# Blew the dust off the dehydrator.



## exsheeple (Mar 27, 2011)

I found celery on sale yesterday for $.69 a bunch. I brought home 6 bunches, did 3 today and will do 3 tomorrow, take a look!!!!


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

Nice, I've got several pints dried an stored. Nice an handy ta have. That be a good price, recently I been gettin it fer 99 cents.

Keep up the good work!


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## exsheeple (Mar 27, 2011)

Thanks....WOW, I didnt realize how much this stuff shrinks. It is not finished yet but it doent look like I did anything. LOL


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

Looks ta be the same dehydrator I got. Like mine real well.

Yeah, stuff sure do get lots smaller when ya dry it.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

That looks just like my dehydrators too! 
I just did another 10 pounds of potatoes and it fit in 4 quart mason jars!
I did a few pounds of green beans last summer and they shrunk down to fit in a pint mason jar! It is almost scary.

I did some baby portobella mushrooms a couple weeks ago and they shrink down quite a bit too. Now I really like the flavor of the re-hydrated mushrooms -they really concentrate the flavor when they are dried.. The texture is a bit chewier than when cooked fresh but I can deal with that.. they almost get a meatier texture and could take the place of meats in some recipes. I can see why vegetarians like them so much in their cooking...


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## exsheeple (Mar 27, 2011)

This one I have is a Nesco American Harvest with the fan and heater on top. I bought it like 5 years ago along with 2 extra trays and the Jerky Shooter....Used the Jerky shooter for one batch, tried the jerky and never used it again, I like cutting my own slabs of deer meat with the grain and making it that way. 
A few years ago We had a very good morel mushroom year and I filled the Nesco with as many as I could, stored them in a mason jar and kept them in the cupboard, They turned a little dark but still good. The only thing I used them for was crumbling a few up to make an awesome morel mushroom sauce. Nothing like the woodsy, wild, aroma of a morel sauce in the middle of winter. 
Looking at my celery, will my 6 bunches even make a half pint? LOL


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## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

I need to get mine out ... and dust it off also.

My chocolate mint is running wild this year. Then start watching for sales on 
celery on such.

Thanks for the reminder ...


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

Last night I used a quart of dried ground beef along with a food-service-size can of tomato sauce in the slow cooker, along with some dried herbs, and the spaghetti sauce turned out great. I just let the ground beef rehydrate in the sauce. Yum!

Once the family was done eating, I divided the remaining sauce into Food Saver bags to put in the basement freezer. Gotta love eating what you store, and storing what you eat.


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## ZoomZoom (Dec 18, 2009)

This past week we ran 5-6# of beef through it, making 3 different types of jerky.

Put a few pounds of carrots through it. Boy do they shrink.

Bananas - turned out very nice.

Sweet potatoes into potato chips.

Now if I could find the plastic dehydrator sheets, I'd be making other things but they've been misplaced.


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## exsheeple (Mar 27, 2011)

Yes things do shrink!!!! My 3 bunches of celery yielded a little over a half pint.
Feeling lazy today so the other 3 bunches are going to wait until tomorrow.


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## snappy1 (Sep 2, 2010)

We've got chicken thighs with legs on sale for 47 cents a pound in the 10 pound bag!!!!!!! So am getting 20 or 30 pounds Tuesday to can in quarts and since strawberries are 99 cents a pint will probably get some of them to dehydrate too. I think I have the same dehydrator-Nesco American Harvest-square shape with heat on top. I'm just happy to have something to put back without having to pay a fortune!!!!!!


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

My three American harvesters are the fan/heater on the bottom and I just love them... How do the heat/fan on top do with drying? do you find you have to rotate any trays? Every so often I find I do have to take the top two or three layers(when I have more than 12 trays stacked up) and rotate them to the bottom where the heat is. But only on thick items and on lower heat.
Just wondering if I should pick up any of the top heating ones?


