I wish I had thought about dehydrating things other than fruit before, Kate. I've kept stuff in the freezer for that specific reason (like cilantro, parsley, citrus juice & rinds)...back north I was about 1 mile from a bunch of stores. Here it's an 8 mile drive one-way. Tonight I want broccoli for dinner and I forgot to buy some, so I'll rehydrate what I recently dehydrated rather than think about making a trip. As I said before, I need to find a farmers market and do this in bulk with the fresh stuff now I've tested a variety of veggies. That 9 tray machine has quite the capacity.
I was just thinking John, iffin you put some garden herbs like tyme or rosemary at 120 f for 3 hours, how would it turn out? Asking for a friend
Well, my instructions say that's a dandy use for the machine. I've mentioned before that this manual is horribly written. For example, there is no 95°F setting...the lowest it goes is 105°F, or Fan Only. I've thought of having an herb garden, but the fact of the matter is I like to cook but don't really go through that many herbs. For example, I'll make a batch of pasta sauce, and it will last weeks/months in the freezer. So I just buy what I need when I need it. Maybe drying my own would be of benefit... That being said, I believe that @Don Alaska was commenting on blending salt with fresh herbs and dehydrating the moisture out of it to make flavored salts. That intrigues me.
We have found that different herbs require different settings. I think we no longer use the dehydrator for basil, as it does better just drying at room temperature, and some of the more delicate herbs are dried at 95 F., while tougher stuff is better at slightly high temps. The herb salt is just dried until it is dry to the touch as the salt itself does a good bit of desiccating itself.