Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Eating and Drinking => Cooking, Storing and Preserving => Topic started by: snow white on August 30, 2013, 17:03
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Can any one recommend a good book. Have bananas in at the moment - cant' wait. Courgettes next. :D
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Can I be really nosey and ask what model you've bought? I see people saying they are going to dehydrate stuff like courgettes - do you just throw them into soups etc to rehydrate them? I'm fascinated and a complete sucker for kitchen gadgets. Thanks! :)
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The 2 most popular ones are The Dehydrator Bible, and, Mary Bell's Complete Dehydrator Cookbook. I have the latter and it's quite complete.
On youtube, there's an excellent gal who's very knowledgeable called: dehydrate2store
What she doesn't know isn't worth knowing. I believe she might even have a book out.
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I've got the Mary Bell on and Trillium is right, it is pretty comprehensive, so far. I got mine from Amazon and it was quite expensive (£12.99) and came from Canada, so took a couple of weeks to come. Might be cheaper on Kindle or Nook. You probably don't really need a book, Youtube has some good thing on, there was this woman with a most amazing apple corer/peeler/slicer thing, which I immeediately wanted, but luckily my kitchen isn't big enough ::)
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I bought a Callow digital dehydrator from Amazon 49.95. Apples were great but bananas are taking ages. Tried 8 hours and stillsoft so on for another three. Will look out for the books and website - thanks :D
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Bananas do take a long time. The more water and less sugar the fruit or vegetable has, the quicker they dry. A lot of shop bought dried nanas are actually deep fried before drying. They will still be chewy and a bit sticky done at home, but much better for you :)
Next time you do apples, try soaking them first for a few minutes in orange juice, then sprinkling with a bit of cinnamon before drying. Supermarket cheapo bags of pears make fantastic dried pears as well. I usually dip them in fruit juice first to prevent discolouration. Pineapple is good. Experiment with flavours and see what you like :)
I've got the Mary Bell book and use it all the time ;)
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I've been looking at buying a dehydrator for ages but always get baffled by them, is the 1 youve brought big enough to get a whole sliced banana in?
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Mine's an Andrew James one and has 5 trays, and its plenty big enough for one banana. I did half a bucket full of runner beans yesterday and it only covered 3 of the trays.
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thank you that really helps, will have to treat myself to one :ohmy:
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i dehydrated about 10 bananas in it. they are scrummy - very strong tasting but a great snack.
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Try slicing things as thin as possible they dry faster. I had a lot of success last year with grated carrots.
I'll try bananas they often have bags on the market 10 for 1.00.
I find all the info I need on the web. Going to try cues next.
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I've got the Mary Bell on and Trillium is right, it is pretty comprehensive, so far. I got mine from Amazon and it was quite expensive (£12.99) and came from Canada, so took a couple of weeks to come. Might be cheaper on Kindle or Nook. You probably don't really need a book, Youtube has some good thing on, there was this woman with a most amazing apple corer/peeler/slicer thing, which I immeediately wanted, but luckily my kitchen isn't big enough ::)
I found the 'dehydrator' lady on youtube. WOW!!! She has kitchen gadgets that make me green with envy. The chopper thingummy on her worktop is amazing! Gadgets aside, she has made the whole dehydrating thing much clearer to me! When she showed the dried foods next to the dehydrated foods I could see the difference and the penny dropped for me! A dehydrator is now on my wish list! ;)
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I'm in love with mine. I have the 9 tray Excalibur that she has, and that poor thing is in very frequent use all year round. I never dreamed you could dehydrate lemon slices, which I now do whenever I find a great deal on reduced lemons. Mostly we use them for hot tea now and don't have to worry about the fresh lemons going bad or costing a lot.
Today I'm putting in another 9 trays of chopped celery to dehydrate to use for soups and stews. I use THIS (http://www.amazon.com/Vidalia-Chop-Wizard-VOWR-2/dp/B000I6JZWA/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1378563917&sr=1-1&keywords=vidalia+food+chopper) to chop them up with and I'm done in under 10 minutes. Got the unit at a thrift store for $1 and LOVE it; it comes with 2 different screen sizes.
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Ooh, Trillium....I want one (where is that green smiley when you need it?) :nowink:
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Has too many kitchen toy's as it is AND I am not building an extension :lol:
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Still quite a novice with mine, lots of new and exciting things to try. :D
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Just got mine on the go with tomato s it is the Andrew James 5 trays. I have 3 of tomato and going to do dome beans. Has anyone done tomato I am hoping they are like Sun dried. What were the dried corgettee like .. I am so hoping it is a success because not a huge fan of pickles
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Just got mine on the go with tomato s it is the Andrew James 5 trays. I have 3 of tomato and going to do dome beans. Has anyone done tomato I am hoping they are like Sun dried. What were the dried corgettee like .. I am so hoping it is a success because not a huge fan of pickles
That's the one I've got, too.
