I've been watching for some cheap fruit to dehydrate.
I'd done some dehydrating with cabbage that was left too long and rotted (while I was up in the Waikato), it remained too moist. Carrots seem to dehydrate very well.
I would like some dehydrated veges for storage so that I can use them when I haven't got anything fresh at hand and haven't shopped.
Apples. I can't say I'm mad on them, I do like a granny smith sliced into 4 with cheese but otherwise not a massive fan. I did sort of enjoy apple pie in ireland from apples from the orchid in Kilkenny.
I dehydrated some leftover apple slices and kiwifruit and left them in a container by my computer and I wolfed them down. I really enjoyed snacking on them.
So saturday (13th June) I went to the market and got about 5kg of apples, 3 varieties, Braeburn, another red apple and some granny smiths, all equal measure. I sliced up the first batch, quick & thick and they are taking quite a while to dry. Onto the 3rd day now, running 24/7. I've been changing the temperature from 70 to 40 and then at say 50 overnight (deg C). I'm not sure thats doing much.
Also some cheap bananas too, they are great for snacking on, but heaps of moisture. I do not like them when they are brick hard.
I think because I have about 5 bananas and about 2kg of apples the dehydrator is struggling with the load. I'm trying to keep it low but that isn't working.
Day 3 its starting to take effect and they are drying out, I've cranked it back up to 70 deg C.
The next batch I'm going to use the corer and also the mandolin slicer to see if I can get them any thinner.
I did look online for vacuum sealer for mason jars, only, it seems, from Amazon. $40NZ but P/P was about 58$ and then GST on the whole lot so over $120. So that is off the books at the moment. I'll look to using cheap bags to vacuum seal.
My power bills are up, from 20-25 to 30-35$ / week. I think its the dehydrator, also winter, higher charges, and possibly the LED lights, although I'll monitor them when I'm not doing the dehydration.
The notion of dehydration is that you are not using power to keep them frozen to preserve them. But you are using power to dehydrate them.
So, if you want some moisture in them (not solid and brittle) then you need to vacuum seal.
Also freezer is pretty full nowerdays with the bread baking for pizza dough, hamburger buns, muffinns etc, all bulky.
I do need to get my 2nd method of vacuum sealing for fruit/veges organised for preserving. Or find another method. Since I've invested in the vacuum sealer I'd better start trying to see if I can use it effectively. Maybe I do need to go to the more expensive bags.
Weigh the food before and after!!!! Can then work out amount of dehydration.
13th Jan
I decided to go ahead and try some dehydrating. I had some cabbage and a carrot in the fridge, and as I'm heading up North in a couple of days I wanted to give the dehydrator a spin. I used the mandolin to chop up the carrot and so thin slices, that all went on one tray, I hope they do not stain it too much. I had about 1/2 a cabbage and started to cut it into about 20mm thk slices and lay on the trays. I used about 3 trays. Some of the slices were a bit thick, so that tray I put on top. I looked up on the interwongle for dehydrating Carrots and cabbages and came to this website: https://www.easy-food-dehydrating.com/ There were pages for both the vegetables. Setting 125-135F, so I've set it at 50C Time 6- 12 hours. Check and rotate trays. I started at 4.30pm , so will check hourly'ish as I go.
Process
Something that needs to be done is to weigh the food before and after!!!!
Then you can see how much an item has been dehydrated. This needs to be done to help estimate dehydration times later.
13th Jan
There was a bit of a vege wiff as I started it up, so closed the door to laundry. That is quite a handy room for these things. I stored the other shelves in the cupboard above. Later checking on it I noticed there was condensation on the lower part of the window, so I opened that further. Also it was a bit warmer. I suppose 50 deg C heating of a small amount of air warms a small space . I rotated the shelves to allow for a more even drying across the trays. Next morning at 8am I checked. The carrots, which covered the whole of the tray had shrunk to 1/4 of a tray and were firm. Still chewy, so I bagged them. The cabbage still looked very moist so I rotated those trays and it is still running. So about 15 1/2 hours and 3 trays of cabbage still moist. Maybe, because of low power it will take a lot longer than the more expensive dryers.
14th Jan
I have separated the sliced leaves of the cabbage to let air around them and they are drying faster now. I'll bag them shortly.
Mango's and apples
I decided to take the mangos and apples out of the fridge and dry them too. I just cut them up and put them on trays. I think the apples may need to have a quick blanch, but I'll do that next time. I do need a corer for the apples though, so shall put that on my list. They are in at 50 deg C and I put them in about 1pm. The mango's I weighted. 2 mangoes(whole) 661g. I then peeled them and sliced them and was left with 342g of pieces. So in dehydrator now and I need to check weight when removing. Final weight is 90g, so 74% dehydration. Some of the bigger bits are still soft but the smaller/thinner pieces are very dry and no taste.
Making chips in dehydrator
This video looks interesting. Zoe can have these.
I used a potato and sliced up on mark 2 on the mandolin to make thin and then washed in warm water to get some of the starch out. Then soaked in some malt vinegar for a couple of hours and then put in dehydrator overnight. I didn't add herbs or salt. A bit dissapointing, soggy. I chucked a few in the air fryer but that didn't do much. Still soggy.
