What is your favorite item to dry in your dehydrator?

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Sir Loin, ha ha ha. That would work.


Right now I have smoked serrano peppers drying, split down the middle. I really like drying apple slices, we eat those for snacks and they only take 24 hours. Herbs are fast in one day at a low temperature. Fruit rollups from apple sauce or pear sauce but they are touchy because if you leave them at too high a temp or too long, they are rock hard instead of leather-like. Most vegetables if I don't cut them small enough take 2 full days. For the past month it's been full and running 24/7. It will probably get more things stuffed into in the next few weeks until we run out of too plentiful garden things. In the winter we use it for legumes that didn't seal to can, pineapple when it goes on sale for $1 each med-large size, jerky when we used to eat meat, mushrooms that are not dry enough to be ground into a powder, and ingredients like cooked rice to use in portable/hiking dry meals for travel.


Letscook, good idea to buy mixed vegetables for bouillon powder.
 
Sour cherry's and Kiwi fruit are always nice to have. And I love making apple chips, finely sliced on a mandolin and dried to a crisp.
 
If it is a center that can get between your teeth (Like the annoying apple core) I remove it. But with kiwi I keep it in.
 
Asian pears, pineapples and watermelons. Asian pears are tops!

EDIT: Man I got a note from this site to comment here. I already commented, #37. Sorry here, but I guess I'm just going to leave this one.
 
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Watermelon sounds nice! I'll try that.

Watermelon is a big hit! I gave some to my neighbors and they thought it was store bought! I see that some like to get water off the slices, but I don't bother. To me, that is part of the flavor of the slices. They do take a bit of time to finish. Work on something like a 1/2 inch slices.
 
Watermelon is a big hit! I gave some to my neighbors and they thought it was store bought! I see that some like to get water off the slices, but I don't bother. To me, that is part of the flavor of the slices. They do take a bit of time to finish. Work on something like a 1/2 inch slices.

Do you only dry the red flesh? Or do you just thinly peel and keep the white part on?
 
Do you only dry the red flesh? Or do you just thinly peel and keep the white part on?

Just the red flesh. I do some pretty big pieces. Roughly 1/2x6x2 inches. Whatever works for you.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I don't remove the seeds! The seeds get dried and they are quite enjoyable. Not to mention, a good conversation piece ;-)
 
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The red flesh is delicious and the white flesh is also edible. It tastes somewhat like cucumber. It can be dehydrated and added to soups or stews.


I decided to dry some summer savory today. I cut the plants in the garden (It will grow back on the stems I left), plunged them into water, shook them to dry, and put them in at 100 deg F. They'll stay green at this temperature. It is similar to rosemary and thyme. I use it with asparagus soup often.
 

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