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## exsheeple (Mar 27, 2011)

I had 4 trays with the celery and about half way through I had to bring the bottom 2 trays and rotate them with the top 2 because the bottom ones were dryer than the top...go figure. with the heat and fasn on top you would think the top would dry faster, hmmmmmmm


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## snappy1 (Sep 2, 2010)

Mine dried those frozen french style green beans really fast! Normally though, the top trays dry faster.


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## PamsPride (Dec 21, 2010)

My dehydrators have been running on overtime lately. I did 10# of ground beef, and blueberry pulp, and 6 quarts of (frozen) corn in the last week or so. My goal is to get ALL of the frozen corn out of my freezer before it is time to freeze corn up again this fall. I have been posting some pictures to my blog if you want to check them out. I need to do a post on dehydrating corn yet though.


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## neldarez (Apr 10, 2011)

*dried ground beef*

I have never done meat in the dryer. I have an excalibur and would like to try ground beef. Do you add bread crumbs to it? I assume that I cook it first? Dumb questions maybe but I don't know.......:sssh:


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

neldarez said:


> I have never done meat in the dryer. I have an excalibur and would like to try ground beef. Do you add bread crumbs to it? I assume that I cook it first? Dumb questions maybe but I don't know.......:sssh:


NOT a dumb question at all!  I'm pretty new at it myself - Badge Bunny is the one who got me started - we all learn from each other here. 

I boil my ground meat before dehydrating. I just put it in a large pan (like a stock kettle, but not quite that big), added water to cover the meat plus another inch or two then boiled it. As it boils, I work at breaking up the beef to the size that I like.

By boiling it, it cooks evenly and also removes excess grease (you want to eliminate grease when you dehydrate). When it's all cooked through I pour it through a mesh strainer to get rid of the water (you can save the water and can it - beef stock). Then I pat it with paper towels and put it lay it out evenly on the dehydrator trays.

Hope that helps.


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

Forgot to add, I do not use bread crumbs. I'm thinking that with boiling the beef, that wouldn't work too well...?


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## neldarez (Apr 10, 2011)

goshengirl said:


> NOT a dumb question at all!  I'm pretty new at it myself - Badge Bunny is the one who got me started - we all learn from each other here.
> 
> I boil my ground meat before dehydrating. I just put it in a large pan (like a stock kettle, but not quite that big), added water to cover the meat plus another inch or two then boiled it. As it boils, I work at breaking up the beef to the size that I like.
> 
> ...


Thanks so much, do you then put it up in jars or do you bag it?


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## DJgang (Apr 10, 2011)

Question : Is dehydrated ground beef taste better than canned?

I have canned about 30 pints of ground beef, haven't tried it yet but it will go into rotation this winter..

Also, would cut up pot roast do well? Although I having a hard time finding roast on sale, just on case I do, I was going to can it ...but now I am thinking aboutngetting a dehydrator...


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

@neldarez: Currently I have the dried beef in quart canning jars with the plastic screw lids on them, so they are not for real long-term storage. I'm planning on vac packing for that. Right now I'm learning my way as to how much dried beef is needed for this recipe or that recipe, etc. When I have that figured out I plan to vac pack a certain number of bags with the right amount of dried beef for spaghetti sauce, hamburger helper, tacos, lasagna, and so on, and mark the bags accordingly. We have a cool, dry basement, so I'll store them down there. I see a potential for moisture inside the bag to be a problem, so I'm going to pay extra special attention to the humidity condition in my kitchen when I bag - wondering if I should keep the bagged dehydrated beef in the basement freezer instead...

@DJgang: I definitely found the dehydrated beef to taste better than canned. With canned beef I kinda hold my nose when I open the can (the smell reminds me of the dog food my parents used feed our dog when I was a kid) - once canned beef is heated up and used in a meal, it tastes just fine, so I have no problem with canned beef. However, I did notice that the dehydrated beef in the spaghetti sauce tasted more like the spaghetti sauce I used to make with fresh beef. And it was much better received by my children. 

As for pot roast, I haven't tried that yet.... hmmmm....


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## DJgang (Apr 10, 2011)

oh my goshengirl ... You have just convinced me to purchase a dehydrator...dog food smell is not fun! I canned mine in beef broth as well, think that might help? yuck!