I've done two lots of toms, the first were large tomatoes, seeded and quartered and they were very snackable as they were. The other ones were smaller tomatoes just sliced and put in the trays, they were more acid and not quite so nice just to snack on. I haven't tried putting them in oil after drying yet.
I did some courgette, but must've sliced them a bit thin and they came out like crisps, which were okay but not my favourite. I've had a few attempts at beetroot crisps but not succeeded yet.
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I'm going to keep my courgettes for ading to dishes in the winter sups ect.
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My courgettes were really rubbery, what do you do with them as i was very dissappointed, also my beetroot were the same
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We are looking at getting one but read so many reviews that I really don't know.
Some say they are noisy, some say they use a lot of electric some say the trays break etc.etc.etc.
We were looking at the Andrew james round one but then I saw the rectangular one.
Just not convinced at the mo.
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We are looking at getting one but read so many reviews that I really don't know.
Some say they are noisy, some say they use a lot of electric some say the trays break etc.etc.etc.
We were looking at the Andrew james round one but then I saw the rectangular one.
Just not convinced at the mo.
Right now i wish i hadnt bothered, its already in the roof :blush: the tomatoes went mouldy after a week, is that normal. I need some help with mine i obviously havent worked it out ???
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Right now i wish i hadnt bothered, its already in the roof :blush: the tomatoes went mouldy after a week, is that normal. I need some help with mine i obviously havent worked it out ???
This is what I am worried about thx BQ you just saved me £50 ish.
Will stick to the freezer and pickling for now.
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If it goes mouldy then they were not done long enoug or were not air tight. Having great fun with mine at the mo. Every flavour is intensified. Fruit leathers are amazing, as are dried bananas. Courgettes and swede are for soups etc. Doing toms as we speak. Everything takes longer than you think, but it only costs about 3p per hour, so a full load of stuff costs from 24 p to 75p.
You must keep them in an airtight jar or bag as if they have access to moist air they will absorb water and go mouldy. I put mine in kilner jars.
I have a round plastic one which at the moment am very happy with. :D
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Fruit leathers are amazing, as are dried bananas.
I have a round plastic one which at the moment am very happy with. :D
What do you do the leathers in? Iv'e tried to think what will fit into a round dehydrator.
I've just done a batch of bananas dipped in lime juice, and its lovely.
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I read they needed to be like raisins when they are ready and my toms seemed to be ready. I did put them in a jar, will maybe try again. I was very dissappointed.
Now beetroot will that end up crisp as mine were softish, i had far more success in the oven with beetrot.
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What do you do the leathers in? Iv'e tried to think what will fit into a round dehydrator.
I've just done a batch of bananas dipped in lime juice, and its lovely.
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Cling film. But I have just invested in some proper sheets that I will cut to size (amazon). The cling film curled around the sides and delayed the drying process but when it was nearly dry I took it off the cling film and finished it on the tray.
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I did black and green grapes (when they were cheap to buy) last year, took forever but then used them in my Christmas cake...what a treat, best ever and I'm ancient so take it from me, I have made dozens of the things.
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BQ, I highly recommend that you watch a youtube gal called dehydrate2store HERE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxVpIHre2ao)
Not only does she describe all the how-to's but she also shows exactly how the result should look and sound like. EG A properly dried lemon slice should click when dropped on a counter and not be at all flexible. As snow white said, it sounds like you're not drying the tomatoes long enough. I usually run mine overnight as many things need around 10 to 12 hours drying time. Power is cheaper overnight and no one will disturb the drying.
If the finished item is not kept in a tightly lidded jar then it will resoften thanks to room humidity and storage time lessens.
Racks only break if someone drops them and steps on them.
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Thank you will take a look when i am on the big pc as youtube dont work on the ipad ::)
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I tried dehydrating apple chunks rather than the usual apple rings - request from OH for his morning porridge as cutting up apple rings is hard work ............ apparently ::) Took about twice as long, but they are lovely. A different texture to the apple rings and a real concentrated blast of apple when you bite in :)
Other eat out of the jar treats I like are mostly fruit based. I think you need the sugar content to help the texture. Tomato slices are about the only veg ones I munch on, but courgette slices are great for winter slow cook dishes as Madame Cholet says.
Using the oven will give a crisper result as you are drying, rather than dehydrating. Dehydrating will preserve more of the nutrient value as it is a slower, lower temperature process :)
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I use old lrg pickle jars with cling film for a good seal that works well.
When I went back packing in March I took mushrooms, grated carrot, leeks, parsnips and sliced onions in ziplock bags enough for 10 days meals and no weight.
The mashed potato wasn't brilliant it took longer to rehydrate in hot water than cooking from scratch. May grate and dry raw next time.