Dehydrating Food

Last fall I bought a dehydrator.  Finally.  I bought a Nesco Professional Food & Jerky Dehydrator at our local Bosch store for maybe $140?  I can't remember but I think that's close.

I've enjoyed using it!  Last fall I dried apples and green peppers and banana peppers. I wasn't sure if we would eat them but we have.  I added the dried peppers to soups and stews and they added a lot of flavor. The dried apples haven't been quite as popular with my kids as I hoped but my husband and I have enjoyed them.  I don't know how healthy they are but they've got to be healthier than chips and cookies.

This summer I almost forgot I had the dehydrator until I saw a newspaper article that reminded me of it.  Oh yeah, I need to use that dehydrator I paid all that money for!  So first I dried some tomatoes.  My garden's producing a lot this year.  The prep work went pretty quickly.  The drying took longer than the instruction book said but leaving it overnight did the trick.  I haven't used them yet, but I'm pleased with how easily they came off the drying rack--I didn't have to clean the racks the first time, but I did the second time.  I'm planning on using them in tomato-based sauces and soups.

The smaller tomatoes are Romas which dry better because they're less juicy--they were super easy to prepare since their stems are so tiny.

I'm storing the dried tomatoes in a quart-size ziploc bag.  One batch in my dehydrator (about 5 trays) fills one quart bag.

 

Next I tried pears.  When we moved into our house it came with a little dwarf pear tree.  We usually get a bunch of pears and they have been wormy (we're not committed enough to spray) and small.  Thinning the pears this year does seem to have helped on size.  After I picked the pears, I sliced them into circles (leaving the skin, the seeds, and just slicing off the stem ends) and cut off the wormy parts.  I dipped most of them in lemon juice to keep them from getting too brown but I don't think I needed to.

Pre-drying

Then I dried them overnight.  I was surprised how good they are when I tried them.  They are slightly addictive!  You don't notice it when you're eating them but the tangy aftertaste makes you want more.  So I'm definitely doing more of those.  Especially since I HATE canning them.  Yay for dried pears!

Post-drying