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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Jan 31, 2019 12:36:21 GMT -5
I've been thinking. Yeah, that's a dangerous thing for me. You know, making those Leather Britches Green Beans was a hoot! In fact, I'm bout ready to give them a try.
Anyways, I know some of you probably dehydrate stuff so I was wondering.
what do you dehydrate? How long does it keep? You know that sort of thing.
I bought one in the early 90's and it's out in the shed. The only thing I ever made was some apple chips and pineapple rings with cherries in the middle. I think I also made some jerky.
I don't even know if it still works, I was just looking for something to occupy my mind.
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Jan 31, 2019 12:51:25 GMT -5
hairymooseknuckles, peppers and apples mostly. I tried to dehydrate figs and that took forever and a day.
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Post by meandtk on Jan 31, 2019 13:07:48 GMT -5
I’ve been wondering about dehydrators. Is it worthwhile to buy one?
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jan 31, 2019 13:25:26 GMT -5
Obviously, I dehydrate peppers. lol But I also dehydrate eggplant, butternut, tomatillos, tomatoes, and some fruits, though not a lot of fruits, since I don't grow those. The eggplants I do the most of - when I have excess, I cut them into large chunks (1-1 1/4"), and dry them until totally dried out. 1 lb reduces down to 1.35 oz., but usually I use 1.5 oz to rehydrate approx 1 lb of EP or tomatillos.
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Post by ladymarmalade on Jan 31, 2019 14:09:22 GMT -5
We had a dehydrator a long time ago and I did all the fruit things. Pear slices, apple slices, banana chips, fruit leathers. And we really didn't like the results. We kept the dehydrator for a few years, and kept trying, but every time I would be so disappointed with the dried fruit. We eventually sold it at a rummage sale for a few dollars.
Now of course, I'm thinking I want one again as a means to better utilize the garden produce. I think I'd love to make my own pepper powders, and I'd definitely love to make tomato powder to add to my homemade taco seasoning. I regularly purchase dried celery, bell pepper, onion and garlic to make seasoning mixes, and while they are inexpensive where I buy them, most of them I could make during the growing season.
We'll see. I have a list of things I want for food preservation and right now the cider press is at the top of the list, not a dehydrator.
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Jan 31, 2019 17:01:42 GMT -5
I've had my dehydrator for 10 years. It was a cheapy Nesco American Harvest model that I bought extra trays and herb trays for. We love dried apples, strawberries, peaches, ground meat for camping. I also dry large quantities of herbs in it. For small quantities I just use the microwave. I have made jerky, tomatoes, mushrooms and bell peppers in the dehydrator as well. We find the flavour of dried mushrooms too intense. Peppers were fine for soups and stews but we use more in breakfast dishes so I went back to freezing them as well as freezing tomatoes. mgulfcoastguy,I was wondering about drying figs when I saw a case of them on sale at the Grocery store last week. I didn't buy and forgot to look when I was there today. If they are that much trouble I think I will just buy some to make jam. Thanks for your feedback.
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Post by brownrexx on Jan 31, 2019 18:42:22 GMT -5
I had a cheap-o dehydrator which I replaced with an upgraded one with a fan and it is so much better. No rearranging of trays is necessary during the drying process.
I dehydrate pear slices which have been dipped in a Fruit Fresh solution to prevent browning. They are really good.
I have also dried chives and they are good but I didn't like the other herbs that I dried. They seemed tasteless so I buy good quality dry herbs for winter use.
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Jan 31, 2019 18:55:08 GMT -5
Mine has a fan. I didn't know they sold still air models? I know from hatching eggs that fan models have a much higher rate of success and even coverage. Makes sense to upgrade from that, brownrexx
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Post by paquebot on Jan 31, 2019 21:31:19 GMT -5
Bought an Excalibur right aftet they came out. Bought it mainly for venison jerky. Did over 100# one year. Have also used it to dry parsley and leaf celery. Keep telling myseslf to to use it on apples but never get around to it.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by spacecase0 on Feb 1, 2019 1:03:14 GMT -5
I dry zucchini and butternut slice thin and string on a thread, then string them up out in the sun and wind to dry. I cover with a mesh fabric to keep the flies and birds off then stored in paper bags in a kitchen cupboard. never found a time storage limit, then again I have not tested past 3 years (have not cooked any this year at all, so I guess I should try it and see if there is a 4 year limit)
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Post by pepperhead212 on Feb 1, 2019 9:40:53 GMT -5
You must have a much less humid climate than I do spacecase0. I could never dry things, or store things like that. I just used the end of some 3 yr old eggplants, and they were fine. I store them in gal jars - old pickle jars, with a good rubber seal. And I put an O2 adsorbant in them.
