Dehydrating - Page 10

biscgolf · September 16, 2012

smoked juliet tomatoes
san marzano tomatoes
tons of hot and superhot peppers both smoked and not
aji dulce peppers
okra- both smoked and not
sassafras leaves (file')
lots of herbs

TomNJ · September 26, 2012

I grow oregano, basil, and thyme and would like to know how others here handle the harvest.

Oregano is the easiest for me as the fresh leaves are so easy to strip cleanly off the stems by just pulling my fingers along the stems against the grain. I then spread the leaves on a cookie sheet and dry them in the oven for a few days (pilot light only = 105°F). Once dry the leaves crumble easily between my palms to a fine and uniform size.

Basil is a little harder to strip fresh, so I pull the whole plants, shake off the dirt from the root ball, and hang the plants from the ceiling in my basement. After a couple of weeks of drying I can remove the leaves fairly easily, but they don't crumble as nicely as the oregano. I therefore run the dried leaves through my food processor to break them down to a fine and relatively uniform size without reducing them to dust. Some small twigs (leaf stems) survive and I pick these out as best I can. Perhaps if I dried them longer they would crumble better in my hands, but I don't want to over dry and perhaps lose some essential oils. A cleaner method might be to cut the fresh leaves off the stems with scissors and dry them on cookie sheets like oregano, but that's a lot more work.

Thyme is the real bugger for me! The tiny leaves do not strip off the stems when fresh (the thins stems easily break), and no way do I have the patience to pick all of those little leaves off one-by-one by hand. This year I hung the plants until dry, and then tried crumbling by hand. The result was a pile of leaves mixed with a pile of long hair-like stems. Unable to pick out or strain out the stems I decided to just beat them into submission in the good ol' food processor. Eventially I got the dang stems down to an acceptable size, but the leaves at this point were close to dust. The end product is quite usuable, but there has to be a better way.

So how do you dry and process your herbs? Do you wash them before drying? Any tips on how to improve my methods?

TomNJ

salix · September 26, 2012

Well, Tom - I just dry the oregano and thyme on the stem and deal with it as needed, crumbling in hands. To me, dry basil does not have much flavour, so I preserve that either by making and freezing pesto or just whizzing it up with olive oil and freezing it in tablespoon sized "globs".

Yes, for sure herbs (and everything from the garden) get washed before drying or processing. Don't have a pilot light in my oven, so usually use the dehydrator, but sometimes a handful of herbs has been left forgotten on the counter and has dried au naturel, that works too. Some people like to use the oven or microwave, but to my mind it is usually too hot even though the job would be done much more quickly.

I also dry dill, tarragon, sage and chives for winter use (also onions, garlic, carrots, tomatoes etc.). Something I have done for many years is freeze what I call "soup bundles". Just take a few small carrot thinnings (tops and all), garlic scape, several stems of parsley, stalk or two of celery (with tops) and a couple of green onions (all washed and roots removed of course). Tie into a bundle with cotton string and pop into freezer bags or use Foodsaver. These make winter soups very easy and the carrot tops give an extra depth of flavour. The string makes it very easy to remove the bundle once all the flavour has been simmered out of them.

bower · September 27, 2012

I use paper bags for drying herbs. It's especially good for thyme: just clip the branches into the paper bag, then use a twist tie to hang it to dry. When the thyme is dry, you can get the leaves off the stem by rubbing and crushing while still in the bag, and you can gently shake the leaves out of the bag without stems - with a little practice. Thyme is a nuisance to strip even when dry, and I'll admit, I've spent whole winters just using the paper bag as a 'dispenser' because it works better and is easier than any other method I know.

For other herbs I always dry them on the stem, by bunching and hanging, and usually bunch them right in a paper bag before hanging, to protect from anything airborne.

kurt · September 28, 2012

Wife does the same,tie into bunches,air dry.Since most of Florida is humid we stuff into mason jars stems and all.When needed for seasoning we rip off a amount then hand strip.Basils don,t keep all that well in leaf form but the flowers we save and then alone with seeds and all make great seasoning.Wife uses the gauze type cloth for season satchels when cooking,no need to rip or cut the herbs.The basils she cuts fresh tops and puts on window sill in glasses of water, uses for cooking and when roots start I put them in pots and have some new plants.

