Dehydrating Stuff

**Hambone** · 02-25-2011, 11:30 PM

I got a dehydrator this past x-mas and kinda have become addicted to it. Anyone else dehydrate stuff? Bananns is probably my favorite tasting fruit so far. Love making jerky. Got bored a couple Sunday's ago and soaked some peno's in a hickory marinade overnight and dehydrated them. They were awesome.

Even put some in a jar and covered in olive oil to make a spicy oil. Good stuff.

**aprici** · 02-26-2011, 05:36 AM

I built a solar one, kind of like this one but bigger (the base of mine was 4'x8'). It has two tray levels giving me a drying area of 64 sq ft.

I used some free glass from a patio door someone was giving away. It works very well. The sun dried tomatoes that come out of it are amazingly flavourful, and it's cheap to run (as in free)

**Ravenseye** · 02-26-2011, 05:56 AM

Hambone, what kind of a dehydrator is it. I was thinking of trying one out and my son is big into cooking with spices, etc., lately so I could see him using one as well.

**Hambone** · 02-26-2011, 08:07 AM

Mine is just the cheapo one from Walmart. $40.00 works really good though. I need to get me a coffee grinder so I can start making some spices.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...ndingMethod=rr

**honeyman46408** · 02-26-2011, 08:21 AM

What no "Bacon" ??

**Hambone** · 02-26-2011, 08:42 AM

That's good thinking!! I just got about 10 pounds from my bab ysitters husband that shot a couple hogs. I bet if I trim off most of the fat I could do it.

**Bee Bliss** · 02-26-2011, 09:50 AM

I well remember the time I washed up some fresh basil from our garden and put it in the dehydrator. Came back to check on it later and it was crawling with hundreds and hundred of little green aphids that hatched out in that nice warm dehydrator! It was crawling inside and out. Must have been lots of eggs on the basil.

**Scrapfe** · 02-27-2011, 03:52 AM

Originally Posted by Bee Bliss

... Came back to check on it later and it was crawling with hundreds... of little green aphids that hatched out in that nice warm dehydrator! ...Must have been lots of eggs on the basil...

Aphids are what gives basil its complex pungant flavor.

Basil needs thousands and thousands of aphids not just hundards, bon appe'tit.

I did something similar but then I remembed aphids are born live and don't come from eggs, so I decided it was time to get new glasses

.

**Bee Bliss** · 02-27-2011, 07:54 AM

Well, I had to check it out and Scrap Iron is mostly correct. Only some aphids hatch from eggs. Who knew! Also, the picture of the aphid is not what I saw crawling on the basil and dehydrator inside and out.
So............. SOME insects hatched from eggs on the basil in the dehydrator. Any idea what that could have been? It was the shape of a sesame seed (?) but much smaller.

Well, one thing is for sure.......they came from the garden of eatin'!

Back to topic: made corn chips from corn, etc. and put it in the dehydrator. Not good. Dehydrated tomato is very good in italian bread.

**phil c** · 02-27-2011, 08:45 AM

I love my dehydrator! its just a cheapy electric but it works good. I learned the hard way not to dry habeneros and serano chilis in the house though, came in after they were going for a day and it was almost like someone popped a CS grenade in the house! since then we let it work out on the deck!
I tried to dry a bunch or Morel mushrooms in it but they shrunk down to almost nothing, I just cant get enough fresh ones on the trays to make it worth doing.