Thank you for the exra help. I just paid for the Excaliber before I checked here so it is done now. I got all the freebies that the US site was offering and free shipping within Canada so I think I have just what you have Kath. The lady here told me they don't sell the one with the timer because it is just a clockwork one and it easier to use the plug in one from the store, cheaper and easier to replace .

So it will be here in a few days.

Thank you re the vacuum cleaner, I too am leaning towards the Miele. I have had Dyson in the past when we were over in the UK for a few years.My husband is the vacuum guy in this house and he hated it, in fact he gave it to my son when he got married. Maybe they are better now. I want something really powerful. I liked the idea of the commercial Eureka that ther hotels use but it is no longer made. Oh well next weeks treasure hunt!!

Thank you all again, you are a great bunch.

XX Jeannine

Happy to help, Jeannine- hope you love it!

kath

I read this thread and just started drying about 5-6 pounds of Sungold cherry tomatoes (cut in half). Also thought I'd post a link to some UC Davis information: [url]http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8116.pdf[/url]

My tips for dehydrating tomatoes are: wrap them in cheese cloth and spin dry them in the washing machine first (get's rid of major moisture fast). Next you dry newspaper or more paper towels in your dehydrator. You will need to check to see when they are almost dry often. when you can wrap one in plastic wrap without seeing steam, add these to whatever dish you want.
Side note: The dried toms can bye pulverized in a blender and used for many culinary projects. The resulting tomato powder can really boost the crappy bland taste of many summer tomatoes!

Opps I meant "winter tomatoes" just add the powder to salsas or wherever you requier the boost in flavor.

dehydrator temp?
 

at what temperature should I set my dehydrator to dry my vegetables??

peppers
carrots
tomatos
herbs

thanks

Peppers: 120 degrees - 12-18 hrs for halves, 8-12 hrs for slices and pieces

Carrots: 1/8" slices or small chopped - 12-18 hrs at 120 degrees

Tomatoes: 1/8" slices or 1/4" cubes - 120 degrees 8-10 hrs, then turn slices and dry for another 6-8 hrs to brittle stage.

Herbs: Depends. Most of them dry at 110 degrees somewhere between 4 and 12 hours, depending on type. You may want to do them separate from different herbs and veg as they can flavor other stuff in the dehydrator.

Mine has flexible grid sheets that I place on the trays - it really helps with the smaller bits and anything that tends to stick like tomatoes or fruits.

My fave book is Making and Using Dried Foods by Phyllis Hobson. If I had bought that one first I never would have needed another. Sadly it was the 4th dehydrator book I bought. It's the only one that says how to dry beet greens (most books say to toss them as they have no value dried!) and has instructions on drying parsnips and rutabaga - those are tough ones to find in most dehydrator books, but needed for those of us in warm climes without root cellars.

I'm experimenting. I had a huge crop of runner beans (picked as green beans) and am drying the blanched beans. Has anyone dehydrated green beans? Why do they need to be blanched first (or do they?)?

I'm also drying Pink Vernissage tomatoes. They're large-cherry size, prolific, and producing far more than I can make into fresh salsa.

Next up will be zucchini and eggplant from the garden, apples, and maybe some carrots from the farmers' market. Do apples need to be dipped in lemon juice first?

We've been drying lots of Okra. After drying, we run it thru the processor. The powder eventually goes into soups, etc. The other small pieces we have been adding to homemade cornbread and drop biscuits.

We always do some tomatoes, sweet peppers, and onions. This year we also did some peaches and apples for winter munching.

Has anyone dried blackberries?

[QUOTE=ScottinAtlanta;301184]Has anyone dried blackberries?[/QUOTE]

No, but I've dried raspberries and all I was left with were seeds. Seems to me the result with blackberries would just be bigger seeds.:?!?:

I did black berries. I really don't rehydrate fruit, I prefer it dried. I won't do black berries again. They were almost nutty in a strange way. All of the black berry taste was gone and seed flavor was all that was left.

On the other hand, I will do raspberries again. I thought they turned out nice. They had raspberry flavor when you eat them dried and they were sorta fun to eat. Like raspberry flavored syrofoam.

I have also done: peach fruit leather, apple fruit leather; cherries, bananas, lemons, limes, and oranges; basil, strawberries, tomatoes, squash, mushrooms and peppers.

I just got my excalibur about 3 weeks ago and it has been busy!

Ditto here to the blackberries and seeds. If you have a lot, you could make fruit leather or jam/syrup/sauce to can.

I just finished some paprika peppers and some jalapenos for some good powders. I should have planted more paprika peppers.

I currently have in some zucchini chips dehydrating, never tried them before.

Dean

tomatos
red bell peppers
thai chilis
jalepenos
thyme
rosemary
oregano
sage
marjorum
basil

and soon
DEER JERKEY!!