Zana · September 28, 2012

Been known to dry and then grind the stems of the basil, oregano, thyme and more too....and in the case of the thyme, grind them both, but I tend to pulse it. The powder that comes from the stems I use in marinades.

However I also take the stems and keep the dry ones to use on the grill, sometimes I skewer meats fish with them when grilling. Sometimes I just toss the stems on the coals or gas briquets (under the grill, but over the flame)

I air dry most of my herbs - some I hang in paper bags, some I bags I made of fine netting/organza that get reused, some without bags. And some I dry using a dehydrator. Unfortunately my dehydrator got buried in the storage unit with the latest move, so I'll have to be hanging most of my stuff this year. And that reminds me I'll have to go out and do the final harvest as we're getting some serious frosts lately. So far they've survived though.

BTW there are some "combs" that you can get that have long steel tines for using on herbs like thyme. Have to admit that I found it worked better after the thyme was semi-dried to dried. But they will help strip the plant when green too. Finicky...but way faster than doing it totally by hand - picking individual leaves.

After I'm sure they're completely dry, I bottle them up and freeze excess.

I only dry the most fragrant of the basils, and make sure they're in airtight containers. Some have almost no flavour or smell when dried. That could be from drying with too high a heat. I prefer to use the dehydrator for the basils, so I can control the temps and time.

I also freeze pesto too. I am usually growing at least 6 to 10 different basils...and probably at least 25 different herbs annually for cooking. So I've gotten creative in how I save them....or use them. LOL

Zana

habitat_gardener · November 24, 2012

All the dried cranberries in the stores have added sugar and are coated with oil (yuk), so I wanted to see what dried cranberries tasted like without any additives. I got 4 bags of fresh cranberries on sale, a total of 3 pounds for $6. I culled the spoiled ones and cut each berry in half, and it took 4 days for all of them to dry. (My dehydrator is on/off with no settings.) I didn't want to risk any mold, so I dried them to crunchy-hard rather than pliable. I ended up with exactly 6 ounces! I love that eating just one is a burst of flavor: essence of cranberry. It's quite different from anything I've bought.

I add dried cranberries to my breakfast (oats and buckwheat with chia and flaxseed, walnuts, dried apricots and dates, etc.), so it'll be interesting to taste the difference when my sour crunchies are mixed with everything else.

Given the time it takes to check each one for doneness, I don't know if I'll do it again, but I'm glad I did it once.

An alternate way to make sure the berries dry properly is to boil water, add it to the berries and let them sit for 10 minutes, drain, and freeze for an hour. That's supposed to pop the peels and break down the pulp a little so that they're easier to dry. But then you also have to check that each berry has popped, so it seemed like it'd take longer than just cutting them. Anyway, that's something to try if there's a next time.

kilroyscarnival · November 25, 2012

Sounds good. I see a few 'natural' ones for sale but can't be sure they don't have added orange juice, etc.

Rockporter · November 26, 2012

I recently purchased the Excalibur 9 tray with a timer but haven't used it yet.

I have grape tomatoes, bell peppers and some herbs I want to dehydrate. Can I do them all at the same time or will the flavors mingle with each other?

kath · November 26, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rockporter

I recently purchased the Excalibur 9 tray with a timer but haven't used it yet.

I have grape tomatoes, bell peppers and some herbs I want to dehydrate. Can I do them all at the same time or will the flavors mingle with each other?

I read that flavors don't mingle so I tried drying garlic, hot peppers, tomatoes, beans, etc. at the same time with good results- also various herbs at the same time and the flavors didn't mingle.

Have fun! I got one of these fairly recently and they're amazing!

**coronabarb** · November 26, 2012

I would definitely not recommend doing herbs with the other things. They need to be dehydrated at a lower temp for the best results. Check what the brochure included with the Ex says for recommended temps. I've done different items together as long as they need to be done at the same temp. Haven't noticed any off flavors but probably wouldn't do habaneros with banana chips. ;-)

Tracydr · November 26, 2012

I have so many eggplants. What do you do with dried eggplant?

kath · November 26, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by coronabarb

I would definitely not recommend doing herbs with the other things. They need to be dehydrated at a lower temp for the best results. Check what the brochure included with the Ex says for recommended temps. I've done different items together as long as they need to be done at the same temp. Haven't noticed any off flavors but probably wouldn't do habaneros with banana chips. ;-)

