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Produce => Recipes => Topic started by: johhnyco15 on October 03, 2015, 16:43:42
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just got bought a dehydrator can any one tell me of any books that are good and any recipes as i know nothing and a dehydrating virgin
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'Preserve it Naturally' which is published by Excalibur which is a near 200 page book full of techniques and recipes.ISBN 083595606-7. Obviously aimed to be used with their machines but regardless it is packed with good info.
The Web site is:
www.drying123.com
I picked my copy up from eBay for less than a tenner.
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Let us know how you get on with the dehydrator, I keep thinking about one. Took about 24 hours in the oven to do some figs, then still too moist.
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Let us know how you get on with the dehydrator, I keep thinking about one. Took about 24 hours in the oven to do some figs, then still too moist.
i have to admit this thing goes up to 72 hrs its 6 hrs to dry some raspberrys and 15 hrs for toms so it is not for the impatient lol
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I have an Excalibur and can reccomend that book whole heartedly.
If you ar thinking about buying there are basically two types.. one has the element and fan positioned on the side, the other at the bottom. The first one is better, in dries more evenly as the heat does bot have to pass through trays to get to th e higher ones and it is also better for mixing food types in as reduces the chance of mixed flavours.
If you dry in the oven the temp cannot be above 140F most ovens lowest is 170F so check your manual. If it is abobe 140F you have to be there waqtching it wioth a thermometer in siutu ready to osdpen the door for na few minute sfairly regularly to driop to the 140F.
There are some good plans on the net for free for making your own.
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I have an Excalibur and can reccomend that book whole heartedly.
If you ar thinking about buying there are basically two types.. one has the element and fan positioned on the side, the other at the bottom. The first one is better, in dries more evenly as the heat does bot have to pass through trays to get to th e higher ones and it is also better for mixing food types in as reduces the chance of mixed flavours.
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Well, based on your good opinion, we've taken the plunge and ordered an Excalibur (though not the top of the range which are seriously spendy) which should arrive in the next few days. I'm looking forward to drying some of our vast number of apples which otherwise won't keep for more than a few weeks, and to making some candied peel. Oh, and fruit leathers for children's snacks.
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Hi, well done, I don't think you will be disappointed, it may come with a couple of books, not sure over there but it is a great dryer, I have the largest size, perhaps a bit too big now.. I bought this one when I first came back as I had sold my other one before I left Canada. When I looked into it there was a higher priced model that had a feature I was unsure of and I seem to remember e mailing the company for more info to see if it was worth the extra. I don't remember what it was but I didn't get it, felt it was a bit too much bells and whistles.. I shall have to go on the site now to remind myself. XX Jeannine
Took a look.. it was the timer feature I didn't go for,it wasn't on my first one and wasn't sure what to do after giving it some though I remember thinking that I would be looking at the doneness anyway rather than setting a time so I didn't get that one. I have the 9 drawer one, it is basic black. I see now they have pretty coloured ones and clear doors, more bells and whistles I think if it puts the cost up.
The Excalibur booklet came with it .
I also got a much bigger book again by Excalibur called Preserve in Naturally, I seem to remember I negotiated that as a freebie as the US offered free shipping within the US and this book was a freebie special offer for a week or two. The Canadian dealer didn't offer free shipping or the book so I said I would buy it in the US and pay the shipping to Canada as the US price was better so overall it was cheaper for me, they then matched the US price and sweetened it even further by offering me the 3 free Paraflex sheets so I bought it in Canada, got the free shipping and the book chucked in.
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I keep thinking about getting one too ... but there's a little niggle in the back of my head that keeps telling me that if drying your own food is the most natural thing in the world ... why do they need to invent yet another electric gadget to clutter up my kitchen so I can use even more electricity that is still mainly produced by burning fossil fuels in this country?
I know it probably doesn't use much ... but they must have had a way of drying things out before dehydrators and electricity was invented ... could I get similar results using the residual heat from our wood-burning stove?
