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What's everyone dehydrating today?

346K views 2K replies 223 participants last post by  kappydell 
#1 ·
It seems like whenever there's a thread on dehydrating, we get ideas from each other. Plus, it's just plain fun to see what others are doing. So I thought it would be fun to start a thread where people could post what they're dehydrating today (and tomorrow, and the next day, etc.), and maybe we'll all get some ideas!


Last night (overnight) I dehydrated meatless spaghetti sauce. Basically just tomato sauce/paste with a bunch of herbs it it. I wanted to see if I could make my own tomato powder. I'm definitely going to have to improve how I spread it out on the sheet, as I had some big differences in thickness. The stuff that was thin makes a nice powder (in the blender). The stuff that was thick makes a really yummy leather. I can see keeping a baggie full of this stuff in the car in case of emergencies (or kids just plain getting the munchies).
 
#3 ·
Next weekend be taters an beef jerky, well I hope, gotta be better then this weekend, shhhsh!
 
#4 ·
Bananas tonight. Anytime I have idle time in the dehydrator, I put on bananas, eggs or potatos(sweet or white). When it gets chilly here the dehydrator keeps the kitchen warm without having to turn on the central heat.


goshengirl, if you get it figured out(dehydrating tomato based things) please share your discovery. I tried to dehydrate tomato paste a while back and it came out like plaster dried on a sidewalk. It may have been useable if I would have ran it through the grain mill but didn't have enough in the batch to make it worth messing up the grinder, it was one of the few food experiments that I have tossed.
 
#5 ·
I dehydrated apple slices the other day. I'd love to dehydrate beef stew but not sure on how to store at the moment.

Question, I want to be able to use oxygen absorbers to store away my dehydrated food. Is using 100cc oxygen absorbers okay to use? I read that it was more for #10 cans. It's preferable to use 50cc but I can never find a site with 50cc. :dunno:
 
#9 ·
How about liver? I purchased dog treats last week and the only ingredient is liver. I have a bunch of liver in the freezer and I am the only one who eats it. So I thought, why not make my own gourmet dog treats. Has anyone ever done this?
 
#10 ·
Bananas tonight. Anytime I have idle time in the dehydrator, I put on bananas, eggs or potatos(sweet or white). When it gets chilly here the dehydrator keeps the kitchen warm without having to turn on the central heat.

goshengirl, if you get it figured out(dehydrating tomato based things) please share your discovery. I tried to dehydrate tomato paste a while back and it came out like plaster dried on a sidewalk. It may have been useable if I would have ran it through the grain mill but didn't have enough in the batch to make it worth messing up the grinder, it was one of the few food experiments that I have tossed.
Made yogurt the other day.

Tomato powder. We put our tomatoes through a food mill when we canned and all the pulp, skins and seeds were put in the dehydrator and then the blender. No waste and tomato powder.
 
#11 ·
Well, tonight its more beets. Was going through my jars and found a case that that I had forgotten about. 12 quart jars filled 9 racks in the dehydrator and will take until morning to dry thoroughly.

cybergranny, I have made yogurt and one step further, have even dehydrated it too. I have to say that I would probably have to be pretty hungry to eat it but it is edible. Will eat fresh until their is no more and I get desperate.

This summer when I make tomato sauce and juice, will try dehydrating the leftover solids and see how it works out for me. If I have trouble may wind up posting a help request.
 
#12 ·
Well, tonight its more beets. Was going through my jars and found a case that that I had forgotten about. 12 quart jars filled 9 racks in the dehydrator and will take until morning to dry thoroughly.

cybergranny, I have made yogurt and one step further, have even dehydrated it too. I have to say that I would probably have to be pretty hungry to eat it but it is edible. Will eat fresh until their is no more and I get desperate.

This summer when I make tomato sauce and juice, will try dehydrating the leftover solids and see how it works out for me. If I have trouble may wind up posting a help request.
I tried dehydrating sour cream, oy what a mess. Threw it all out.

If you need help, no problem, be glad to do what I can with the tomatoes. We added some tomato powder to our beef veggie soup this week and it was wonderful.
 
#13 ·
I tried dehydrating sour cream, oy what a mess. Threw it all out.

If you need help, no problem, be glad to do what I can with the tomatoes. We added some tomato powder to our beef veggie soup this week and it was wonderful.
May take you up on the tomatoes this summer, thanks.

I tried sour cream too, yes, it was a mess. It cans though. It's a bit difficult, cook it too long and it will turn dark and It aint sour cream no more, not long enough and .......pretty sure you know or can figure out that story. It looses a little in the caning process but is still recognizable as sour cream and is pretty good with dehydrated potatoes.
 
#14 ·
The Beets are all done, came out great. I went on one of my "foraging" trips to the grocery stores in town today and picked up 35 pounds of sweet potatoes for $.30 a pound.

I dehydrate them two ways, I peel them and grate them in the food processor, spread them on the drying racks and they will dry in a few hours. They can be used to make Sweet Potato Bread, casseroles and even made into soup, they pretty good fixed any of these ways.

The second way, I peel them and slice them about 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick, boil them until they are about 1/2 cooked and spread the patties out on drying racks and dehydrate them for about 12-16 hours at about 130 degrees, at some point during the dry process I stab each slice with a fork to make sure they dry thoroughly. Drying them this way lets you boil them until done and candy them like fresh yams. The texture is a little dense but they come out pretty good.