Yeah, I'll edit my post if I can- I did various herbs together, but not at the same time as the other stuff because of the different temperature requirements. Sorry for the confusion.

kath

Rockporter · November 26, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by coronabarb

I would definitely not recommend doing herbs with the other things. They need to be dehydrated at a lower temp for the best results. Check what the brochure included with the Ex says for recommended temps. I've done different items together as long as they need to be done at the same temp. Haven't noticed any off flavors but probably wouldn't do habaneros with banana chips. ;-)

Thanks, the book says the same temp for tomatoes and bell peppers so I am going to dry them all together, just on different trays. I was definitely concerned about flavors transferring and won't worry about that now.

habitat_gardener · December 6, 2012

I mentioned in another forum that I dehydrated blood oranges last year, and tracydr asked for details.
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=24964

I'd seen dried oranges and lemons for sale at the market where I bought dried fruits and nuts, so when I got a bagful of sourish blood oranges, I decided to dry some. I cut them in slices -- rind and all, just like the ones in the store. Then, since they were so juicy and I didn't want juice dripping down the dehydrator, I cut parchment to fit my dehydrator levels and placed the orange slices on the parchment. My dehydrator is on/off, so I didn't have a choice of temperature settings or time. I rotated the layers over 2-3 days, until the oranges were fully dry and brittle. I didn't want to risk any mold, and I didn't have refrigerator space, so I didn't dry them to the pliable stage.

They're very pretty, but I haven't found a lot of use for them! They're as sour as they were when I got them, and are not optimal for snacking. If I think of it, I could use them as a garnish for anything that goes well with a lemony flavor -- a lentil stew for a potluck, or maybe a dessert. If I could get 50 pounds for $4, I'd think about how I'd use them before spending lots of time preserving them.

The other thing I did with the blood oranges was to make marmalade -- my first attempt. I like the more-bitter marmalades with lots of peel, so I researched lots of recipes. It seems like I stood over the stove for a long time, stirring and waiting for the potion to thicken, but it was not long enough. Or maybe I didn't use enough pith. Anyway, it was a little runny, so I stored it in the fridge and enjoyed it as a flavoring for soy yogurt. I made a small batch, and it didn't take long to use it all up.

I normally don't use any sugar, so I was stunned at how much sugar the marmalade recipe required. That made me think twice about making marmalade again. But I recently found a recipe for marmalade that's made in a slow cooker! I might try that. It still needs to be stirred now and then, but it doesn't require standing in front of a stove all day.

September 26, 2012	#137
TomNJ Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2009 Location: Floyd VA Posts: 771	Drying and processing herbs I grow oregano, basil, and thyme and would like to know how others here handle the harvest. Oregano is the easiest for me as the fresh leaves are so easy to strip cleanly off the stems by just pulling my fingers along the stems against the grain. I then spread the leaves on a cookie sheet and dry them in the oven for a few days (pilot light only = 105°F). Once dry the leaves crumble easily between my palms to a fine and uniform size. Basil is a little harder to strip fresh, so I pull the whole plants, shake off the dirt from the root ball, and hang the plants from the ceiling in my basement. After a couple of weeks of drying I can remove the leaves fairly easily, but they don't crumble as nicely as the oregano. I therefore run the dried leaves through my food processor to break them down to a fine and relatively uniform size without reducing them to dust. Some small twigs (leaf stems) survive and I pick these out as best I can. Perhaps if I dried them longer they would crumble better in my hands, but I don't want to over dry and perhaps lose some essential oils. A cleaner method might be to cut the fresh leaves off the stems with scissors and dry them on cookie sheets like oregano, but that's a lot more work. Thyme is the real bugger for me! The tiny leaves do not strip off the stems when fresh (the thins stems easily break), and no way do I have the patience to pick all of those little leaves off one-by-one by hand. This year I hung the plants until dry, and then tried crumbling by hand. The result was a pile of leaves mixed with a pile of long hair-like stems. Unable to pick out or strain out the stems I decided to just beat them into submission in the good ol' food processor. Eventially I got the dang stems down to an acceptable size, but the leaves at this point were close to dust. The end product is quite usuable, but there has to be a better way. So how do you dry and process your herbs? Do you wash them before drying? Any tips on how to improve my methods? TomNJ