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I know it probably doesn't use much ... but they must have had a way of drying things out before dehydrators and electricity was invented ... could I get similar results using the residual heat from our wood-burning stove?
One way was to use an oven on the lowest setting with the door partially open so I would assume you could rig something up to use the residual heat from your stove. Of course if you had an solid fuel range you just used the cool oven.
Another way often suggested is to use a solar food dryer during the cropping season to dry your excess produce.
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The solar dryer looks good ... I presume I'll have to make that myself ... such a shame that most things I'd like to dry seem to have a glut just as the sun disappears!
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Yep, the original way was the sun..but sadly we don't get enough of that. It does use very little and gives a finished product I can't make any other way as well. I make beef jerky and fruit roll ups and tons of dog biscuits, much better and cheaper that I can buy and I am certain more power is used to make the commercial ones.
It is just another way of preserving and goes along with all my canning and my smoker, and of course my freezers.
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We have a glut of apples and plums every year and they are just left on the ground to rot so I have been thinking of buying a dehydrator after seeing this thread. What could I do with all the apple rings or dried plums though? I am diabetic so shouldn't eat that much fruit and certainly wouldn't be able to add sugar to them when I rehydrate them.
Looking through the web for suggestions, I see that many people dry seeds, nuts and grains for grenola or other cereals. Unfortunately, I am not allowed cereals either on my very low carb diet.
Would I really get use out of one and, should I decide to buy one, would it be an asset given my diet? Any help would be much appreciated.... thanks.
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We have a glut of apples and plums every year and they are just left on the ground to rot so I have been thinking of buying a dehydrator after seeing this thread. What could I do with all the apple rings or dried plums though?
A bit of a thread drift, but you could juice the apples and let ferment without addition of sugar for a nice dry cider. Don't think it has anywhere near as much alcohol as wine.
I have harvested my stevia leaves as the plant does not do much over winter, but hopefully resprouts again next spring. Placed bamboo place mats on top of the radiator and the leaves on top. Worked a treat, even though the heating is only on for a few hours. I wonder whether thin apple rings could be dried the same way too? Certainly other herbs could, except they are at their peak when we don't need heating. :wave:
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Well, our dehydrator arrived yesterday, and we've got the first results this morning! The picture shows some candied peel, which has worked really well.
I think that the piece of kit that we've got is exactly the same as Jeannine's one. They're being sold at reduced prices because the next generation of machines has just been launched. But they're incredibly effective.
More pictures and description here: https://johnnorman.wordpress.com/2015/10/24/excalibur-4900-dehydrator/ (https://johnnorman.wordpress.com/2015/10/24/excalibur-4900-dehydrator/)
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We have a glut of apples and plums every year and they are just left on the ground to rot so I have been thinking of buying a dehydrator after seeing this thread. What could I do with all the apple rings or dried plums though?
A bit of a thread drift, but you could juice the apples and let ferment without addition of sugar for a nice dry cider. Don't think it has anywhere near as much alcohol as wine.
I have harvested my stevia leaves as the plant does not do much over winter, but hopefully resprouts again next spring. Placed bamboo place mats on top of the radiator and the leaves on top. Worked a treat, even though the heating is only on for a few hours. I wonder whether thin apple rings could be dried the same way too? Certainly other herbs could, except they are at their peak when we don't need heating. :wave:
Thanks for your reply Galina. We made cider a couple of years ago but as neither of us liked it, we gave it to our son. We found it very fiddling and time consuming even using the juicer that we have. Some of the apples will be juiced next week when the grandchildren come up. It doesn't get used very much now as we bought it to make cider and fruit juices. Having been diagnosed diabetic I am no longer allowed to have fruit juice. :BangHead:
We are still talking about whether we would get much use out of a dehydrator. I certainly wouldn't spend much money on one initially and would get one of the cheaper models for under £40.
