[JustAPrepper]

I also have an Excalibur. I had *zero* luck with Blueberries, after standing in the kitchen for hours poking holes in them with a toothpick. After two days, non stop, they just weren't getting where they needed to be. They ended up in the freezer and we put them in cereal.

I've found I have better luck drying things low and slow. 110 - 115 works best for me for most everything. I think it's because of our high humidity. If I go higher or faster it seems as though things Hardcase on me.

I slice my Strawberries with a Boiled Egg slicer. I have one that has two slicing wires, one is straight, the other scallopped for decorative egg slices. The scallopped one works best. I actually broke my first Egg Slicer that only had a straight blade. Some of the berries were larger or harder than others and popped the little wire right out of the thing.

Sweet Potatoes dry fabulously! I peel, slice, blanch then dehydrate.

Have fun! You're gonna love it!

[tsrwivey]

I have a couple questions & hope ya'll can answer. Will the flavors mingle if different foods are dried together? For example, I have corn & strawberries on the drier together now. Will my corn taste like strawberries?

I have been using separate trays to dry things like onions & jalepenos because I'm afraid the odors will permeate the plastic & leech into other foods dried at a later time. My logic is it's nearly impossible to get the smell out of your hands after cutting so I was concerned the smell may stay in the plastic as well. Am I being too cautious or just plain

[*Andi]

I have done different fruits together with no problem. I did read somewhere that onions sould be dried alone but I have not tried it. Sorry I new at this ... so not much help.

[tsrwivey]

Just took the strawberries off the dryer & they don't taste like corn! Yay!!!

[JustAPrepper]

I read that onions needed to be dried "outside" because of their odor. The only ones I've dehydrated were Vidalia's, when they come in season. I did over 15 pounds, inside the house, over a period of about a week. I was especially careful because of the dogs (two Chihuahua's). I watched them non-stop, looking for any kind of irritation with their eyes or noses. They exhibited absolutely no sign of discomfort and I didn't notice a thing. It may be different with a hotter, spicier onion but I'm convinced I can do sweet onions indoors with no problems. I also wouldn't hesitate to dehydrate them with other things. Maybe not fruit, that just seems kind of wrong, but I'd definitely do them with most any other veggie, especially peppers and/or tomatoes.

[Emerald]

I'm sure that I mentioned this before but for goodness sakes dry your habenero peppers outside on the deck! I filled my dehydrator with hot peppers of all types including three trays of habs and it drove us all out of the house choking and gagging...! I now know why the cops like to use pepper spray!

[gypsysue]

Originally Posted by Emerald

I'm sure that I mentioned this before but for goodness sakes dry your habenero peppers outside on the deck! I filled my dehydrator with hot peppers of all types including three trays of habs and it drove us all out of the house choking and gagging...! I now know why the cops like to use pepper spray!

Poor Emerald! I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes after reading that! I'm sure it's empathy, not from laughter! I've never dried my peppers inside in my dehydrator, but I enjoy doing onions in them. I love the smell filling the house. Yellow onions are the only ones that do very good here, so that's mostly what I dry. They don't store well fresh, so I chop, chop, chop and slice and get them all dehydrated in the Fall.

I dry my peppers on drying racks set around the house or out on our covered porch. We have very low humidity, especially in late summer and fall, so it works well.

I have some old seed for these very spicy red peppers, and I decided to grow some this year so the seed wouldn't die out. Figuring the germination rate would be poor after 4 years I planted quite a bit of it, in pots inside the house. Well, they ALL came up! Oh dear!

[tsrwivey]

Originally Posted by Emerald

I'm sure that I mentioned this before but for goodness sakes dry your habenero peppers outside on the deck! I filled my dehydrator with hot peppers of all types including three trays of habs and it drove us all out of the house choking and gagging...! I now know why the cops like to use pepper spray!

Oh no! I've set 10 trays of onions to dry in the morning & came back 10 hours later & it would bring tears to your eyes. I can't even imagine what habenero would do!

[gypsysue]

JustAPrepper, I can't understand why blueberries wouldn't dry for you! I've had maybe half a dozen or so on tray of berries that, for some reason, just would not dry. I finally pick those out and put them in the freezer. But whole trays of them? : Maybe you could try a different kind of blueberries? Were they store bought or home grown?

[Emerald]

Ok I knew I had read that you should blanch blueberries briefly before dehydrating them and I finally found a blog that has that information on it... it is supposed to make them dry like a nice raisin and not a hard little bullet.
Dehydrating Blueberries