Food dehydrator

How long should apples take?
Just looked at them on Amazon and a bit mystified as to how they can be "low energy" if they are not insulated and you leave them on for hours and hours. The temperature settings do not look particularly low.

I have one of these bought from Lakeland. They are extremely good for doing home grown herbs. They just crumble when you take them out. We bought ours to try and do figs but the ones we did we must have been left in there for too long as they came out like rock. I have done slices of banana and they were nicer after a day in the atmosphere as had been a tad hard when we took them out of the machine. Trial and error I think is what you need to do.

I use one of these

www2.westfalia.net/shops/household/kitchen_appliances/electric_and_mechanical_appliances/dehydrating_appliances/193811-food_dehydrator.htm?refKey=-DdKKHErx

It's been very good, I have used it regularly for about three years now and dry mushrooms, apples, orange slices, fruit leathers, herbs, tomatoes, bananas, make things like beetroot crisps, courgette crisps (the secret of the latter is to dip them in soy sauce first) anything apart from meat, for which you need a far more expensive dehydrator. I turn it off if it feels too hot as I had a lakeland one that overheated and the motor burnt out, so now I never leave them on overnight. It's brilliant when something looks a bit wrinkly and you would normally throw it out, I just dehydrate them, store in jars and bung in casseroles. Onions, garlic, everything. I have freezers but they were getting too full, dehdrating saves on space but of course you need space for the machine.

My kitchen has no heating so I find all sorts of excuses to use it in the winter! I love it, and like being able to eat slices of dried banana (you just keep drying until it reaches the consistency you like) and apple rings, and elderly oranges become xmas decorations or are dried for being able to grate and use the zest as powder. Mushrooms are excellent dried and added to casseroles, as are carrots and onions. Turnip is the only thing I would avoid. I would advise anyone interested in the subject to buy a book on it as well.

I once had a very professional dehydrator but at that time didn't have enough fruit and veg to justify the space it took up. I so wish I still had it now.

Are you able to do things like oranges whole? I can only do slices in mine.

No, but you can dry them in the airing cupboard, stored in paper bags. Is that for decorations? If so, then you need some orris root powder, cloves and a brown paper bag. Poke the orange with a darning needle or cocktail stick in a pattern, holes at least a centimetre apart, roll in the powder and poke in the cloves. Then place in the bag with more powder and put in the airing cupboard. Give the bag a shake every week and they are dry in about three weeks. There may be another powder you can use, I really don't see why talc shouldn't work.

You could use a dehydrator if it is one of the expensive ones like my old one, as it had removable shelves for drying large objects. But it was pretty big, like a large microwave.

Have a look at this

Some useful info.

Thank you - just wondered about that - no airing cupboard here.

I suspect just putting them near a radiator/heater would work just as well! My sister threads hers on to bamboo garden supports and hangs them over her woodburner.

That's a good link merlotgran. I grow most of my own veg so ofcourse having one saves me money, but if you have a large family and can but veg cheaply I think they are worth buying. The westphalia one is much cheaper and just as good. It's virtually identical, just white plastic instead of seethrough. It's shipped over from Grmany (it's a german company) so take a week or so to arrive, but is £15 cheaper.

They mention kale - you need to use fresh young kale for chips, that's why hers didn't work. Ditto parsnips. You don't need to add anything to apples as long as they are fully ripe. And it is far cheaper to use if you have enough fruit and veg to stack up the whole thing rather than only one tray at a time. Mine is full of cherry tomatoes, apple rings, banana slices, grapes and mushrooms at the moment, all things that were getting a bit wrinkly. I have over 100 apples to dispose of though as my freezer is groaning with puree, so I shall have apple ring snacks to see me through the winter.

Fruit puree goes in the bottom of the dryer and becomes fruit leather, a bit like chewy sweets when removed and cut into strips or shapes.

Now I want one of these, but will it be the case I use it for a few weeks and then it ends up in the back of the cupboard with the juicer and bread maker?

I use my breadmaker very regularly too. Maybe it depends on how mean anti-waste you are? I am quite green I think, and when you grow your own food it does make you want to use it after all that work. However I haven't grown anything this year as we knew we were going to be away a lot, and the dehydrator is still whirring away.

As that article says, i would not bother with strawberries, the pips are awful, as with redcurrants. It's weaned me off crisps though. Plus it's far easier to eat more fruit when it's dehydrated. I can eat four apples at a time easily this way.

I've just ordered one!
I also use my bread maker regularly and my gelateria!

Oh is that what fruit leather is! I was wondering?

If you're watching your weight it's best to avoid dried fruit - about 100 calories in an apple.

Jane your 4-apple binge would be 400 calories!

I notice I called it a hydrator instead of a dehydrator, but you all seemed to know what I was talking about. Thank you for all your advice. It seems it is going to be trial and error and take much, much longer than the instruction book indicates. Thanks merlotgran for your link. That was a really useful article. Has anyone who dehydrates regularly noticed a big increase in their electricity bills?

herbs dry nicely if you put them in a pillow case in an airing cupboard (if you have an airing cupboard)
Then just squash the pillow case a bit and they will crumble and you can extract.

I freeze herbs in a bag or box Once frozen, they can be easily crumbled. Specially useful for coriander, parsley and lovage.

Can you do that with rosemary? I have just 'pruned' a very large bush and it seems such a shame not to use it.

It is very slow to dry naturally e.g. on a sunny windowsill Gally - takes a couple of weeks to shrivel. An plant adapted to living in extremely dry conditions!
The freezer should work, particularly if you dont wrap it in plastic and the airing cupboard method should also work.

Riverwalk you are right. However, I prefer to snack on 400 calories in fruit form than in crisp form with fat/salt/flavourings that make me more peckish. The way I look at it, four apples is the same as eating a piece of cake (which I try not to have in the house) but fills me up and is far healthier.

Herbs - I am just as happy to spread them on a windowsill above the radiator on a piece of newspaper. Or hang them in a bundle (by an elastic band which tightens as they shrink) to look pretty as they dry. But if you don't have space or hanging room then the dehydrators are good, and they keep their colour better that way.

Mines arrived but not the book I ordered.
Can I have your opinions on whether courgettes should be blanched and/or peeled before being dehydrated. Another one
Says to salt for half an hour before drying.
Come on you experts, help a beginner!

The salt is to get rid of excess moisture, it is amazing what comes out and you only need a little. Slice the courgette about 1/4"and put it in a bowl, add a couple of tsps and turn gently so as not to break the slices (don't peel). Leave it for an hour or so and tip into a sieve or colander and leave to drip into a bowl for a bit. Then pat off the excess liquid by tipping into a clean tea towel and gently turning the bundle. That's just what works for me.

Arrange the slices and at that point you can add flavourings. A sprinkle of soya sauce, a light sprinkling of ground chilli, harissa, sumin, paprika, anything you fancy.

I did my last loads of apple slices today. This lot will be cut up and added to DBH's muesli.

Thanks!
I'm going to get Gary(Gardner) to pick some of the nicer apples off my tree. I usually just leave them for the birds! It's a golden delicious!
I don't usually eat apples as I find they don't agree with me.
But I've found I've no probs with dried apples! I also adore dried toms!
So dehydrator, here I come!