Dry days, veggies, and eyes…

Dehydrating Foods
To prepare for the cool and downright cold months, many people preserve their food harvests by either freezing, canning, or dehydrating. Today, we’ll go down the path of dehydrating…
 
A few weeks ago, I decided to purchase a dehydrator. We had tried using the oven—setting it to very, very low, and circulating air in it to dehydrate various foods, but honestly, it seemed rather slow and inefficient. Plus, it took up the oven, so we couldn’t bake anything else during the hours that it was dehydrating. Thus… not my favorite.
 

 
With the dehydrator, it comes with stackable racks, and you can buy additional racks if needed, and you just set the temperature, turn it on and go. I come back every now and then to check it (usually by touching the food to determine its softness or moisture level, or by picking a sample and tasting it). Last weekend, I decided to dehydrate my excess vegetables from the garden such as radishes, jalapeno and green peppers. I cleaned and sliced them setting them on the dehydrator trays, left to go do a few errands, and when I came home they were finished. The directions say that fruits and vegetables usually take about 12 hours at 135 degrees Farenheit, so I was very surprised that this batch only took 4 hours! Lesson learned: check the food during the process to be sure of when it’s done.
 

 
This week I had an excess of overripe bananas… in the past I’d usually just plunk them in the freezer and use them later in baking efforts, such as banana/chocolate chip muffins, pancakes, or another baked dish. Now I also can use them to make fruit sorbet with my Omega juicer that can churn out whole frozen fruits into wonderful sorbets… drizzle a bit of honey and maybe some dark chocolate sauce over the banana sorbet and you have a wonderful dessert to serve anyone. With a dehydrator, however, there’s yet another option.
 
Just peel the banana and cut it into the size and shape of what you want to munch on later… layering it on the dehydrator tray as you go… (Helpful tip: Before placing fruit on the tray, spray the tray with an oil like Pam or whatever is your favorite to prevent the foods from sticking too much to the tray, which makes clean up not so easy.)
 

 
Set the temperature to 135 degrees Farenheit; put the lid on the dehydrator, plug it in and your ready to go. With multiple trays you can layer different foods on each tray. I’ve been hesitant to mix fruits and vegetables at the same time, though, because I don’t want, let’s say jalapeno peppers smells to color the smell and taste of bananas, for example.
 

 
After several hours, bananas usually take about twelve hours so it’s something you can do overnight and have them ready in the morning. They are great to pack into a baggie and take to work for a healthy snack when you need that something sweet. Certainly far better for you, healthwise, than a candy bar. Yet it tastes so yummy, it tastes like candy. I have found that the dehydrated bananas that I do myself are a far cry better than the dehydrated versions you can buy in the bulk food bins of your local grocery or health food store. Those are far too crisp and have lost something in the process.
 
Here is what raspberries look like after several hours in the dehydrator… I put the more dried ones on my cereal this morning and they added a wonderful taste and texture to the cereal eating experience. I bet they would be great on oatmeal in the winter too. I noticed with the raspberries that they lose some of their color during the drying process, but the flavor stays intact.
 

 
I’m thinking I’ll try it with my end of season cantaloupes that were picked yesterday… I’ll let them ripen a bit more for a few days and then I may take the extra and dry them for a lovely winter taste treat.
 

 
The package of peppers and radishes that I dried last week, I figure that I can easily add a handful to soups, stews, or even to make a vegetarian base. I also made up a batch of green fried tomatoes during the week. That was fun, and tasty. I just love the end of season options and recipes.
 
Bon appetit!