Good idea, I have a perfect table to use on the deck.

Same goes for doing onions.

Many discussions here on dehydrating/drying things Lucille that the search should pull up for you to browse through. Many of us do it.

Dave

I am doing a search and ordered a book, and am looking at recipes But as always, I ask here, because this forum has come up with some really good info. One recipe has dried okra pods with cayenne salt and olive oil as snacks, that sounds delicious.

One of the orchards near me sells $12 bag of not perfect apples. I didn't think I would like dried apples so much but the King Arthur Flour website has recipes using "dried apple bits". I have also found small pieces of dried apples great with some raisins in breakfast oatmeal. Dry some chopped onion for those recipes that call for onion flakes or powder. I found a hint to partially dry paste tomatoes then run through food processor to make "tomato paste". I store in small containers in freezer for all those recipes that call for 2T tomato paste.

I dry a lot of stuff, especially tomatoes, but I think the most pleasant surprise has been dried cabbage, which is really handy for cooking.

My primaries are onions, mushrooms, potato slices, celery, herbs, and all kinds of peppers. Never tried the dried cabbage but that sound like a good idea.

Lucille don't forget to check out all the drying resources and instructions at NCHFP.

Dave

Didn't even think about potato slices, I was going to can some potatoes but maybe I will dry some as well. It seems that canned stuff stays good for longer though?

I bought some of those cute 4 oz Ball shaker jars for the future dried peppers. My kitchen is acquiring some 'personality' what with all the canning stuff. Small house, very few cabinets so a lot of supplies are out on the wire shelves.

I couldn't pass up a good deal on reduced price leeks at the supermarket. Normally $2.49 for a bunch of 3, they were only 99 cents on the reduced price rack. I've had good luck dehydrating leeks and I've got some celery in the fridge that needs to be taken care of. My problem is forgetting I have something dehydrated since I am new at this. I don't forget about tomatoes because I dehydrate a lot of them. I also have a lot of dried hot peppers. I now have to start thinking about last year's crop of garlic. I still have a lot in the garage but at some point, they are going to start growing a sprout. Also need to dehydrate some chopped onion for recipes.

Is there a good cookbook for recipes that use dehydrated veggies? It's easy to throw them into a soup pot but what about casseroles and baked goods? Can I make zucchini bread with dried shredded zucchini?

I find you can use them dried in most any recipe that contains some liquid. Made oven-baked smothered pork chops last night and tossed in a handful of dried onions and dried mushrooms. We also add diced dried peppers to scrambled eggs that have had a splash of water or milk added. They remain a bit crunchy but it is a nice mouth-feel and flavor.

If you briefly - say 5 mins) rehydrate them in a small dish of water first then you can add them to anything.

Also work for seasoning great if you grind them into powders - onion powder, chili pepper powder, sweet pepper powder, garlic powder, etc. You can even make your own season blends with them.

As for a book, check out The Ultimate Dehydrator Cookbook

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ultimate-dehydrator-cookbook-the-tammy-steven-gangloff/1118944853?ean=9780811760867&st=PLA&sid=NOK_DRS_NOOK+EBooks_00000000&2sid=Google_&sourceId=PLGoP25763&k_clickid=419x25763&utm_source=Google+PLA&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=&utm_campaign=NOOK+EBooks

Dave

A buddy of mine sent me a bag (each) of dehydrated hot peppers, dehydrated garlic, and coarse sea salt to mix up into a salt/pepper grinder. It tastes fantastic, and I use it on everything

I really enjoy my dehydrators. I have 3 now and use them as much as possible. My favorite things are snacks for me and my grandson. Pear and applesauce make the best candy. Dehydrate past the fruit leather stage and it's not sticky. Apples pears apricots all make great snacks. I like to watch videos on dehydrating to get ideas.

defrost, I always dehydrate leeks, in fact my grandson won a ribbon at the local county fair for his dehydrated leeks, floored us all! I also dehydrate sliced garlic.

I use the dehydrator to make jerky and Linda Lou's zucchini candy, and I make yogurt in it too. I have a big Excaliber, so I can get several quarts in there, it's super easy.

I did dry a bunch of apples a couple of years ago and found out that we just don't use them, for some reason.

