Comments on: Basics of Food Dehydration http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/10/10/basics-of-food-dehydration/ Ten simple babysteps to food storage success! Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:37:47 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Darlene Burgess http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/10/10/basics-of-food-dehydration/comment-page-1/#comment-12963 Darlene Burgess Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:37:49 +0000 http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/?p=2994#comment-12963 Oh, guys! Dehydrating is SO easy. And you can make a lot of your own dehydrated meals. Fruit leather, mac and cheese, thicker stews, thicker chili. It's like freezing. If you see it in the freezer section, you can usually freeze it, though sometimes you have to make some prep before doing it. Same with dehydrating. <br><br>I was able to score 2 flats of 12 "clamshells" of blueberries for $.33 a CLAMSHELL! I didn't have room in my freezer, so I dehydrated them.<br>I simply sorted out the too-soft ones and tossed those (in 24 'shells, I had about 2 'shells worth of bad ones.) I was able to get 10 'shells at a time onto my little dehydrator. I had no idea how to dehydrate them, so I went on the internet. Info overload. So I just said, what the heck. The first batch I didn't both to break the skins first, I just plopped them on the tray and turned it on. Because blueberries have a lot of water in them, it took about 24 hrs to get them crisp dry - which is how I wanted them for storage. (If you want them less crisp, take them out sooner.) The second batch I too, a sharp, pointed knife and poked a hole in EACH one. That WAS time consuming, but they seemed to dry faster - only taking about 18 hrs to get crisp. After about 8 hrs, I checked on them. Some of them were already dried enough, so I took them out. I also chose to rotate the trays so they would dry a little more evenly. 24 'shells dried down to about two 2quart bags. Easily stored, easily snacked on or baked with. (you can either rehydrate them in a little warm water or plop them into what ever your making with a little extra water added to account for them "drinking" some of the water. <br><br>I probably spent about 2-3 hrs having to sort, rinse, prick, rotate, etc, but most of it was prepping them. The other bit of time was in checking and rotating the trays. $8 for 2 quart bags of dried blueberries and 2-3hrs work are worth it to me. I would have paid $$$$ in the grocery store for dehydrated ones. And I KNOW what's in them. NOTHING but berries! Oh, guys! Dehydrating is SO easy. And you can make a lot of your own dehydrated meals. Fruit leather, mac and cheese, thicker stews, thicker chili. It's like freezing. If you see it in the freezer section, you can usually freeze it, though sometimes you have to make some prep before doing it. Same with dehydrating.

I was able to score 2 flats of 12 “clamshells” of blueberries for $.33 a CLAMSHELL! I didn't have room in my freezer, so I dehydrated them.
I simply sorted out the too-soft ones and tossed those (in 24 'shells, I had about 2 'shells worth of bad ones.) I was able to get 10 'shells at a time onto my little dehydrator. I had no idea how to dehydrate them, so I went on the internet. Info overload. So I just said, what the heck. The first batch I didn't both to break the skins first, I just plopped them on the tray and turned it on. Because blueberries have a lot of water in them, it took about 24 hrs to get them crisp dry – which is how I wanted them for storage. (If you want them less crisp, take them out sooner.) The second batch I too, a sharp, pointed knife and poked a hole in EACH one. That WAS time consuming, but they seemed to dry faster – only taking about 18 hrs to get crisp. After about 8 hrs, I checked on them. Some of them were already dried enough, so I took them out. I also chose to rotate the trays so they would dry a little more evenly. 24 'shells dried down to about two 2quart bags. Easily stored, easily snacked on or baked with. (you can either rehydrate them in a little warm water or plop them into what ever your making with a little extra water added to account for them “drinking” some of the water.

I probably spent about 2-3 hrs having to sort, rinse, prick, rotate, etc, but most of it was prepping them. The other bit of time was in checking and rotating the trays. $8 for 2 quart bags of dried blueberries and 2-3hrs work are worth it to me. I would have paid $$$$ in the grocery store for dehydrated ones. And I KNOW what's in them. NOTHING but berries!

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