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

DJgang said:


> You have just convinced me to purchase a dehydrator


Glad I could enable you. 

Seriously, you'll be glad to have a dehydrator. And I don't know about the beef broth. The first batch I canned with beef broth from the store - when I opened a can for the first time and smelled that smell, I thought either I did a bad job canning or it was that brand of beef broth. Since then I've tried things a couple of different ways, and typically just use hot water instead of beef broth, and I still have that same smell. Now I don't mind it because I'm used to it, and I know the food will still taste fine. Though I do try to get past that point in the cooking before anyone comes in the kitchen, lol.

I wonder if anyone has tried pot roast? I think I might try chicken next....


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## neldarez (Apr 10, 2011)

goshengirl said:


> Glad I could enable you.
> 
> Seriously, you'll be glad to have a dehydrator. And I don't know about the beef broth. The first batch I canned with beef broth from the store - when I opened a can for the first time and smelled that smell, I thought either I did a bad job canning or it was that brand of beef broth. Since then I've tried things a couple of different ways, and typically just use hot water instead of beef broth, and I still have that same smell. Now I don't mind it because I'm used to it, and I know the food will still taste fine. Though I do try to get past that point in the cooking before anyone comes in the kitchen, lol.
> 
> I wonder if anyone has tried pot roast? I think I might try chicken next....


You have me all excited about trying the hamburger.... If you dry pot roast isn't that about the same as drying jerky? I don't know, just know that it would have to be very thin....right?


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## DJgang (Apr 10, 2011)

My LEM dehydrator will be in by Friday...our local outdoor store, individually owned and I go to church with him...is ordering it! yeah!!!


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## DJgang (Apr 10, 2011)

neldarez said:


> You have me all excited about trying the hamburger.... If you dry pot roast isn't that about the same as drying jerky? I don't know, just know that it would have to be very thin....right?


we've got to research pot roast!


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## sherldoe (Feb 25, 2011)

goshengirl said:


> Last night I used a quart of dried ground beef along with a food-service-size can of tomato sauce in the slow cooker, along with some dried herbs, and the spaghetti sauce turned out great. I just let the ground beef rehydrate in the sauce. Yum!
> 
> Once the family was done eating, I divided the remaining sauce into Food Saver bags to put in the basement freezer. Gotta love eating what you store, and storing what you eat.


You can dehydrate that sauce too minus the meat...just make a rollup of it, break it into pieces an store or make into a powder. Works great.


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## neldarez (Apr 10, 2011)

Emerald said:


> That looks just like my dehydrators too!
> I just did another 10 pounds of potatoes and it fit in 4 quart mason jars!
> I did a few pounds of green beans last summer and they shrunk down to fit in a pint mason jar! It is almost scary.
> 
> I did some baby portobella mushrooms a couple weeks ago and they shrink down quite a bit too. Now I really like the flavor of the re-hydrated mushrooms -they really concentrate the flavor when they are dried.. The texture is a bit chewier than when cooked fresh but I can deal with that.. they almost get a meatier texture and could take the place of meats in some recipes. I can see why vegetarians like them so much in their cooking...


Hi Emerald, when you say you dried potatoes, did you peel, slice and dry them? Do you partially cook them first? What a good idea, also, have you ever dried sweet potatoes? I have heard that they make great chips, not sure how to do that, but it sounds interesting. I have an excalibur and would love to try something new. ( almost everything is new to me actually!) I did buy the big #10 cans of pineapple tidbits at costco and dried them, oh my gosh, they are delicious! Huge can fits into a sandwich bag, too funny. Also saved over quart of juice which I put into ice cube trays and froze ( as much as they would freeze cuz of the sugar) and they are yummy just to chew on!


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

neldarez said:


> Hi Emerald, when you say you dried potatoes, did you peel, slice and dry them? Do you partially cook them first? What a good idea, also, have you ever dried sweet potatoes? I have heard that they make great chips, not sure how to do that, but it sounds interesting. I have an excalibur and would love to try something new. ( almost everything is new to me actually!) I did buy the big #10 cans of pineapple tidbits at costco and dried them, oh my gosh, they are delicious! Huge can fits into a sandwich bag, too funny. Also saved over quart of juice which I put into ice cube trays and froze ( as much as they would freeze cuz of the sugar) and they are yummy just to chew on!