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Post by spacecase0 on Feb 1, 2019 20:29:29 GMT -5
in the middle of summer it is 100F or a bit higher, less than 10% humidity, and light wind. so, I pretty much live inside of a food dehydrator in the summer.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Feb 1, 2019 20:36:41 GMT -5
hairymooseknuckles, mgulfcoastguy, meandtk, pepperhead212, ladymarmalade, bluelacedredhead, brownrexx, paquebot, spacecase0, Well....Here goes nothing. We strung these green beans up around 1 & 1/2 months ago or so. I'm sorry, but I can't remember. I think it was early December, but not sure really. Going to let them soak overnight and then put in a pot with a big ham bone.
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Post by ladymarmalade on Feb 1, 2019 21:37:41 GMT -5
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Feb 2, 2019 0:00:08 GMT -5
I just went into the kitchen and they smell like fresh green beans after soaking in water for awhile. edit.... we got'em cooking now!
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Feb 2, 2019 12:34:57 GMT -5
Looking good so far. It will be interesting to hear your report. I don't have much freezer space, so viable alternatives to freezing green beans are always of interest.
(I always seem to have too few or too many green beans to harvest at one time...if there is a way to get a steady predictable supply of green beans I haven't figured it out yet!)
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Post by meandtk on Feb 2, 2019 12:49:12 GMT -5
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Post by pepperhead212 on Feb 2, 2019 13:55:28 GMT -5
Green beans are another thing that I dehydrate, though last year was not a good year for beans, due to the excessive rain. I usually dry the ones that I let get too large (you know, the ones missed the day before, or when you skip a day or two!), figuring that those seeds in them will be soaking, then cooking a generous amount of time, in the recipes I use them in, the overgrown beans don't really matter. I cut beans to about 1 1/2", and dehydrate them.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Feb 2, 2019 16:21:24 GMT -5
Yes, I followed the directions from YouTube. You string them up with needle and string. Easy peasy! Oh there is one thing, make sure you string them and snap off the blossom end. This is one of my favorite channels on YT.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Feb 2, 2019 18:22:33 GMT -5
These are real good. Working on my second bowl.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Feb 2, 2019 18:50:56 GMT -5
hairymooseknuckles, mgulfcoastguy, meandtk, pepperhead212, ladymarmalade, bluelacedredhead, brownrexx, paquebot, spacecase0, Laura_in_FL, took one more picture because I wanted to show you the rich broth they made. These are just fantastic. So simple, but what a great meal. You could take and add new potatoes and fix with them, cook a pan of Cornbread and eat like a king!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2019 22:25:29 GMT -5
Leather britches are good eating!!
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Post by ladymarmalade on Feb 4, 2019 11:53:31 GMT -5
Well I certainly want to try these this year! Do you think it matters much on variety of bean used?
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Feb 4, 2019 12:14:04 GMT -5
Well I certainly want to try these this year! Do you think it matters much on variety of bean used? No, I don't believe so.
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Post by daylilydude on Feb 9, 2019 20:17:15 GMT -5
Well now, I went and dug mine out and gave it a good cleaning/washing, and cut up some banana's to make some banana chips for the wife...
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Post by daylilydude on Mar 2, 2019 17:37:31 GMT -5
Dehydrating celery as I write this and getting some baby carrots ready to blanch and dehydrate in the morning. Has anyone here dehydrated some green onions? Do you dehydrate the white end also?
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Mar 2, 2019 20:37:47 GMT -5
How did the banana chips turn out?
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Post by spike on Mar 2, 2019 22:21:17 GMT -5
Dehydrating celery as I write this and getting some baby carrots ready to blanch and dehydrate in the morning. Can I ask what you do with them?
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Post by daylilydude on Mar 3, 2019 6:40:14 GMT -5
How did the banana chips turn out? They turned out really good... nice and crunchy. Dehydrating celery as I write this and getting some baby carrots ready to blanch and dehydrate in the morning. Can I ask what you do with them? We use them in soup and stews spike ... Y'all may think i'm a nut, but the reason for the dehydrating is there are vegetables we can't get to grow here, so we wait for them to go on sale and we buy them in bulk, but then it may go bad before we have to use it again... hence the dehydrating so they will keep until we have to use it again... hope this makes sense as i'm still drinking my first cup of coffee.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Mar 3, 2019 10:21:12 GMT -5
Makes perfect sense, daylilydude. I have never dehydrated green onions, but I don't see why you couldn't dehydrate the white end, too. However, the white end is denser and juicier, so it will take longer.
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