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169064
by 02kar 20 Feb 2022 ( edited Feb 23'22 05:26 )
+27

do any of you enjoy dehydrating food? My hubby and I aren't jerky enthusiasts, but I do love to dehydrate fruits and veggies. This past week I dehydrated pineapples, cranberries, raisins and several citrus types. My most unusual was to pit and dehydrate dates. If you dehydrare, what do you like to dehydrate and what is the most unusual food or other that you dehydrated?

Comments (10)
115778
by asterixsew 20 Feb 2022
+4
Hi Karen. Dehydrating food is something I have never tried so I cannot comment apart from looking forwards to the rest of your replies
1 comment
by 02kar 20 Feb 2022
I'm looking forward to the replies too.
66927
by graceandham 20 Feb 2022
+4
I don't dehydrate foods, but my good friend gave me a slice of tomato to try fresh from the dehydrator, and it was shockingly SWEET. I told her what a wonderful non-sugar snack that is!
1 comment
by 02kar 20 Feb 2022
Dehydrating seems to concentrate the flavors and sweetness. I dried some lemon slices for a friend and before I could tell her they would be flavor intensive, she bit into a slice. She decided to wait to rehydrate before eating the lemon slices.
109774
by crafter2243 20 Feb 2022
+5
My granddaughter loves dehydrated apple slices. I sprinkle cinnamon sugar on them. Coco loves her sweet potatoes, some I cut really small for treats and some larger pieces for chewing. The strangest item I dehydrate is the peel of the Meyers lemon. After I have juiced them, I slice the rind into strips. Once they are crispy dry I pulverize them. Great for adding into salads, baked good fish dishes etc. I give a lot of that away.

Some of the herbs, specially the mint and chamomile
1 comment
by 02kar 20 Feb 2022
Yummm, both my hubby and i love dried apple slices. I've heard of dried sweet potato and have actually powdered the dried sweet potato to use in things like smoothies. I never thought to dry the Meyer's rinds and use with fish dishes.
20244
by bemara 21 Feb 2022
+5
I used to love dried bananas and raspberries in my cereal until I learned that the store-bought ones are fifty percent added sugar. So it's twice as good that you can make it yourself.
1 comment
by 02kar 21 Feb 2022
And it is so easy to dehydrate bananas and berries. And most everyone can dehydrate too.
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by tonilee 21 Feb 2022
+5
i haven't dehydrated food for a little while but before all the cost of food going up i would dehydrate 50 pound of sweet potatoes for pups as treats. quite a job but they love them
1 comment
by 02kar 21 Feb 2022
Oh my! That's a lot of treats, but worth it. Part of the reason I began dehydrating was because of the food prices increasing.
109788
by toogie 22 Feb 2022
+5
This is very interesting….
1 comment
by 02kar 22 Feb 2022
It's amazing what you can do with a dehydrator. I keep learning new things. And best of all, it takes a lot less room to store the dried goodies. And in my case, I have no more freezer space and I can't can any more thanks to my unhappy spine.
318555
by dragonflyer 22 Feb 2022
+3
I have two dehydrators and used them all the time for years...I did a lot of beef and turkey jerky...and we have apricot, peach and apple trees on our back hill. I did a lot of dehydrating during the picking season. Dehydrated lots of the fruits and made fruit leathers as well. Life got busy and I stopped several years ago. It does take some time and preparation... I may have to re-visit my dehydrators this year when the fruits on the trees are ready to be picked.
1 comment
by 02kar 22 Feb 2022
Please do re-visit your dehydrators. I think of the fruit on trees as free food and why waste it. I find it takes me less time to prep, clean up and put away the dried goodies than to can the produce. And a whole lot less wear, tear and pain with my spine.
261163
by basketkase 22 Feb 2022
+3
We have a gas range that has a dehydrator feature....we used to make Jim ground beef Jerky, but his waist line was growing too fast as he enjoyed it way too much😁 but we haven't used it for a long time now....have not tried any fruits or veggies, I love raisins and banana chips as well as cranberry raisins.....never occurred to me to make my own...mmmm....
1 comment
by 02kar 23 Feb 2022
Please do make your own. I tell people the only ingredients in mine are love and the fruit or veggie. No added sugar, dyes or other yucky stuff
173695
by cfidl 23 Feb 2022
+3
Yum!! I love dried fruit. I purchase most except bananas. I do my own in my electric oven. They do not look pretty, however they taste like candy.
1 comment
by 02kar 23 Feb 2022
My husband calls the dried fruit 'candy" because the sweetness gets concentrated.
59631
by hightechgrammy 23 Feb 2022
+2
It sounds like fun! Do the fruits become sweet on their own, or do you add sugar? Love the pineapple too.
1 comment
by 02kar 23 Feb 2022
I don't add any sugar. Some of what I dehydrate I store for use later in the year or even 2 years. I love my dried pineapple too. It is so sweet and when re-hydrated is perfect in baked goods or chutney.