Ok my family likes the big shreds of potato that look like Julianne potato mixes in the store. Or thick hash browns.. I have a little machine I got as a gift called a spirooli that looks almost like an apple peeler corer slicer and you pop a peeled potato on and turn the crank and it turns out long strips of potato like you would get if you order curly fries. Then they get put in some water with a bit of acid in it(lemon juice, white vinegar, citric acid) so that they don't brown and then after I get them all cut, I put them in the steamer for about 5 to 6 minutes you want them cooked but not mushy at all or they will turn black in the dehydrator. I find that they dry a nicer white/light yellow color if they are dried slower at a lower temp like about 110° F over night. I will sometimes turn them over on the trays if they are too thick but usually they dry nicely.(but with shreds you do have to use the fruit roll up trays.)
Quite a few veggies need to be blanched before drying to stop the enzymes that cause off flavors in dried or even frozen foods.-Foods high in sugar naturally don't usually need to be blanched before drying and tomatoes, peppers(hot or sweet) and onions don't need it before drying.
On the matter of sweet potatoes I can't say. I personally can't stand them and don't grow or eat them. But I do grow winter squashes which I am told are close in flavor. I do know that like regular potatoes they need to be blanched before drying. If you do slices they do take up some room in the dehydrator. And if you can use a mandolin to make sure that the slices are even, they will dry better that way.


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## neldarez (Apr 10, 2011)

goshengirl said:


> Last night I used a quart of dried ground beef along with a food-service-size can of tomato sauce in the slow cooker, along with some dried herbs, and the spaghetti sauce turned out great. I just let the ground beef rehydrate in the sauce. Yum!
> 
> Once the family was done eating, I divided the remaining sauce into Food Saver bags to put in the basement freezer. Gotta love eating what you store, and storing what you eat.


goshen, I have a question .....what is the best way for me to save the dehydrated foods? Bags? jars? I've just been putting the bit I have done in zip lock bags, that probably isn't good enough. Actually, can't hardly stay out of the dehydrated pineapple....won't be any soon!


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

Mmmmmm, dehydrated pineapple!  I think for short-term storage the ziplocks are fine. For longer term storage of dried foods I usually either vacuum-seal them or put them in glass jars. I'm not a fan of plastic jars and bottles. They pick up odor too easily and aren't as airtight.

After reading the above posts I'm eager to try dehydrating meat. Right now I dry-can it, and it doesn't smell as bad when you open it as traditional wet-canning, but you still get an over-soft meat that falls apart readily. I'm enthusiastic about the possibilities with dehydrating the meat! Other than jerky, I've never dried meat.

When I dry potatoes I partially cook them first. We do them as slices, cubes, and shreds. I'm interested in hearing how Emerald does it, since she seems to really have a handle on dehydrating!


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

neldarez said:


> goshen, I have a question .....what is the best way for me to save the dehydrated foods? Bags? jars? I've just been putting the bit I have done in zip lock bags, that probably isn't good enough. Actually, can't hardly stay out of the dehydrated pineapple....won't be any soon!


I'm probably not the best person to answer this, since I don't have any long-term experience (just started dehydrating in the past 4 months or so). I would be concerned that zip lock bags would have too much air in them (I know I can never get all the air out). Hence that's why I use FoodSaver vacuum seal bags. However, I'm learning that because dehydrated items are so brittle, the FoodSaver bags are prone to creating dehydrated food _powders_.  I just ordered the can sealer for FoodSaver - it allows you to use mason jars and vacuums the air out. A lot of people on this site have recommended those, and that would take care of the air problem while providing a hard container to protect the dehydrated items from perpetual breakage.


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## tsrwivey (Dec 31, 2010)

My family loves apples cut thin & dried to a crisp. Kinda labor intensive but man are they good!


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