In my book, Sweet Potatoes are one of the foods that are too good and too nutritious not to store as many as you can.
 
#15 ·
I found 32 golden delicious for $2 on the rotten fruit sale at the grocery store so there's apple crisp in the oven & apple chips on the dehydrator. It will be awhile before they're done since my family likes them potato chip crisp. Nothing in the world wrong with those apples but some minor bruising. I'm sure glad folks are so picky, though! :)
 
#16 ·
Its amazing what people will pitch, I started a thread a while back on wasted food when I saw a large chain store in Ft Worth emptying dumpsters of produce into a tractor trailer sized refuse bin.

When seeing that, it is not hard to see why the economy is in such bad shape and why the population is so spoiled when it comes to food.
 
#18 ·
I have not done any since September, but turkey pastrami is one of the greatest things in the world when it is dried. I have it cut 1/4" thick and then use the oven on low to dehydrate it. It takes 8 to 12 hours depending on how dry you want it. Makes a great trail snack. The longer you want it to last, the longer you leave it in. Already cured and flavored for less than $4 per pound when on sale.
 
#20 ·
I have not done any since September, but turkey pastrami is one of the greatest things in the world when it is dried. I have it cut 1/4" thick and then use the oven on low to dehydrate it. It takes 8 to 12 hours depending on how dry you want it. Makes a great trail snack. The longer you want it to last, the longer you leave it in. Already cured and flavored for less than $4 per pound when on sale.
That's one I have not tried, will put it on the list and the next time it goes on sale will test it out. Have plenty of beef dried and set back, have even dehydrated cooked chicken but didn't think much of that though.

Im one of those people who would dehydrate water if it didn't take so much to rehydrate it.
 
#21 ·
It seems like whenever there's a thread on dehydrating, we get ideas from each other. Plus, it's just plain fun to see what others are doing. So I thought it would be fun to start a thread where people could post what they're dehydrating today (and tomorrow, and the next day, etc.), and maybe we'll all get some ideas!

Last night (overnight) I dehydrated meatless spaghetti sauce. Basically just tomato sauce/paste with a bunch of herbs it it. I wanted to see if I could make my own tomato powder. I'm definitely going to have to improve how I spread it out on the sheet, as I had some big differences in thickness. The stuff that was thin makes a nice powder (in the blender). The stuff that was thick makes a really yummy leather. I can see keeping a baggie full of this stuff in the car in case of emergencies (or kids just plain getting the munchies).
what a great idea! You are soooo smart! Now I have to try :2thumb:
 
#22 ·
I'm so glad you started this thread, I can't get enough info. on dehydrating. Loved the ideas on the sweet potatoes. I cooked a turkey last night and wondered if a person could then dry cooked turkey? If not, would it be best to can it? Can you can turkey after it's already been roasted? I have one more turkey to cook is why I'm asking, there's only the 2 of us....couldn't resisit buying it on sale though...lol...:rolleyes:
 
#23 ·
I'm so glad you started this thread, I can't get enough info. on dehydrating. Loved the ideas on the sweet potatoes. I cooked a turkey last night and wondered if a person could then dry cooked turkey? If not, would it be best to can it? Can you can turkey after it's already been roasted? I have one more turkey to cook is why I'm asking, there's only the 2 of us....couldn't resisit buying it on sale though...lol...:rolleyes:
Ive done it on both turkey questions. Have dried cooked turkey, white meat was OK, sliced it across the grain and and dried it at about 130-135. The dark meat was a bit too greasy and decided to can it instead.

Christmas I got the biggest bird I could find with the intention of canning what we did not eat. I separated the leftover white meat from the dark, deboned it packed each in jars then poured the broth and drippings on it and topped the jars about 1 inch from the top and pressured it at 10 pounds for 60 minutes. In one of the jars instead of pouring the broth in, used leftover turkey gravy instead.

We opened the gravy jar the next day to test it out, it was delicious but the gravy thinned out to the consistency of broth but it was a keeper.

I also canned the leftover cranberry sauce that I made with fresh cranberries and instead of cooking them down in water, I used strawberry nectar, that was just about the best I have ever eaten and a definite keeper.

My goal over the holidays was to can or dehydrate an entire Christmas/Thanksgiving dinner and I think that I was pretty successful in the attempt. I also canned the leftover candied sweet potatoes, they came out pretty good but the texture was more like mashed potatoes but still worth doing again.

I experiment a lot and will can and dehydrate anything once and then keep going if it comes out good.

When hard times hit, we will still have our holiday dinners, maybe not freshly cooked but tasty all the same.
 
#26 ·
Apples and bananas are in my dehydrator right now can anyone tell me what brand is the best dehydrator and where to get one?
I cant say which is best but the two I have seen referenced most here are the Excalibur and American Harvester. I have the American Harvester, Garden Master, it has variable temperature and is expandable up to 30 square feet of dehydrator space(30 trays). I have put 80 pounds of bananas in mine before with some space left over. They were all dried in about 16 hours.

http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/dehydrators.aspx

I think that Andi has gotten an Excalibur recently or at least in the last 6 months or so, you may check with her on how she likes it.
 
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