September 26, 2012	#138
salix Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: north central B.C. Posts: 2,310	Well, Tom - I just dry the oregano and thyme on the stem and deal with it as needed, crumbling in hands. To me, dry basil does not have much flavour, so I preserve that either by making and freezing pesto or just whizzing it up with olive oil and freezing it in tablespoon sized "globs". Yes, for sure herbs (and everything from the garden) get washed before drying or processing. Don't have a pilot light in my oven, so usually use the dehydrator, but sometimes a handful of herbs has been left forgotten on the counter and has dried au naturel, that works too. Some people like to use the oven or microwave, but to my mind it is usually too hot even though the job would be done much more quickly. I also dry dill, tarragon, sage and chives for winter use (also onions, garlic, carrots, tomatoes etc.). Something I have done for many years is freeze what I call "soup bundles". Just take a few small carrot thinnings (tops and all), garlic scape, several stems of parsley, stalk or two of celery (with tops) and a couple of green onions (all washed and roots removed of course). Tie into a bundle with cotton string and pop into freezer bags or use Foodsaver. These make winter soups very easy and the carrot tops give an extra depth of flavour. The string makes it very easy to remove the bundle once all the flavour has been simmered out of them. __________________ "He who has a library and a garden wants for nothing." -Cicero Last edited by salix; September 26, 2012 at 10:00 PM.

September 28, 2012	#140
kurt Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Homestead,Everglades City Fl. Posts: 2,500	Wife does the same,tie into bunches,air dry.Since most of Florida is humid we stuff into mason jars stems and all.When needed for seasoning we rip off a amount then hand strip.Basils don,t keep all that well in leaf form but the flowers we save and then alone with seeds and all make great seasoning.Wife uses the gauze type cloth for season satchels when cooking,no need to rip or cut the herbs.The basils she cuts fresh tops and puts on window sill in glasses of water, uses for cooking and when roots start I put them in pots and have some new plants. __________________ KURT

November 24, 2012	#142
habitat_gardener Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: California Central Valley Posts: 2,543	dehydrating cranberries All the dried cranberries in the stores have added sugar and are coated with oil (yuk), so I wanted to see what dried cranberries tasted like without any additives. I got 4 bags of fresh cranberries on sale, a total of 3 pounds for $6. I culled the spoiled ones and cut each berry in half, and it took 4 days for all of them to dry. (My dehydrator is on/off with no settings.) I didn't want to risk any mold, so I dried them to crunchy-hard rather than pliable. I ended up with exactly 6 ounces! I love that eating just one is a burst of flavor: essence of cranberry. It's quite different from anything I've bought. I add dried cranberries to my breakfast (oats and buckwheat with chia and flaxseed, walnuts, dried apricots and dates, etc.), so it'll be interesting to taste the difference when my sour crunchies are mixed with everything else. Given the time it takes to check each one for doneness, I don't know if I'll do it again, but I'm glad I did it once. An alternate way to make sure the berries dry properly is to boil water, add it to the berries and let them sit for 10 minutes, drain, and freeze for an hour. That's supposed to pop the peels and break down the pulp a little so that they're easier to dry. But then you also have to check that each berry has popped, so it seemed like it'd take longer than just cutting them. Anyway, that's something to try if there's a next time.

November 26, 2012	#144
Rockporter Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Texas Coastal Bend Posts: 3,205	I recently purchased the Excalibur 9 tray with a timer but haven't used it yet. I have grape tomatoes, bell peppers and some herbs I want to dehydrate. Can I do them all at the same time or will the flavors mingle with each other? __________________ In the spring at the end of the day you should smell like dirt ~Margaret Atwood~

September 16, 2012	#136
biscgolf Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Virginia Posts: 353	smoked juliet tomatoes san marzano tomatoes tons of hot and superhot peppers both smoked and not aji dulce peppers okra- both smoked and not sassafras leaves (file') lots of herbs

September 27, 2012	#139
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	I use paper bags for drying herbs. It's especially good for thyme: just clip the branches into the paper bag, then use a twist tie to hang it to dry. When the thyme is dry, you can get the leaves off the stem by rubbing and crushing while still in the bag, and you can gently shake the leaves out of the bag without stems - with a little practice. Thyme is a nuisance to strip even when dry, and I'll admit, I've spent whole winters just using the paper bag as a 'dispenser' because it works better and is easier than any other method I know. For other herbs I always dry them on the stem, by bunching and hanging, and usually bunch them right in a paper bag before hanging, to protect from anything airborne.

