What are you dehydrating today?

[blissful]

Banana slabs, snacks.

 

[GotGarlic]

When I rehydrate mushrooms for soup or stew, I put them in a bowl of boiling water. They rehydrate in about a half hour.

 

[larry_stewart]

When I rehydrate mushrooms for soup or stew, I put them in a bowl of boiling water. They rehydrate in about a half hour.

If making a mushroom based soup or gravy, rehydrating liquid makes a great base.

 

[larry_stewart]

Banana slabs, snacks.

Are those straight banana slices or do you rub ,lemon juice or something on them prior to drying ?

 

[blissful]

Are those straight banana slices or do you rub ,lemon juice or something on them prior to drying ?

Just plain, each banana is sliced into 3 pieces (sometimes 4), put on the parchment. I took them off the parchment, because they stick, after 24 hours, then dehydrated another 36 hours.

 

[GotGarlic]

If making a mushroom based soup or gravy, rehydrating liquid makes a great base.

Yes, I use the liquid in whatever soup or stew I'm making.

 

[taxlady]

When I rehydrate mushrooms for soup or stew, I put them in a bowl of boiling water. They rehydrate in about a half hour.

Even when I have done this, the stems of some mushrooms just don't ever seem to rehydrate properly, even hours later. I have since learned that you either just soak as much of the flavours out of them as you can, for use in or as stock. The other option I have heard about is to grind the stems to powder and use that for flavour enhancing.

 

[larry_stewart]

I do a lot of dried mushroom grinding .
I do a rough grind then pass it through a wire mesh sieve.
The fine powder I keep as mushroom powder for various uses.
The bits that dont pass through the wire mesh, I use in another recipe that called for mushroom pieces. Between growing mushrooms, and sore bought ones that get pushed to the back of the fridge and forgotten about, I have an endless supply of mushroom powder and pieces.

 

[pepperhead212]

The boletus or porcini mushrooms I use rehydrate fairly well, using just hot water from the faucet, while the Chinese type shiitake mushrooms do better with boiling water - those are the ones with stems that are hard, and need hotter water, and often longer soaking. The boletus are the dirtiest, and I always rub them together in the water, to release the dirt, then squeeze the water out as much as possible, then strain the water into a bowl. Then I massage them around in another cup of water, and repeat the process. There is always a little more dirt in that water, and I do this a third time - the water rarely has any more dirt settled out of it the third time, but I still use it, along with the first two, and end up with about 2½ c of almost black liquid! Sometimes I use them in soups as is, but other times I boil it down in a sauté pan, after sweating some onions and garlic, if using, and adding the minced up boletus - the boiling it down over high heat together, intensifies the flavor greatly, before sautéeing with other, fresh mushrooms. So little is needed, to get an incredible amount of flavor, using that method, with those mushrooms.

 

[GinnyPNW]

I ended my 2 Dwarf Greek Basil plants and dehydrated them for future use. The plant makes good basil and it is pretty too. However, it insists on going to flower. Sigh. As fast as I can pinch off the flowers, new ones appear. So, into the dehydrator they went! I've got about 1.5 cups of dried basil. I still have 2 Emerald Towers Basil growing and I think I'll start a couple more of them. They are very tasty and very similar to Genovese, but easier, IMO. A better texture for using as is, too.

 

[blissful]

10 lbs of carrots in the dehydrator, they are cooked and chopped.

 

[blissful]

The cooked carrots dried very bright orange, very pretty. I ground those up, and made the bouillon/stock powder that I use. Ground up mushrooms, garlic, onions, carrots, celery, bay leaves, parsley, and thyme. 3.9 lbs. It should last a couple years.

 

[larry_stewart]

Had 6 over ripe bananas, so I mashed up the bananas adding 1 tbs per banana of peanut butter. Spread it on. silicone dehydrating sheet. Sprinkled some mini chocolate chips and chopped walnuts over it. Dehydrated for about 10 hours at 130F, rotating the trays every few hours. When they cool a little bit I roll them up, making them easier to eat. They taste best while still warm from the dehydrator. This is my favorite way to use up overripe bananas.

 

[dragnlaw]

Larry, how do you store them when finished? I mean the ones you don't gobble up right away. And how long so they last?

 

[larry_stewart]

Larry, how do you store them when finished? I mean the ones you don't gobble up right away. And how long so they last?

We gobble them up pretty quickly. I usually only make one tray, so there is no problem eating them quickly ( they never make it past 2 days without being eaten). We still have one in the fridge. If we dome eat it today, I'll probably try freezing it. It never gets that true 'fruit-leathery' texture. It's more moist and sticky ( probably due to the added peanut butter). I know true fruit leather can last awhile. I'm to sure if the texture will change after freezing/ thawing but I may find out this time around.

 

[dragnlaw]

I was freezing dehydrating apples and other fruit just to nibble but was eating it too fast. Especially after I realized that just because they're small and snackable, they still have the same calories (if not more) as a whole piece of fruit.
Eating 4 apples and 2 bananas in one evening... but they're sooo darn good!

oopsie on the freezing...

 

[blissful]

I was freezing apples and other fruit just to nibble but was eating it too fast. Especially after I realized that just because they're small and snackable, they still have the same calories (if not more) as a whole piece of fruit.
Eating 4 apples and 2 bananas in one evening... but they're sooo darn good!

So true.
On the good side, even if you do eat 4 apples and 2 bananas, it's good food. You're not eating junk food and bananas and apples have lots of nutrition.
I really don't like the starchy texture of bananas fresh, but I love the slices dehydrated. A handful or 2, no problem and no guilt. Your body will thank you.

 

[dragnlaw]

Am afraid I don't quite agree. Don't care how 'healthy' they are too much at any one time is not.

Anytime I've overindulged in a food I become sensitive to it. For example, still can't eat raspberries, been 40+ years. All cause I made a pig of myself one morning on my breakfast cereal and ate more than a pint. Was delicious but I suffered after and have ever since.

Unfortunately it is always the good stuff I react to - never the fudge or chocolate cake, etc.

 

[taxlady]

They won't increase in calorie count by being dehydrated. They will however increase in calories / gram. While it is good food and good for you, as dragn wrote, too much is not good. This is especially relevant for anyone who has to watch their sugar intake, e.g., people who are diabetic or pre-diabetic and anyone else watching their carbs.

 

[blissful]

@taxlady and what do you think would happen if a person at 200-300 grams of carbs in one day?