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pengyou

Senior Cook
Joined
Feb 14, 2011
Messages
409
Location
Beijing
I have played around with my dehydrator drying blueberries, pineapple and tomatoes. It seems to me that in order to be good at it, I should pick one kind of fruit or veggie and dehydrate that, making changes each time until I have it "perfected". Is that about right? Is there a classification that will help? i.e. green, leafy vegetables, root vegetables, spices, high water content fruits?
 
My dehydrator came with a user guide that has a table of different types of foods, how to prepare them for the dehydrator and what temperature to use for how long. If you don't have a guide for your dehydrator, you can probably download one from the manufacturer's website.
 
I have played around with my dehydrator drying blueberries, pineapple and tomatoes. It seems to me that in order to be good at it, I should pick one kind of fruit or veggie and dehydrate that, making changes each time until I have it "perfected". Is that about right? Is there a classification that will help? i.e. green, leafy vegetables, root vegetables, spices, high water content fruits?


The thing I found most helpful was to join a support group for Dehydrating, to learn which things are always true and which are variable. Drying times are variable depending on whether the humidity is high and how thick you cut the item and if it is very full of moisture or not.



For instance things I've learned. Lime slices discolor and go brown tan over 105, while lemons can go a little higher, and oranges can be dried at 125 deg F. The timing of tomatoes is all over the board. Herbs must be dried at low temperatures 100-115 or they lose their green and go brown/tan. Over drying can burn things, not like burn on the stove, but turn sugars black, so going to high in temperature is an issue. You can't rush drying. Drying at a higher temperature can cause what is called case hardening, where the outside dries but the inside stays wet because the case of the item is dry. There is also a thing called conditioning. That is where the item is dry crisp, and put in a glass jar, and shaken every day for 7 days and if it stays pretty crisp, the moisture has equalized, if there is no mold, no softness to it, then you can store it, otherwise it needs more drying. If it goes moldy, it's garbage.



Oils go rancid if dried with heat, if not then, it may go bad faster than normal, so no oils.



I really like the facebook group, they are helpful and kind. Well, and you can ask questions here, so there's that too.
 
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