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I dry courgette slices and tomatoes. Really yummy
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Melbourne, 1 thing to tell you. The front of the machine just sort of hooks on to the top span but doesn;t fasten onto anything else. I have once or twice moved mine and the front has fallen off so be careful
Another thing, it is great for raising bread in.
I think you will enjoy it,,did you get the Preserve it Naturally Book
XX Jeannine.
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Melbourne, 1 thing to tell you. The front of the machine just sort of hooks on to the top span but doesn;t fasten onto anything else. I have once or twice moved mine and the front has fallen off so be careful
Another thing, it is great for raising bread in.
I think you will enjoy it,,did you get the Preserve it Naturally Book
XX Jeannine.
I've noticed that the front doesn't lock in place, so we'll be careful not to let it fall onto the floor and break.
I thought that I'd see what the instruction booklet was like before getting any other books. In fact the instructions are really basic, so I've now ordered Preserve It Naturally.
That's a very good point about it being a good bread proving cupboard. Especially in the winter months, bread can take ages to rise, so a pleasantly warm environment could work wonders for the occasional sourdough!
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Hey I made sourdough tonight, I make a sponge with my starter and keep it for 24 hours before I finish adding and preparing, the dehydrator is the perfect place to keep the sponge bubbling away. My starte which is years old I keep in the fridge and when I take it out it is cold of course but after adding the flour and water to make the sponge it comes alive quickly in the gentle warm of the dehydrator.
you won't regret it XX Jeannine
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That is a cracking idea Jeannine, thank you! I tried proving in my oven on the lowest setting but that was too high and it went sour.
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Well I have taken the plunge!
When I was trying to use the oven for drying figs I also put a few plums in. They were delicious so that convinced me as well as your recommendations.
I thought the same as you squeezyjohn but we only started lighting the wood burner when a lot of potential drying produce has been and gone. Any way I will try to time for when the solar panels are working. I already do that when possible for other electricity gobbling devices.
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Well it came yesterday. Got tons of apples so decided to give it a try! I hadn't reckoned on how much humidity it would cause- so now got the dehumidifier running too. Double environmental impact!
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Our "Preserve It Naturally" book arrived, and it is indeed excellent.
I had a go at making fruit leather. The apple, pear and kiwi fruit one came out beautifully, and roled up exactly as it should do. It made healthy "sweets" for the grandchildren.
I liquidised a nice ripe pineapple to make leather as well. The result was a bit unexpected. In the 12 hours that it took for the apple, pear and kiwi, the pineapple dried quite literally to a crisp. But we found that pineapple crisps went down pretty well with the kids, too!
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We're still loving the dehydrator. I'm afraid that I had to make several batches of candied peel. It was so delicious that we ate it like sweeties rather than keeping it for baking.
And if you're in a hurry, or need to raise a very rich sweetened yeast dough, it works superbly as a warm drawer.
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Hi Melbourne, wondered how you are getting on with the dehydrator now? I am wondering about the humidity that others have mentioned as dont want to set up an issue in the room the dehydrator would be in. Have you tried other drying things and would you recommend a dehydrator purchase?!
thanks
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So glad to find this post. I've been saving to get one....but then hubby said what about space to store dried produce and does it last?
We grow lots of Spinach and greens....do they dehydrate well?
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Dried beans etc take up less space (in my opinion) than their frozen equivalents do. Store in jars, boxes etc in the cupboard. Have not thought about drying spinach, however I grow that chard and perpetual spinach and they usually survive the colder weather and still can be picked. Courgettes and tomatoes are my favourite.
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cherry tomatoes dehydrated chopped small on a cream cheese bagel fantastic this will be my first full season with my trusted dehydrator there will be dried produce everywhere
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I've also succumbed. So excited :)
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Would love to hear more about types of dehydrators used. I am looking at the 9 tray excelsior - do any of you have this and could comment on it please (or others)
thanks
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cherry tomatoes dehydrated chopped small on a cream cheese bagel fantastic this will be my first full season with my trusted dehydrator there will be dried produce everywhere
Doesn't when drying cherry tomatoes you end up with only little dots anyway - not worth chopping? How dry do you dry your tomatoes?
