Just got a dehydrator...any tips?
- Thread starter Nanbo
- Start date
complik8td
Cathlete
Happy Birthday, Nancy! What a great co-worker you have! Now you can soak and dehydrate your raw nuts and seeds. Soaking the nuts/seeds removes their enzyme inhibitors and makes them easier to digest. After soaking, you then re-crisp them in the dehydrator. I used to use my dehydrator a lot more than I do now (I used to eat raw vegan,) but a dehydrator is a great appliance to own. You can make kale and/or zucchini chips in it. The veggie chips are SO much better done in the dehydrator than in the oven, and you don't have to worry about them burning. Have fun playing!! 
Justinef
Cathlete
OHH - one of my favourite gadgets. Fruit leathers, when all the fruit is abundant (berries especially). And a weird cracker thing I make with grated courgette / zucchini plus carrot and beetroot, and sometimes other veg when there's a glut. Grate everything, season very, very lightly (a bit of spice - yum), press into a layer and dehydrate. Great as cheese biscuits.
Oh, and semi-dried tomatoes.
And figs
I could go on......
Oh, and semi-dried tomatoes.
And figs
I could go on......
desertambrosia
Cathlete
Dehydrated sweet potatoes, they make great chips. My dogs love them as treats. Slice and dehydrate, just like potato chips without the fat. My husband makes jerky in the dehydrator. Delicious. As Justine stated, "one of my favorite gadgets."
complik8td
Cathlete
Karen, is that all you do for the sweet potatoes? Just slice and dehydrate? I pay $10 for a bag of sweet potato treats for my dogs. The only ingredient on the bag is the taters, but I didn't know exactly how they were prepared. What kind of dogs do you have? I have three toy breeds. Thanks!
Nancy, I thought of something else.....you'll want to have a veggie mandoline for slicing the things you want to dehydrate into uniform pieces.
desertambrosia
Cathlete
Carol, I got tired of paying a fortune for my dog's treats. They love sweet potatoes, so on a whim one day, I sliced a bag of sweet potatoes. Put them in the dehydrator for about twelve hours, (depending on how crisp you want them) and my dogs can't get enough of them. My husband and I eat them too, in place of potato chips. Great with dips. I have two male golden retrievers. Like I said, they love them.
complik8td
Cathlete
That's awesome! Thanks for letting me know. I was really skeptical about raw dehydrated potatoes. Definitely will give this a try. My dogs love them too!
Nanbo
Cathlete
I'll be going out today to buy a mandoline...very good idea!
complik8td
Cathlete
Best tool!! It's important to have uniformly sized pieces of food in the dehydrator so that the drying time is not staggered. Of course, you can always use the mandoline for slicing veggies for salads too. You'll be glad to own it. Oh yeah, it just hit me....you can make beet chips too! They are my favorite!!
Nanbo
Cathlete
Made cinnamon sprinkled apple chips yesterday and they were FABULOUS !!!! Slice them to 1/16" and it took about 10 hours to get them crispy. I went to the grocery store and bought a hand held mandolin, but it makes the slices too thin (1/16th is the thickest I can go), so I ordered a fancy schmancy mandolin from Chef Depot that make slices that are 1/8, 1/4, 3/8" and more. It also has blades that make Julian, crinkle, and waffle cut. Can't wait to make all those veggie chips (sweet potato, beet, zucchini, etc!).
!!!! Slice them to 1/16" and it took about 10 hours to get them crispy. I went to the grocery store and bought a hand held mandolin, but it makes the slices too thin (1/16th is the thickest I can go), so I ordered a fancy schmancy mandolin from Chef Depot that make slices that are 1/8, 1/4, 3/8" and more. It also has blades that make Julian, crinkle, and waffle cut. Can't wait to make all those veggie chips (sweet potato, beet, zucchini, etc!).lisa_la_machina
Cathlete
Question for all of you dehydrators: what is the shelf life of the foods you make? How long do they typically last and what is the best method for storage? I'm assuming things go bad much more quickly than a preservative-filled store bought product...
TIA!
Lisa
TIA!
Lisa
Nanbo
Cathlete
Great question Lisa! I'm wondering the same thing.
desertambrosia
Cathlete
Sorry Ladies, I really can't answer this, because my husband and I (and the dogs) gobble everything within a week. JMO here, but I think the food would last fairly long, because you have pulled all the moisture out. It's usually damp, wet things that get all moldy and stuff. Again, JMO. I will ask my husband, he got A's in chemistry, for what that's worth.
lisa_la_machina
Cathlete
Thanks, Karen. I would imagine that my household would tear through the food rather quickly as well. I'm mainly asking for laziness reasons, wondering if I could perhaps dehydrate in bulk so I could minimize my kitchen efforts. Yes, lazy indeed!
Good point about the moisture, I think you're right. Keeping the food in an airtight container is probably the key to longevity of shelf life.
But what I'm really wondering is where was your DH when I needed private tutoring for my chemistry classes? Ugh! Painful memories.
Lisa
desertambrosia
Cathlete
Thanks, Karen. I would imagine that my household would tear through the food rather quickly as well. I'm mainly asking for laziness reasons, wondering if I could perhaps dehydrate in bulk so I could minimize my kitchen efforts. Yes, lazy indeed!
Good point about the moisture, I think you're right. Keeping the food in an airtight container is probably the key to longevity of shelf life.
But what I'm really wondering is where was your DH when I needed private tutoring for my chemistry classes? Ugh! Painful memories.
Lisa
Don't I know it? I could have used some big time help in that inorganic chemistry class I took. (what was I thinking?) But yes, I think keeping the dehydrated food in an airtight container is the key. Have fun, I have been "drying up" a storm!!
complik8td
Cathlete
Yes, store your dehydrated foods in an airtight container. The majority of recipe books and articles that I read usually state that the food will last for a month. And in most cases, your food won't last that long because you will devour it. LOL! I've kept some foods longer than a month and they were fine. I think the recipe authors need to exercise caution in their recommendations, and that's understandable. Also, if your dehydrated goods should become "soft," you can always pop them back in to re-crisp them.
Check out some raw food (un)cookbooks... Ani Phyo and Sarma Melngalis (I know I spelt that wrong) have some good ones.
Also, Brendan Brazier is a vegan athlete whose Thrive book series is fabulous for any athlete/person into fitness. His books include raw/dehydrated recipes, which tend to be more no-nonsense than Ani or Sarma's recipes. I highly recommend him. He includes info on peri-workout nutrition (is that a real phrase?) and the importance of strength training for endurance athletes (he's an Ironman triathlete).
HTH, Roz
Also, Brendan Brazier is a vegan athlete whose Thrive book series is fabulous for any athlete/person into fitness. His books include raw/dehydrated recipes, which tend to be more no-nonsense than Ani or Sarma's recipes. I highly recommend him. He includes info on peri-workout nutrition (is that a real phrase?) and the importance of strength training for endurance athletes (he's an Ironman triathlete).
HTH, Roz
lisa_la_machina
Cathlete
Thank you, Carol! I hadn't even thought about the possibility of "re-dehydrating" foods if they get mushy. And a month is long time, no way the food will last that long in my house either!
Roz, leave it to you to know where to find all the good recipes!
Lisa