Food dehydrator questions

[schoolgirl]

I have just bought a new dehydrator. I wish I had bought it at the start of the summer when there were more foods to use. I have been drying apples and would love to find someone with peaches they want to share, but don't really expect that. The only thing we have left in the garden is okra. Has anyone ever dried that? I guess the only thing you could do is use in soups or something. About the only way we eat okra is fried even though I know it is not good for you that way.
Anyone have any ideas about using the dehydrator? Would appreciate any info. Thanks, Faye

 

[Katie H]

Hi, Faye. First, welcome to DC.

Now...about the dehydrator. We have one and love it and use it for many things.

One of my favorite things is to dry bread cubes for stuffings and croutons. When I want small bread cubes for stuffing, I first freeze the (sliced) bread solid. Once frozen, it's easier to slice into the desired cube size. You will want to cut your cubes into about twice the size of the cubes you want because of all the water that will be removed during the dehydrating process.

Of course, you can always make your own beef jerky. Pretty good stuff and you have more control over the salt content.

I also dry green bell peppers and chop them for pepper chunks/flakes, which are rather costly in the market.

On sale, you can buy mushrooms and slice them and dry those, too.

The list is endless and I'm sure many others will weigh in with other suggestions.

Best wishes on getting a dehydrator. Enjoy!

 

[babetoo]

i sure would like to have one. my boss in the greeting card business always did tons of different kinds of fun and had bowls sitting out at meetings.
delicious.

babe

 

[smoke king]

Yep-I've had a dehydrator for several years and absolutely love it. I use it mostly for jerky and leftover peppers from the garden, but the reality is your only limited by your imagination

I did try to make "fruit leather" once-but something went very, very wrong, so after a lot of clean-up, I just buy fruit roll-ups now.

 

[LadyCook61]

A dehydrator is on my wish list.

 

[urmaniac13]

We bought one a few years back in order to conserve a big tree-full of apricots we get every summer.
Another favourite usage is for mushrooms, especially the ones with strong flavours like porcini. Sometimes we get a nice deal from a market, we buy a big case of them, and whatever we don't manage to eat within several days we dry them. Flavours are much better retained this way than freezing, as far as mushrooms are concerned. Now we bought a few kilos of finferli while we are up in the alps, we just dried about 3/4 of them last night before we go home tonight, we just saved some of them fresh to do some risottos and polentas in coming days.

 

[Hoot]

Yes, you can dry okra in the dehydrator.
Wash it well, slice the okra into 1/4 slices. It will take at least 8 hours to dry out.
Just keep after it until is brittle
Store in an airtight conainer.
Dried okra performs just like fresh in soups and gumbos.

 

[mcnerd]

Get the book "Mary Bell's Complete DEHYDRATOR Cookbook" and a whole new world will open up to you on what to dehydrate. My all time favorite is dehydrated Dill Pickles.

My dehydrator is in almost constant use dehydrating tomatoes, carrots, celery (especially leaves), onions, garlic, mushrooms, watermelon, plus all the fruits, and just about anything that has water in it and will tend to spoil otherwise.

Many items, like celery and onions, get chopped or ground down and added to the spice rack. Tomato powder is an excellent spice. And dehydrated "cooked rice" becomes a true "instant rice".

Try dehydrating applesauce, tomato sauce, or spaghetti sauce sometime.

 

[schoolgirl]

Thanks everyone for the ideas. After I posted last night, I checked this a.m. and there were no replies in my email and I checked again and still none. So, I thought I would come directly to the site and found all of the replies from you nice people. I knew everyone is so good to reply on here.
I forgot to say that I dried some figs also. I am real excited about using this dehydrator and finding more to do with it. I don't really care for jerky. I bought some at the store and didn't like it. It might be partly because it is so salty tasty. That made at home might be better.
mcnerd, it is funny you mentioned that book. I was looking on amazon last night and read the reviews and they were very good. I put it in my shopping cart to buy soon.
You all have helped quite a bit on things I hadn't thought about. Thanks,Faye

 

[Fortuna]

You can dry almost everything. You can make your own tomato, onion or garlic powder - just dry it and ground. I use tomato powder in sauces, soups and juices. You can dry all kinds of fruits and berries, make yoghurt or fruit leather, make bread, cookies, chips, sauces, jerky, banana chips, all kind of snacks. But mostly, people buy dehydrator for making jerky.