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Would love to hear more about types of dehydrators used. I am looking at the 9 tray excelsior - do any of you have this and could comment on it please (or others)
thanks
We have the 9 tray Excalibur, the simplest one without the timer. It works brilliantly, but it's undoubtedly bulky. We've used it mainly for drying fruit so far, including fruit leathers and candied peel. The only failure that we've had so far is a fruit leather mixture in which I included orange and lemon pulp. It didn't dry well, and went mouldy.
Everything else has been excellent. We tend to dry vegetables to bone dry for best results. Fruit for snacking on can be left a little bit softer.
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In hindsight I might have got the smaller version, just because it seemed to take so long chop up the apples, however they were windfalls so a lot more fiddly. I had to set it going so the first prepared ones didn't oxidise while I was still peeling and chopping the other 8 trays worth.
Lottielou- I find the very small tomatoes are somewhat tiny when dehydrated but the taste is superb.
Gwnleg-Just be aware that the catch on the front panel of the excalibur is somewhat fiddly. Need care to put it on.
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Thanks for all of the comments - very useful. Think a purchase will be made....
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Well I have brought an Excalibur 9 tray model - very exciting. Running it for the first time this morning there is a strong warm plastic smell (not burning). Has anyone else had this? Thought of running it without the door on for a while to see it that gets rid of it. Don't want to make my first try with fruit smell of plastic. Any advice please?
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We had this on the first run - it's just the new plastic smell and should soon disappear.
One thing to watch out for is that the wire mesh at the back can get pushed back enough to interfere with the fan blades. Apparently it can happen in transit. That'll also smell, but it'll be a burning smell. If you get that, switch it off and just ease the wire guard forward so that the fan blades rotate freely.
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Thanks Melbourne. Leaving it on a while helped.Experimented with dehydrating some frozen fruits - cherries, blueberries, rhubarb and raspberries. Had thought they would be great for putting in with yoghourt or with muesli but not sure now. I did them till they were really dry/hard and wonder now if we should dry them to a softer more chewy stage?
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Thanks Melbourne. Leaving it on a while helped.Experimented with dehydrating some frozen fruits - cherries, blueberries, rhubarb and raspberries. Had thought they would be great for putting in with yoghourt or with muesli but not sure now. I did them till they were really dry/hard and wonder now if we should dry them to a softer more chewy stage?
If you're going to keep them in a jar or a sealed box at ambient temperature for any length of time, then they need to be quite dry.
We sometimes semi-dry fruit as you've suggested for adding to porridge or cereals, but we then keep them in the fridge. I guess that's not drying for preservation, but drying to intensify the flavours.
Although I've only tried this with peel and chestnuts, you can also soak the fruit in sugar syrup before semi-drying it. The sugar makes sure that it has a long life, even if it's not completely dry. But of course it's then not the healthiest of snacks!
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Have made parsnip crisps with a glut that I found hiding on the allotment! Its all trial and error so can think of ways to improve them but overall they are pleasantly similar to shop brought... I sliced them then mixed with some oil and salt before dehydrating them. I think I used too much oil and they took ages and ages to dry. I think I may try without oil on some and use a light oil spray on some to see what happens then.
Hoping to hear others successes and things they would do differently on the dehydrator front!
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Has anyone tried garlic? I always have issues storing garlic and it tends to start growing or going off early in the year. I thought maybe some thin slices of garlic might dry well??
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I'd be interested re garlic too. That's just the question my other half and I were having . We were reading that hardnecks hardier but don't store well...so this seemed a good solution.
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You can dehydratr garlic, trat it like onion,do not blanch but slice,it willdry crisp and will last about 8
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Sorry the tablet died as I was typing.
Drying garlic...do like onions,sliced,they will dry crisp.keep 8 months if kept còol,less if warmer.smells awful as it dries and I swear the smell stayed in the dryer for ages ,personally I would not do it again. Xx