September 28, 2012	#141
Zana Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Southwestern Ontario, Canada Posts: 4,521	Been known to dry and then grind the stems of the basil, oregano, thyme and more too....and in the case of the thyme, grind them both, but I tend to pulse it. The powder that comes from the stems I use in marinades. However I also take the stems and keep the dry ones to use on the grill, sometimes I skewer meats fish with them when grilling. Sometimes I just toss the stems on the coals or gas briquets (under the grill, but over the flame) I air dry most of my herbs - some I hang in paper bags, some I bags I made of fine netting/organza that get reused, some without bags. And some I dry using a dehydrator. Unfortunately my dehydrator got buried in the storage unit with the latest move, so I'll have to be hanging most of my stuff this year. And that reminds me I'll have to go out and do the final harvest as we're getting some serious frosts lately. So far they've survived though. BTW there are some "combs" that you can get that have long steel tines for using on herbs like thyme. Have to admit that I found it worked better after the thyme was semi-dried to dried. But they will help strip the plant when green too. Finicky...but way faster than doing it totally by hand - picking individual leaves. After I'm sure they're completely dry, I bottle them up and freeze excess. I only dry the most fragrant of the basils, and make sure they're in airtight containers. Some have almost no flavour or smell when dried. That could be from drying with too high a heat. I prefer to use the dehydrator for the basils, so I can control the temps and time. I also freeze pesto too. I am usually growing at least 6 to 10 different basils...and probably at least 25 different herbs annually for cooking. So I've gotten creative in how I save them....or use them. LOL Zana

November 25, 2012	#143
kilroyscarnival Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 614	Sounds good. I see a few 'natural' ones for sale but can't be sure they don't have added orange juice, etc.

November 26, 2012	#146
coronabarb Tomatoville® Recipe Keeper Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Roseburg, Oregon - zone 7 Posts: 2,821	I would definitely not recommend doing herbs with the other things. They need to be dehydrated at a lower temp for the best results. Check what the brochure included with the Ex says for recommended temps. I've done different items together as long as they need to be done at the same temp. Haven't noticed any off flavors but probably wouldn't do habaneros with banana chips. ;-) __________________ Corona~Barb Now an Oregon gal

November 26, 2012	#147
Tracydr Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2011 Location: Laurinburg, North Carolina, zone 7 Posts: 3,207	I have so many eggplants. What do you do with dried eggplant?

December 6, 2012	#150
habitat_gardener Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: California Central Valley Posts: 2,543	dehydrating oranges I mentioned in another forum that I dehydrated blood oranges last year, and tracydr asked for details. http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=24964 I'd seen dried oranges and lemons for sale at the market where I bought dried fruits and nuts, so when I got a bagful of sourish blood oranges, I decided to dry some. I cut them in slices -- rind and all, just like the ones in the store. Then, since they were so juicy and I didn't want juice dripping down the dehydrator, I cut parchment to fit my dehydrator levels and placed the orange slices on the parchment. My dehydrator is on/off, so I didn't have a choice of temperature settings or time. I rotated the layers over 2-3 days, until the oranges were fully dry and brittle. I didn't want to risk any mold, and I didn't have refrigerator space, so I didn't dry them to the pliable stage. They're very pretty, but I haven't found a lot of use for them! They're as sour as they were when I got them, and are not optimal for snacking. If I think of it, I could use them as a garnish for anything that goes well with a lemony flavor -- a lentil stew for a potluck, or maybe a dessert. If I could get 50 pounds for $4, I'd think about how I'd use them before spending lots of time preserving them. The other thing I did with the blood oranges was to make marmalade -- my first attempt. I like the more-bitter marmalades with lots of peel, so I researched lots of recipes. It seems like I stood over the stove for a long time, stirring and waiting for the potion to thicken, but it was not long enough. Or maybe I didn't use enough pith. Anyway, it was a little runny, so I stored it in the fridge and enjoyed it as a flavoring for soy yogurt. I made a small batch, and it didn't take long to use it all up. I normally don't use any sugar, so I was stunned at how much sugar the marmalade recipe required. That made me think twice about making marmalade again. But I recently found a recipe for marmalade that's made in a slow cooker! I might try that. It still needs to be stirred now and then, but it doesn't require standing in front of a stove all day.