 

[Faith16]

I have a Nevco dehydrator and need instruction on how to use. brought long tome ago and misplaced the manual. can anyone help me Please!!!!

 

[mcnerd]

go to
to view your product manual information - Nesco

 

[blissful]

Hey McNerd, 'putting up food guy', haven't seen you in a long time, as I have not always had time to be here and you are rather scarce yourself. Good to see you.

 

[mcnerd]

I haven't done any further home canning since I still have a goodly supply going back to 2007 (still good) since it's only me in the household now and people don't want to hear the 'rules' anymore so I seldom post. Life goes on. Working on making herbal remedies now. Tomorrow I have to buy a bottle of 100 proof Vodka but not destined for drinking.

 

[blissful]

I haven't done any further home canning since I still have a goodly supply going back to 2007 (still good) since it's only me in the household now and people don't want to hear the 'rules' anymore so I seldom post. Life goes on. Working on making herbal remedies now. Tomorrow I have to buy a bottle of 100 proof Vodka but not destined for drinking.

Ah, so sorry, you being the only person in the household, what a big adjustment it must be for you.

You are right, people don't want to hear the rules, but, then, it might save lives, so there is that too. Have faith. Be the Mother Theresa or Gandhi of the canning world. Even they struggled with their faith.

Maybe you could start a thread on making home remedies. Please please do. I'd love to hear that adventure.

 

[mcnerd]

Maybe you could start a thread on making home remedies.

Nah, it exists all over the Internet already which is how I stumbled on it (and frustration with doctors and their remedies). It also pays to be a good gardener too.

 

[jeannette60]

Wait. wait! I am just reading the rules now. I am starting an early retirement around canning and preserving fresh and cooked food. I am tapping into the permaculture movement a little too. I want to go from hobbyist who teaches her friends, to agent to help others "put up," possibly opening my own commercial kitchen for people to learn and use for their processing and preserving. Is there a site or group I should join for "the rules?' thanks

 

[GotGarlic]

Wait. wait! I am just reading the rules now. I am starting an early retirement around canning and preserving fresh and cooked food. I am tapping into the permaculture movement a little too. I want to go from hobbyist who teaches her friends, to agent to help others "put up," possibly opening my own commercial kitchen for people to learn and use for their processing and preserving. Is there a site or group I should join for "the rules?' thanks

Hi, Jeannette and welcome to Discuss Cooking

The rules for what? Putting up, or teaching how to do that, or selling food to the public?

I do know that each state has different laws about what people need to do to sell food to the public. So you could start there.

When you say agent, do you mean you want to become a Cooperative Extension agent? I'm taking a Master Food Volunteer class right now through Cooperative Extension and I believe you need a degree in a relevant field to become an agent. And of course, Cooperative Extension is all about volunteering, not for-profit enterprises, so that would seem to me to be an unlikely career path

Can you clarify?

 

[GotGarlic]

I haven't done any further home canning since I still have a goodly supply going back to 2007 (still good) since it's only me in the household now and people don't want to hear the 'rules' anymore so I seldom post. Life goes on. Working on making herbal remedies now. Tomorrow I have to buy a bottle of 100 proof Vodka but not destined for drinking.

Just wanted to say, I've missed you, too, mcnerd I think there are quite a number of people who do want to preserve food properly and you were always a voice we could trust.

 

[mcnerd]

I want to go from hobbyist who teaches her friends, to agent to help others "put up," possibly opening my own commercial kitchen for people to learn and use for their processing and preserving. Is there a site or group I should join for "the rules?' thanks

To officially teach others home canning and preserving you need to become was is known as a 'Master Canner' or 'Master Preserver', from years of study and on-hands experience.

You can start the journey by acquiring a current copy of Ball's Guide to Preserving. A simple book available everywhere, but the bible for anyone serious about preserving food safely. Next become a permanent resident of the National Center for Home Food Preservation and everything they have to offer. Consider them God.

They also provide a nice self-study course. You can allow yourself a smile of satisfaction when you can pass the course with 100%. By then you should know humility about home canning and how easy it will be to make your friends and relatives sick when you aren't careful.