Food Dehydrating

I thought I'd take my dehydrator ramblings out of the snack thread and start a fresh one.

I received my Excalibur dehydrator last Friday (Aug 28) and have been playing around with it. This is the one I got. 9 trays, thermostat and a timer:



My main intent was to have it to dehydrate pastas and to make candied almonds, but so far I've been trying my hand at fruit leathers.

They have been a little disappointing because I expected them to be like the flattened Gummie Bear candy sheets. Instead, they are truly leather-like. But I'm still at the beginning of my learning curve.

Here's the peach one I made:



It's OK, but needs some flavoring, although I've intentionally done my first ones plain to establish a baseline.

I made it yesterday, along with a raspberry leather. It, too, is OK, but is lacking flavor (I'm also trying to get used to having these unsweetened.) It's interesting how dehydrating makes these taste slightly bitter, rather than concentrating the natural sugars as I had expected.

I tried making watermelon ones and must have picked out the wrong variety. After I strained the puree to remove the excess water, there was nothing left...it all ran through the cheesecloth. I posted a comment on a guy's "dehydrated watermelon" video, and he replied that he has had the same issue. You gotta select the right variety and not totally liquefy it in the blender.

 

Today I tried a few more.

Here's a strawberry leather I threw a banana into. One vid said to add banana to make them less like leather and more like a traditional rollup. I saw no difference, but this one tastes better than the rest:



I also tried a kiwi/spinach/maple syrup/chia seed leather. Here's the before & after pics:


I rarely throw food away, even if I don't like it, because it's a waste and I still get nutrients out of it. This may be an exception. It tastes like seaweed...at low tide. That's what I get for using a recipe just because the woman was cute and had a nice accent. Damn waste of 6 kiwi. And I bought chia seed just for this...maybe I'll grow a pet.

I think I may be happier just drying fruit rather than making these leathers. But everything I read says to soak the fruits in one of 3 variants of bisulfite in order to extend the shelf life, including the dehydrator manual directions. I hate to do that with homemade stuff. I read conflicting health info about it (seems to be an issue for some asthmatics.) And I've yet to read anything about the food's shelf life if I don't use a preservative. One vid said that her untreated strawberry leathers last a year, while another one said lasts a few months. I don't know if the bisulfite recommendation is for weeks of storage or long-term as in "years."

 

It's classic me. You should have seen me when I did the dry-mount reproduction artworks and the custom frames. Picture after picture after picture. Then I was satiated. On to something else.

Cooking stuff is a little different because of all the offshoots generated. I bought chia seeds to make that one leather (just as I bought Italian chiles solely to make the shrimp ravioli.) Now that I have new ingredients, I'll seek out other recipes to try them in.

I'm also working on sous vide recipes. Gonna pick up some sherry vinegar for sous vide Spanish Shrimp. We'll see where that leads...

 

My brother worked while his wife stayed at home. He made all the meals. He would get up early, get breakfast for the kids, make them lunch, come home from work and make dinner. He liked to cook.

His wife would cook once a year: candied yams at Thanksgiving. Seriously.

 

My stay-at-home mother cooked when we were kids.
There were 4 boys and 2 girls in the family.

Neither of my sisters (both older) like to cook, or are particularly good at it.
My older brother, my next younger brother and I all like to cook and are good at it.
The youngest brother just gets by.

I have no idea why. We had the classic chauvinistic household where the females did all the cooking. The men never set foot in the kitchen except to make a snack. I never made a single thing until I was on my own in my first apartment, and I "just learned."

 

It's fascinating.

I wonder if those who like to cook also have a broader range of other hobbies. I used to do tons of needlepoint, in addition to so many other craft-type things that have come and gone that I cannot recall but a fraction of them.

Conversely, I wonder if there are any folks who have such hobbies who don't cook. I really think it's a creativity thing more than anything else. And how do "the others" occupy their time?

btw: It's gone 1AM and I still have pineapple in the dehydrator What is wrong with me????

 

That's disgusting.

I have relatives like that on my father's side (never met my mother's British family.) They would visit from out of town for a week and would always get decent home-cooked meals (and never set foot in the kitchen.) We would visit them and it was hot dogs every night. Every night. I don't know if it was a skills issue or a cheap issue or what.

 

We have a dehydrator, but just your basic cheap walmart variety. Once upon a time, I had one of those deluxe ones that sell for about $200, but it is long since gone, and the little one we have now works for the amount of dehydrating that I do.
I have made fruit leather, but I used yogurt blended together with the fruit, and that gave it a different look and texture than just drying fruit pulp. Mine rolled up afterwards, and was almost like a candy, just not as sweet, and with no extra sugar in it.

Mine was a Nesco Gardenmaster, and I see that they are actually cheaper now, but mine was one of those “Fair Specials”, that they bring to every fair and demonstrate, and then give you a special price, and usually payments.

 

Here's what a whole pineapple looks like when dehydrated:



I should have taken a "Before" pic, because the shrinkage was dramatic. Those little pieces were 1/2" cubes. But still worth the $2 I spent.

They were in for 16 hours @ 125° (per the vid I watched), and could have gone another 2. The manual says up to 18 hours @ 135° SImilar videos/manual conflicts exist in the threshold for making certain the enzymes survive. The manual gives a pretty good explanation of the science and research behind it's recommendations on this subject.

The pineapple is closer to my expectations. It tastes like pineapple, and is really sweet. It's screaming for some unsweetened coconut to cut the intense sugars. Looks like I'm on my way to homemade trail mix!!!

Next I'll try making my own raisins from seedless grapes (for the trail mix.) Those take 24-30 hours (half that time if blanched first.) While the grapes are drying, I'll work in trays of kiwi slices with maple syrup rubbed on them (another attractive woman recommendation...I never learn), and apple slices tossed in diluted lemon juice (to prevent them from getting brown.) I still need to do research on bisulfite, but am inclined to keep this stuff in the freezer before adding preservatives to homemade foods, although for prepper purposes it might not be a bad thing to have some quantity on hand for long-term storage.

I think after than I'm done for a while on fruit. Next on my list is to make another batch of semolina-based pasta to dehydrate.

 

I bought a dehydrator because once I had the dehydrator function available in my Breville, I found that I was using it all the time. I opted for the big one because it has enough room for me to lay out & dry an entire batch of pasta. There are lots of videos of folks using those Nescos (and other circular dehydrators) with good results...and you can actually fit them on your countertop.

Your story of buying it at a fair brought back a lot of memories. Where else but America can you eat a fried Twinkie while riding on a Ferris wheel, then go buy an appliance on the installment plan, with cows bellowing in the background the entire time? I love this country!

Funny you should mention yogurt. I just added it to my shopping list to do as you mention, Yvonne. I saw one video where a mom made "take in the car" treats for her kids by plopping little drops of flavored yogurt on the trays and dehydrating them. I wonder if I can get closer to the commercial rollups by mixing yogurt in with the blendered fruit. I have half a watermelon left. Maybe I'll mash it by hand and mix in with unflavored yogurt.