping the celery before you dehydrated it? Was it fresh? If the stalk breaks while bending those are the ones to use.

The light green stalks are were the flavors at. When I dry celery the stalks are separated along with the leaves.
When they are done the light green ones and the leaves are ground down to a powder added with some salt. If I need it in a pinch soaking the larger pieces in boiling water ahead of time helps with the rehydrating. It might take a while for that to happen.

I like my dehydrator to. It holds up to quite a bit of abuse. It's great for craft projects, drying soaps.

Munky.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I have found several uses for my dehydrator and for the most part I am happy with it. However, I tried dehydrating celery and while it dehydrated well the flavor is not very good when rehydrated. Secondly I dehydrated some homemade chili that was a pretty good batch. Upon rehydrating it I was greatly disappointed.

I always seem to be out of celery when I need it and thought dehydrating was he answer. Not so. I guess I will just have to keep running to the store when I need it.

IMO, chili is better left to freezing or canning.

I really like my dehydrator for making dog treats, yogurt, and proofing bread.

It's just Shrek and me, I can't use a whole bunch of celery before it tanks. So, I dice it and freeze it. Works fine.

 

[CWS4322]

I love my dehydrator for tomatoes in the summer, mushrooms year around, apples and other fruit, but I dice excess celery and toss it the freezer. It works fine for me.

 

[blissful]

I use my dehydrator for jerky and tomatoes for the most part.
If you use it for long term storage or for dehydrated meals when camping-it's never quite as good as fresh made, though anything around a campfire tastes better !

I never thought of proofing bread in it, thank you for that idea.

I was just reading about celery--we don't use it a lot but I like a bit of it now and then. Supposedly you can cut the bottom of your store bought celery off, and plant it in the garden. What comes up won't be thick white stalks but mostly green stalks and leaves--which are good for flavoring things. I suppose like white asparagus or the white bottoms on leeks, you could mound mulch around it and keep it well watered and get some center parts to stay white and be more mild flavored. I'm going to try that this summer.

 

[taxlady]

It's just Shrek and me, I can't use a whole bunch of celery before it tanks. So, I dice it and freeze it. Works fine.

Just the two of us here too. I pay a lot for celery, because I only buy the organic one. It's #2 on the dirty dozen list. I'll have to try freezing it. It just never occurred to me.

I use my dehydrator for jerky and tomatoes for the most part.
If you use it for long term storage or for dehydrated meals when camping-it's never quite as good as fresh made, though anything around a campfire tastes better !

I never thought of proofing bread in it, thank you for that idea.

I was just reading about celery--we don't use it a lot but I like a bit of it now and then. Supposedly you can cut the bottom of your store bought celery off, and plant it in the garden. What comes up won't be thick white stalks but mostly green stalks and leaves--which are good for flavoring things. I suppose like white asparagus or the white bottoms on leeks, you could mound mulch around it and keep it well watered and get some center parts to stay white and be more mild flavored. I'm going to try that this summer.

I'll give planting store bought celery a try. I have some wilty celery in the fridge that was just going to go in the stock pot.