Annie

Last night we had rehydrated sliced plums in our salad. I keep finding things in the freezer that I dried and put in vac sealed bags last year. Dried cantaloupe is phenomenal.

bcomplx, I meant to dry some watermelon last summer but waited too long and missed the season. Annie, I actually liked the zucchini candy but grandkids did not. I splurged on an Excaliber, too. In addition to the King Arthur flour recipes that use dried apple bits, I like to put dried apple bits and raisins in my oatmeal. I used Caville Blanc apples which seem to be quite sweet, an excellent baking apple.

Duh! Why didn't I think of rehydrating some things! I guess I just need to get in the habit of using dehydrated things. Also, thanks for the reminder. I was thinking I needed to check about dehydrating lemon rind. Got a good deal on a bag of lemons.

wow, look at this seasoning recipe I found on a blog:

Low Salt Lemon Seasoning

• 1 Tbsp. Powdered Lemon Slices
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3/4 tsp. powdered dried carrot
• 3/4 tsp. powdered dried beet root
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1/2 tsp. onion powder
• 1/2 tsp. white pepper
• 1/2 tsp. powdered dried cucumber
• 1/2 tsp. powdered dried celery leaves
• 1/2 tsp. powdered dried parsley
• 1/4 tsp. kelp
• 1/4 tsp. powdered dill seed

Mix together all ingredients and store in tightly closed container.
Great on vegetables, fish & poultry.

Why didn't I think of rehydrating some things!

I bought a wire rack, the kind one is supposed to hang over a closet door, except that I am going to fasten it to the kitchen wall and put the shaker jars on it, that way I will hopefully see and use my dried items.

I like egg sandwiches with hash brown patties on them. I bought a box of dehydrated shredded potatoes from Sam's Club and they make an OK substitute for the frozen patties I usually use. I'll put a half cup of the dehydrated shreds in a glass measuring cup with a half cup of water and a sprinkle of dehydrated minced onion. Add a teaspoon of flour as a thickener. Add a pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Stir, microwave for 2 minutes. Let it sit a few minutes after. It rehydrates the shredded potato and onion and cooks them a good bit as well. They're ready to be pan fried at that point.

So I tried making my own dehydrated shredded potatoes. Shredded in food processor. Dipped in boiling water. Spread in dehydrator. Repeated. Twice. Same water. Not a good idea, apparently. The water got really starchy and thick. The first batch of shreds worked well enough in the dehydrator. The second and third turned black. But they dried fine. If I ever decide to do it again, it will be with fresh water each time to blanch them in. More time consuming, but less starchy water. I actually considered keeping the water as a thickener, but I didn't. It was like gravy. I haven't tried eating the black taters yet.

I think there's a recipe for using potato water, maybe for biscuits. I would have re-used the water, too, but I don't think I would eat black potatoes. Good luck!

Compost guy, did you cook the potatoes first? Usually you bake them, let them get cold, then grate and dry. Mine rehydrate in the time it takes to get out cooking stuff, only a few minutes.

I dehydrate a few things each year. Usually apple and peach slices to be used as snacks or crumbled into salads. This past year I didn't get my garlic in before it was too late so had quite a bit of it to deal with before it went bad. Cut it up and dehydrated it, ran it through a little coffee bean grinder, and it was the best garlic powder I ever had! Simply amazing! I plan to do it again with both onions and garlic this coming year. If the garden turns out, I would hope to make powders for a few more things this year. Lori

I too love home made garlic powder and onion powder. One tip is to freeze the garlic and onion chips after dehydrating and then just grind as much as you use in a month or 2 at a time and it will retain the freshness and not clump due to moisture contamination.

That's a good tip Jack. Will have to try that rather than grinding so much at the same time. Should work with dried peppers too I think.

If you have never tried drying leafy greens like kale and chard and even spinach give it some thought. All are great additives to sauces, soups, casseroles, and stews too.

Dave

That's a good tip Jack. I dried my onion in diced pieces and stored in a glass jar in the cabinet. No problem. Also have jars of dried peppers, some in strips. I grind when I need red pepper although recently I made up some homemade Montreal steak seasoning so I ground up made one third of a cup.