End comment
Well I've dehydrated stuff! Not planned but grabbing stuff out of fridge and drying it. As far as the Dehydrator goes, it works quite well, I'm happy with the veges that I've dried so far. It is more a test at this point as I'm heading off for a while, but I see some good oppertunities for pre-packed meals that I can vacuum seal and forget in a cupboard. I'm interested in trying the biltong andjerky in the dehydrator, as well as chicken and trying fruit leather and crackers. It's a matter of using the oppertunity of cheap fruit and meats to make something that can be used over a long period. I'm pleased i purchased this and can see that i can add things to it for preserving. The next step is to get the vacuum sealer extesion and use mason jars to store some things long term. Also buy frozen veges in bulk and dehydrate them, so less storage in freezers and more in jars for preserving. So, dried meals, dehydrated veges from cheap frozen packets. I'll need mason jars and vacuum seal extension.
I was thinking of getting a dehydrator for doing the biltong and Jerky. I'm very happy with my current settup for hanging the biltong, but its not an elegant solution. It was good to test out whether iit is worth persuing, so a cardboard box is fine for that, but it will fail over time. So I started looking at Food Dehydrators and thinking about using one of those instead. Having the utility room closed off is hany to leave a machine running as it is shut off from the rest of the house and so smells wond move all through the dwelling. I'm looking at one on TradeMe at the moment, although I think I'll end up having to wait for one from China as I've not had much success buying on TradeMe at all. I'm not experienced enough. Anyway, I'll wait a couple of days and see if the buyer will be interested in selling to me.
Dehydrator.
Why buy and use, the vid below gives a few reasons, but I think this is a way to be a bit more efficient with food and less wasteful.
I do like the idea of reducing bulk of products and also like the homemade effort for your food too. If I have time on my hands, why not, its quite enjoyable. Ive been pleased with some of my other gadgets, such as the food mixer and air fryer, both of those have easily paid for themselves.
Meats I'm interested in making more biltong, and instead of hanging it, if it dries on the trays and can be made more quickly, then that is great.
Fruits Its coming into summer so getting cheap produce that I can dry and store will be great. I'm also interested in dehydrating and re-hydrating foods, so that will be a ifferent type of cooking to explore. Vegetables Getting a load of vegetables dried out allows me to have a lot of variety on hand when cooking. Carrots go off, so does the cabbage. I'd like to have some dried so that they are ready to use.
Dehydrated foods and poos. I saw a vid by a doctor that said stools were 70% water, and a lot of foods have mimimal water, so rest of fluid from your body, so as you get older you can become dehydrated. So maybe with dehydrated foods best to rehydrate for use in meals.
Pre-prepped dehydrated meals
The vid below shows how to pre-prep meals from dehydrated food. There is one for outdoor camping too that is interesting.
The camping one dehydrates meat for camping, he has another video where he re-hydrates and cooks meals, and because he's taken out all the fat from the meat (boiling the mince) he adds a bit of olive oil to add a bit of flavour back into meal.
I think for pre-prepped meals you need to cook the rice and then dehydrate it, so it cooks in the same time as other ingredients. I'm not sure if you need to do that for pasta though. I quite like the idea of pre-bagged meals that you vacuum seal and leave for a quick heat'n'eat. Also, as you've made it you know what has gone into it. I also really like the vacuum seal for mason jars too. That will preserve stuff for a lot longer.
Purchasing dehydrator and delivery
I ordered a Dehydrator online on TradeMe. It was NZ$54.95 and with delivery 63$. I ordered on the 2nd Jan And it finally arrived on 13th Jan. So a bit slow for delivery, even accounting for the fact the order was put on a thursday.
It arrived in a cardboard box with polystyrene forms at base and top and the top lid was cracked in one corner, otherwise all in good shape. For photos see at end.
About the dehydrator
The trays are quite deep, about 30mm from perforated plastic tray to top edge, so clearance between trays would be about 25mm (an inch). I'm pleased about that, I was worried they may be too shallow. Its about 240mm deep, 300mm wide & 350mm high with all 7 trays stacked. So it will easily sit under the cupboards in the laundry. The top, clear lid is oversized and a bit rattly. It does not have any holes in the top so the air eases out around the edges around the perimeter. there is the central hole on each tray that allows air to flow up from the bottom. The bottom is a sort of drain tray so any moisture dripping down will fall into the well. There is a raised central hat that allwos air to flow into the chamber. I will be heading up country shortly so will not have too much time to play with it. As it is, I have some cabbge that I wanted to dehydrate, also an apple or 2 (although I could use those in a smothie) and an onion. I think I'll need to do one thing at a time otherwise there is potential for cross contamination of flavours. I'm not sure whether to wait for feedback from seller about broken lid or go ahead with a trial.
An interesting comment is to rotate trays for even drying. I thought that was a good insight.
Some vids on dehydrating fruits and a DIY dehydrator ( a bit like a biltong box)
DIY dehydrator, pretty cool Suggested items for dehydration I need to plan to buy cheap fruit for dehydration. So currently summer, need to start to go to markets and buy fruit to test. Vegetables
Cabbage- (done)
Carrots- (done)
Tomatoes
Potatoes (I tried chips)
Mushrooms
Onions (turn into powder
Garlic (turn into powder) buy a big bag and dehydrate
Maybe get coffee grinder (op shop) to grind herbs/garlic/onions etc Other
crackers
fruit leather
rice
Photos of unboxing and instructions
Update on cracked lid. 14th jan.
I've been offered 20$ refund, so actual unit was 55$ and the rest courier (about $8- tot 63$) so unit for 43$ ok with just a cracked lid. It doesn't sit as well but it doesn't affect the operation. Since this was the cheapest one that I got to test to see if worthwhile I'm happy with that outcome.
The information book with it is pretty limited, see below, a bit vague on times for fruit drying, still, I'll have to use to see results:
Cracked top lid
Instructions , only telling you how to do beef jerky and vague suggestions for fruit , vegertables and nuts.
