Dehydrating

[mdvpc]

Cut them in half-I put them on anything convenient like a plate, etc and cover them with paper towels-Here there arent many flies, etc, but I still do that-I dont put any fan on them, because I live in the desert and its very dry. You may need to be thinking about a fan. You want to dry them fast so they dont pick up any mold, of course-Here we dont worry about that cause of the very low humidity-in the greenhouse, its probably 5% during the summer

[Ruth_10]

The Nesco Snackmaster Express (from Wal-Mart) works quite well. It comes with four trays and one insert for leathers. It has several temperature adjustments. I can do a dryer load of tomatoes in about 24 hours.

[bizzarbazzar]

I have a Ronco dehydrator on its way as a Birthday gift from DH's MOM. I have not been into drying tomatoes and was hoping someone can tell me how well this one works. Thanks for any advise/opinions etc.

Heather

[chilhuacle]

I don't know about the Ronco so I can't comment on how it does.

We just got a dehydrator this year and love it. I've dried pounds of tomatoes that would gone to waste or I would have given away. (Only so many jars for canning and only so much space for storing them.) I've also dried more peppers, basil, sage, and stevia than I think we can use in a year.

The instructions say to slice tomatoes into 1/4 inch slices. 1/2" to 5/8" works much better IMO. They are easier to peel of the sheets to turn and hold together better.

Hope you still have tomatoes when it arrives. Happy Birthday!

[bizzarbazzar]

Thank you for the info. It arrived today and I have a counter full of tomatoes...I also have a yard full of mint, chamomile, skullcap, feverfew, pleurisy root etc. I am going to take 1 step at a time (with tomatoes as a priority) and try to get everything donw before everything dies on me out there.

Take care

Heathr

[angelique]

Hi Bruce,

How is the dried basil and stevia? I use a lot of stevia. I buy it in pure powder form from Trader Joe's.

Hi Heather,

Please let us know how the dried mint tastes. I absolutely love cooking with peppermint (ice cream, peppermint tea, and coffee). Yum.

I absolutely love dried tomatoes in slices. Whole Foods sells them organic. I like to soak them in EVOO and cook 'em with zukes, garlic onions and s/p.

[bizzarbazzar]

Thank you for the reminder, as soon as I read this I realized I forgot to rotate the trays... I over did some apple mint but the spearmint and iced hazelnut mint and sweet pear mint look and smell wonderful. I havent tried the tomatoes yet as I thought I would since they taste longer. Tomorrow is feverfew, motherwort, chamomile, skullcap and maybe fruit sensations mint, and candy lemon lime mint...so far so good...i have tons of apple mint... Yummy, in EVOO and with zukes...and garlic and onions, sounds dreamy

[chilhuacle]

Originally Posted by Angelique

How is the dried basil and stevia? I use a lot of stevia.

They are very tasty. The key is low, low heat so they don't brown. DW uses the stevia in her tea, I've only tried it a few times, it's very sweet.

[Grub]

Anyone tried dehydrating eggplant?

I have the equipment. Before too long, hopefully, I have the eggplants.

Thanks, Grub.

[VGary]

Vegetables -- you could dry a different one each day for a month and still not go through the entire list. Some are more suitable for dehydrating than others, but once you get started, you'll want to try them all.
To preserve most of the goodness in your dehydrated food, start with vegetables that are ripe and in prime condition. Buy or pick the crispest, freshest, most flavorful ones that can be obtained. Dehydrating retains most of the nutrition and good taste, but it can't improve on the original quality of the food. The fresher the vegetables are when processed, the better they will taste when rehydrated and cooked. http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/gen16.htm


The following charts are guidelines for the dehydrating of various fruits and vegetables
http://www.discountjuicers.com/dehydratingtimes.html

Eggplant Tacos
1 eggplant, thinly sliced into rounds
1-3 zucchinis
white onion
cumin
chili pepper
salt or miso
1/2 cup walnuts
salt eggplant. dehydrate at 105 degrees until they bend without cracking.
blend or process remaining ingredients. place mixture on eggplant slices and fold slices to make tacos. continue dehydrating for about 12 hours.

[Colorado_west]

Heather, how is the Ronco? I have a Ronco setting here I got last week for $3 and I think it has a part gone. Do they have lid/cover between the first tray and the heat unit????? My other brand is enclosed and the other one had a lid/cover that goes on. I figure this one should too. I like the Ronco lid/top as it is adjustable for the heat to get out.

[bizzarbazzar]

Hi, Mine has 5 trays, but there is nothing between the first tray and the heat unit. I love it...But I learned not to use the bottom 2 trays unless you are drying tomatoes. Herbs dried too quick on the bottom trays browned them. So I think you have all of the parts.....3.00? You are lucky.... Thats a fabulous deal

[Colorado_west]

Thanks, this one has an open heat unit and you can see the heat unit and fan and has 3 trays and the lid. They had a half price sale at the SA thrift and all boxed nice yet. Used. It was sold through Penny's as there tag on it. Missing the instruction book but I have one with the other one.

What I want to say is DIL said she got a dryer with controls for heat as it was burning her mom's herbs. They are too hot for herbs it seems. I used a Mr Coffee that was a Xmas present. I don't remember the brand she had been using. Thought having an extra one would not hurt. I just dried tomatoes and peppers so far . I do not want to put hot peppers and sweet peppers in dryer at the same time. ????

[bizzarbazzar]

The herbs dry OK on the top 3 trays....So I guess its OK... The Romco is great. I havent trued drying peppers and tomatoes at the same time, but if you have enough and decide to do it, please update me. I wonder if the flavors would somehow combine a bit and make some babulous recipes. My fav is a sundried tomato pesto and we joke thats its minus the sun part.... You cant beat the price you got on the Ronco. The SA we have up here is always practically empty any more. I am wondering if they are closing.

[Colorado_west]

We had one SA close that I visited as rent too high and I guess have not found another building. Several other thrift shops have closed too because of high rent. This one SA here owns their building. I got that dryer out of town. Only go there once a year about.

When I do hot peppers it gets to me. Cough from it. I need to figure a way to dry them out on the enclosed porch. I thought other things could pickup the smell maybe. Could end up with different tasting things. maybe I will try that this coming year.