# Blueberry dehydrating help



## Freyadog (Jan 27, 2010)

We went and picked but not finished, 2 1/2 gallons of blueberries. It was just too humid and hot here to even make a good dent in the blueberries. I have an Excalibur dehydrator. 

the instructions are not very clear in the manual. I want them dried for pancakes/muffins etc.

Can anyone tell me exactly how to dry them. Do you prick them or something. I assume when they are talking about waxed berries that they mean blueberries? I am really lost on this.

TIA


Barbara


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

Blueberries are a bear to dehydrate well. At least I've found them hard to do.. They do tend ot have a "waxy" coating naturally and most good books say to get a good rolling boil in a big pot of water and take a good strainer tight mesh and "dip" them for just a tiny bit to remove the waxy and to "burst" the skins so that they dry better. it was a pain in the tookus but the ones I did that way dried down really well and dryer than raisins while the ones I didn't got smaller but didn't dry well.. they got moldy. I prefer to wash/rinse well and then dry well on my flour sack towels(I buy them in bulk at sams now but I used to get them at shippsawanna ) then freeze them in a single layer on cookie sheets and then vac pack in the amounts I use for most recipes one and two cups. 
I'll probably dry more or can them SHTF or just stuff our gullets each year when they ripen and not save any hahaha!


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## Freyadog (Jan 27, 2010)

Think I will try the boiling the wax off method. I think that I would rather go ahead and have them already dried than to take a chance on SHTF and then have to boil and dry amongst all the rest of the stuff in the freezers. Gonna give this a try today and see what happens. 

My girlfriend and dh are in Denmark and other countries for two weeks so we are having to do the blueberries and garden. Won't last until they get back and still probably another 2 1/2 gallons by this weekend to do. then she can do the rest.

thanks for the help. Have never done blueberries before.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

Freyadog said:


> Think I will try the boiling the wax off method. I think that I would rather go ahead and have them already dried than to take a chance on SHTF and then have to boil and dry amongst all the rest of the stuff in the freezers. Gonna give this a try today and see what happens.
> 
> My girlfriend and dh are in Denmark and other countries for two weeks so we are having to do the blueberries and garden. Won't last until they get back and still probably another 2 1/2 gallons by this weekend to do. then she can do the rest.
> 
> thanks for the help. Have never done blueberries before.


I just had an odd thought.. after you freeze/thaw things like berries they become a bit mushy and I wonder if you froze just enuf for one layer over night and then took out and put in the dehydrator if they would dry better as the "bonds" of the fruit on the inside would have broken down a bit? Depends on if you like to experiment like I do with stuff.. you have room for one trays worth to freeze overnight and then put in the dehydrator? Just an odd random thought here. :scratch


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

I've canned blueberries in a light sugar syrup before too. they turn out good. you can strain the juice off and put the berries in pancakes and then boil the syrup down a bit and make it thicker and pour over the pancakes and ice cream..


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## Freyadog (Jan 27, 2010)

Emerald said:


> I just had an odd thought.. after you freeze/thaw things like berries they become a bit mushy and I wonder if you froze just enuf for one layer over night and then took out and put in the dehydrator if they would dry better as the "bonds" of the fruit on the inside would have broken down a bit? Depends on if you like to experiment like I do with stuff.. you have room for one trays worth to freeze overnight and then put in the dehydrator? Just an odd random thought here. :scratch


What about the wax on the outside of the fruit. would it hamper the drying of the skin?


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

Freyadog said:


> What about the wax on the outside of the fruit. would it hamper the drying of the skin?


I wouldn't think so.. I think that most of my blueberries kinda split a bit after they have been frozen and thaw out. I may have to dig out my dehydrator and I have a couple small packs of blueberries from last year and try it later..


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

I just found a good youtube on blueberries.. 




lots of great information on the comments section there too.
Her website also say you can "Don't forget that you can dehydrate all your frozen fruits and vegetables from your grocery store, saving room in your freezer. All your frozen foods have already been prepped, just open the bag and throw them on the tray frozen. This includes thick French fries and hash browns. Melons are better if pureed and made into fruit rollups. Frozen strawberries are easier to cut when they are only half way frozen. " too. so I may try a layer just to see if we like them


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## Freyadog (Jan 27, 2010)

Well my first attempt at blueberries I do believe is a disaster. They turned out like fruit rollups.


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## Possumfam (Apr 19, 2011)

Freyadog said:


> Well my first attempt at blueberries I do believe is a disaster. They turned out like fruit rollups.


Disaster? Some people do that on purpose and call it fruit leather, just like fruit rolllups. I've never done it, so I don't know if they add sugar or anything, but it might not be a disaster. :dunno:


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

When I was on the fruit roll up kick we made them out of all kinds of fruit.. but the trick to making a really nice one was using your own applesauce as a base for other fruits.. 
take a cup of apple sauce and then a cup or more of pureed blueberries or raspberries or strawberries or even bananas. any of the smaller fruits that may not dry really soft but dry by themselves. The kids loved the flavor of kiwi but the color was icky.. 
Sorry your blueberries didnt' dry well.. I had issues too. So I still freeze or can in simple syrup.
The canned ones are a bit mushy to use in pancakes but the left over syrup can be boiled down a bit and it makes a dandy syrup for those pancakes.


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## Freyadog (Jan 27, 2010)

This came out wet on the bottom and sort of dry on the top. so I measured out a cup at a time and put them in freezer bags. I did take a piece of this and put it in a little warm water to see what I had and it looked ok. so will probably be ok to use in muffins and pancakes.


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## Riverdale (Oct 31, 2009)

From Utah State extension site



> Crazing
> Some fruits (such as prunes, plums, cranberries, blueberries, and grapes) have a natural
> protective wax coating. If they are to be dried whole, it is best if these fruits are
> pretreated by dipping them in boiling water for 15-60 seconds according to the size and
> ...


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## Freyadog (Jan 27, 2010)

Riverdale said:


> From Utah State extension site


Thanks for this. My girlfriend called this morning with the exact same information from a book called 'Putting Food by'.

going to go and pick more today so gonna follow these instructions to the letter.


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