Using A Dehydrator

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Using A Dehydrator
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dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 44721
Location: yes

Posted: Thu Sep 02, 21 4:27 pm Post subject: blackberry leather

approx amounts

3lb ripe blackberries/2litres
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 big stirring spoons soft brown sugar

stir it , rest it, stir it again until it is about half the size you started with and has a bit of juice
ten mins with 3 short stirs sorted these nice ripe ones
(hard ones are more spoon work and take longer, but don't bother, make a pie)

spread on silicone sheets 1 and a 1/2 berries thick, push sauce back into centre

120f/50ishc in the dryer until tacky, push any sauce onto the middle

dry until rubbery

will keep ages if wrapped, won't keep ages if you get stuck into them soon as they are done

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28389
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Fri Sep 03, 21 6:12 am Post subject:
Sounds good, after the summer BBQ again had excess mushrooms and dehydrated them. A basic beef and onion stew enhanced with mushroom powder and black garlic got great feedback. I wasn't feeling over inspired at the time and just basically threw it together, but it seems good ingredients can win out.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 44721
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Sep 03, 21 10:32 am Post subject:
it was about 20 hours with these to be ready for a bit of squashing and shuffling to pop the wet bits and roll up the edge bits that gives a more even dry over the spread

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 9456
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Tue Sep 02, 25 6:39 pm Post subject:
Six pounds of plums dehydrated fills one preserving jar Are runner beans worth drying?

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 44721
Location: yes

Posted: Thu Sep 04, 25 1:55 pm Post subject:
cleaned, cut, blanched and frozen sort of works dry the bean bit for later and compost the pod works threaded on a string and dried in a smoky fireplace, not bad but the beans are a lot more use than the pods that works better with broad beans or chickpeas than runner/french etc

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 9456
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Fri Sep 05, 25 7:12 am Post subject:
I did wonder...back to freezing, and drying the beans

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16750

Posted: Fri Sep 05, 25 3:28 pm Post subject:
I freeze runner beans. Not brilliant, but best way to preserve them. When I was a child my mother salted them, and even after soaking and rinsing they were too salty. An old method but a bad one by my reckoning, but only way before home freezers.

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 9456
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 25 6:44 am Post subject:
My next challenge is how to dehydrate fruit so that it turns out like the dried fruit that you buy... I always feel that if it is not dry enough it won't keep so maybe take things too far

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 44721
Location: yes

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 25 11:45 am Post subject:
fruit is fairly easy, cut it quite thin, dust with a little sugar and far less salt, rest, then dry at 70c for a couple of hours then cooler until dry enough there are meters etc, you can work out dry enough by weight loss or just decide it seems dry and chewy enough to store well i have fruit leather older than it should be, that was done by eye ,poke and nibble

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 9456
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 25 6:13 pm Post subject:
I suppose commercial dryers that manage to deal with half pears are a little different!!

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16750

Posted: Sun Sep 07, 25 7:35 am Post subject:
They probably are. You could try slicing them thinner so they dry faster.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 44721
Location: yes

Posted: Tue Sep 09, 25 11:43 am Post subject:

gz wrote:

I suppose commercial dryers that manage to deal with half pears are a little different!!

some use a vacuum pump to reduce the drying time
massive and warm air flow is another option

domestic size dehydrators are not built for lumpy stuff unless it can withstand a long blowing

thin is good , i do fruit at about 5 to 7 mm cut
meat is variable depending on jerky, biltong or pemmican

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 9456
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Tue Sep 09, 25 7:01 pm Post subject:
I've made pear crisps before... delicious

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 9456
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 25 8:28 am Post subject:
I'm dehydrating slices of ripe figs... How do I know when fruit is dry enough so that it will keep for a decent time in a preserving jar ?

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 44721
Location: yes

Posted: Sun Sep 21, 25 12:52 am Post subject:

by weight, by look, by texture etc

there are technical methods
between a third of what size it was and instinct works for me

wet stuff down to 15%

figs maybe take half the wt off them they lots of seeds and sugar and wasp stuff
to try for 15% might make them sling ammo rather than snack

observation is your friend, same rig , similar ingredient can be very different every time
observe the batch when processing it, adjust time and temps based on what you see

practice, it gets easy quite quickly

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