Grapes: 48 hours later, it's Wabbit Season Raisins: This was 4 trays of spaced-apart grapes. Next time I'll craze them or cut them in half to reduce drying time. Tomorrow morning I'll throw in some apples, kiwi and banana. I picked up some coconut flakes, sunflower seeds, peanuts and M&Ms so I can add it to the dehydrated fruits to make trail mix. If I were in a die-hard mood, I would have bought a coconut and dehydrated the meat, but I'm not gonna go through that process. I may at some future point. Fresh coconut would really amp up a cookie recipe I've got.
Looks great, John. When I was at my sister's last week her grapevines were loaded with fruit. She grows the Muscadine and Scuppernong varieties, and some other red variety as well. Grapes right off the vine are as good as summer tomatoes. (And how stupid; my auto-correct keeps trying to change Scuppernong into "Supernova.")
Does your sister make wine, or are they for eating? I am astounded at the quality of wines that are produced east of the Mississippi. Being a long-term Virginian, I'm astounded that there's any wine making around here at all. There are tons of wineries all around this part of the state, including Trump Vineyards. His is near Montpelier. There are several others near Monticello. I guess the land out here is a lot cheaper than vineyards in California would be. Probably got a higher risk of frost, though. I don't drink, but I bet I could go by and get a handful of grapes to dehydrate. Man, I would never buy the grocery store crap again, huh?
She does make wine, and jellies/jams, and just freezes some to be eaten right out of the freezer. Did you ever have frozen grapes? Muscadines are very sweet and have a thick "hull" and large seeds. They make sweet, fragrant wine. Her grandkids came by one afternoon to pick about 3 gallons, and like most farm families she let her neighbors know that they could come and help themselves.
Gotta love rural life. When we lived in Indiana we had a neighbor who let us pick as much corn as we wanted. I still recall getting the water boiling, picking the corn, and husking it as we ran back to the house to get it cooking before the sugars converted. And I've had frozen grapes. Good stuff.
So I'm approaching a better fruit roll-up using suggestions on the website that @Yvonne Smith posted here. I bought some whole milk plain yogurt and strained it to make my own Greek yogurt. When I got up this morning, I peeled & pitted a couple of peaches, threw them in the blender, added some strained yogurt, sprinkled in a little cinnamon, gave it a grate of fresh nutmeg, and blended it a tad. Into the dehydrator it went. Then I got my coffee. So far this is the best-tasting roll-up I've made. I'm still struggling with pulling it out of the dehydrator before it's too dry. There seems to be no sweet spot between "sticky" and "crackling" on any of these recipes. And for some reason, that website states to turn the dehydrator up to 165° (the highest setting) when using Greek yogurt, as opposed to 135° when using regular yogurt, so this came out particularly dry. That website also says to pour the stuff out to 1/4" thickness when everyone else says 1/8", so I went with 1/4" in hopes of retaining better texture, but I think the higher heat offset the benefit. But the flavor is great! The Greek yogurt really adds depth. Glad I resisted the urge to add sugar. Perhaps the level of dehydration intensified the flavors, but there was no liquid left in that yogurt.. I've got 1/2 of the strained Greek yogurt left, so I'll try another batch with a different fruit. I saw a nectarine/pineapple recipe that looks promising. I bet the undertone of yogurt would go good with that.
Sunday morning project: -3 trays of Honeycrisp apples (4 apples) -2 trays of kiwis (8 kiwi) -1 tray of bananas (3 bananas) All soaked in diluted lemon juice to prevent discoloration. The kiwi were then wiped with a little maple syrup. All others are au natural. Thank goodness for my mandoline.
So I have the nectarine/pineapple/yogurt roll up in the dehydrator. Man, the mixture tastes good!!! I might just make some of that to have around without dehydrating it. The pineapple adds just enough sweetness to the unsweetened drained plain yogurt I used. I'm gonna make some of the semolina-based pasta shapes and dehydrate them, then that's it for a while with the dehydrator unless I come across the errant herb I want to dry out. I'll fire it back up when the air fryer baskets for my Breville get back in stock so I can make a full-sized batch of chocolate coated almonds. The baskets were supposed to be available late last month. I've eaten all the almonds that I made, but it's not worth the 2 day process to make a small batch.
Creativity is an amazing thing! I've had so many hobbies and interests over the years. I've had lots of fun along the way. I'm still deciding on whether to sell off a couple of those hobbies. Some hobbies were given up in the past because of work/family etc and the inability to give it the time or money needed. Some I don't think I can do because of my health. Some hobbies and interests I still have today. I can't believe you did needlepoint, way cool. I had an aunt that could cook absolutely anything. Everything was made from scratch. Her baking was to die for. I've never known another person that could cook that well, to that extent. She was a homemaker most of her life though. My momma was a great cook too but in a totally different way. It wasn't a baking thing, it was everyday meals. She never followed a recipe and just a pinch of this and a dab of that. Her food was good and she fed lots and lots of people over the years. I like to try new recipes. The first time I try it I will follow it exactly. If I like it enough to make it again, I tweak it to suit me. There's nothing wrong with you. Who cares if you dehydrate at 1am? Whatever works! Because I have sleeping issues I've been known to mop my floor at 3am, cook; quilt or any of a zillion other things. Not a darn thing wrong with it, just different.
Did she make the pretty pastel divinity too or snow white? I've never known anyone to make homemade marshmallows. Interesting.