I'm finding dehydrating kale to work better in my old American Harvest SnackMaster than in the Excalibur. Sliding trays in the Excalibur make it hard to put much on a tray and not have it roll as the tray is inserted or the next one above is pulled out. With the stacker, I can load more and simply cap it with the next tray. Works so much better. After blanching, I run it through a salad spinner to sling the excess water out. Then it's all stuck together. Pulling it apart as much as possible without worrying about having some of it stuck together. It all dries fine. I powdered some last week and had to dry some more to eat plain. I grab one every time I walk by the bowl, it seems. :-)

I want to stop by Cabela's one day and look at their big 160 L, 24 tray dehydrator. Someone had one recently on Craig's List here locally and I was too late. They're kind of pricey, but they're kind of roomy, too.

Shredded Potato test #2 coming soon...

"I'm finding dehydrating kale to work better in my old American Harvest SnackMaster than in the Excalibur."

I'll sure agree with you there. I packed my Excaliber away and stick with my AH Gardenmaster every time.

Dave

When I have things that catch/roll because of the distance to the tray above, I just use alternate trays. I know this only means doing half as much but I don't dehydrate a lot of leafy things.

The American Harvesters sure seem to have gone up in price lately. I have 2 of the Snackmaster FD-60 models and I don't think I paid over $40 for either one at Walmart. Granted one was nearly 20 years ago and the other was about 10. Now that model is listed on sale for $65 on Nesco's website.

ETA: I just looked at Walmart and they list the Snackmaster plus a Jerky gun kit for ~$57 with free shipping. I lost the attachment for my jerky gun that shoots out the flat jerky slices and some of the webbing on my oldest trays are getting bridle and breaking so I think I will pull the trigger on this deal. I have about 25 lbs. of ground venison in the freezer that I want to use up before I need the space for summer's harvest. And it never hurts to have a backup in case the fan motor goes out in the middle of a batch.

"I just looked at Walmart and they list the Snackmaster plus a Jerky gun kit for ~$57 with free shipping."

That's on par with the price on Amazon. A couple weeks ago or so it was only like $49. I should have bought one then but stupidly didn't. I'm hoping the price will drop again.

Rodney

Dehydrating herbs has been iffy. For sure never do parsley - tastes like nothing. Basil (because I had 4' high bushes one year) and have not tried oregano - the herb I use the most but grow on the window sill all year.

I dehydrated a ton of apples and sold them at farmers markets with the admonition that little kids should not eat a huge amount all at once - figure it out why....

My trick is to dehydrate limp celery, onion skins, garlic tips and skins, mushroom stems, rubbery carrots, too soft tomatoes, potato skins, zucchini ends, squash peels, peppers, etc., etc. Then dump them all into water with fresh veggies to make veggie broth when I have time.

I liked the dried lemon and orange peels but not grapefruit or lime.

I've had good luck with basil but not parsley. What has worked well for me but doesn't involve dehydrating is mixing fresh herb(s) with salt in the food processor. Basil salt is excellent to add to pizza dough and tomato dishes. I like dillweed salt on eggs.

I use a food dehydrator. It is the fastest, easiest, way to produce high-quality dried herbs. Pre-heat the food dehydrator thermostat between 95 degrees Fahrenheit and 115 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the herbs have been rinsed place herbs in a single layer on the dehydrator trays. The times for drying may vary from one to four hours. They will need to be checked regularly. The herbs are dry when the leaves crumble easily and the stems break when bent.

Its a good information really. I did not know its supposed to be put outside when drying peppers, etc. Good thing to know that.

I didn't put mine outside last fall when I dried my peppers. Datil's, jalapeno's, cayenne's, lemon drops, serrano's, scotch bonnets. No problems at all.

I put the dehydrator in the garage when I dry hot peppers. Otherwise I tend to "smoke" everyone out of the house with the fumes. My Mother is particularly sensitive, so I don't torture her as the house smells like hot peppers for a day or so after.

Annie

I kind of like the odor of dehydrating garlic so I do it in my basement. I ran a quart jar of garlic chips thru my coffee grinder to give to my brother last weekend. He uses a lot of garlic powder in his home made BBQ rub.

Now when I am chopping up horseradish with a food processor that happens outside.