questions re dried food

[alma]

Like i said before, i dried some food few years ago and they are still good but have lost their color.
Yesterday, i dried a large bunch of carrots and today a large stalk of celery.
I didn't exactly know what to do to retain the color but would like to have more info re lemon dip etc. to retain color. Please give me exact info if you know what to do for next batch of carrots, etc..
I want to do apples today or tomorrow and need to know a lot about that venture. All the help i can get will be appreciated.
I've never had any problems with bananas, but didn't do so well with apples in the past. love, alma
What else can i dry do you think. What do you dry?

[docjered]

Alma, glad you are dehydrating. As much as I love canning, I love dehydrating even more. Dont worry about colors fading. Most veggies will regain their color when they rehydrate. I, for one, like to rehydrate veggies in milk. As to the lemon juice thing, you can either use that, or vitamin C tabs crushed in water to stop foods like apples, bananas, peaches, apricots, etc. from browning. The colors really do not affect the foods. I dehydrate everything! When onions are 9 bags for 9 dollars at Shopnsave, I dice and dehydrate... Always do peppers every season then throw a handful in soups, spaghetti sauce, etc. I also do beans, peas, carrots, celery, spices etc. I also love dehydrated blueberries, cherries, grapes, strawberry slices. A handful of any of these are great in your breakfast cereal, or to bake with. Some people use powered sodium bisulfate to stop browning, but be careful... it can be dangerous; particularly if you or someone you love has a sulfur allergy (I cannot take sulpha drugs, they would kill me).

Try very thin slices of zucchini, sprinkled with sea salt or a bbq sauce and water mixture for natural chips. no cooking, no bad chemicals or fried oils.

I do a variety of veggies then mix them together. This way, a few bullion cubes, some veggies, and a pound of chicken or burger make a wonderful veggie soup. Try also small cubes and/or slices of potatoes, but poach them for a minute first in boiling water.

I use an excalibur dehydrator. It was kinda expensive, but has paid for itself about a hundred times in the last three years. I also like to store dehydrated in quart canning jars. Keeps the pests away, looks beautiful, and if the SHTF ever happens, it is a backup supply of canning jars when there arent any available anywhere for any price!!!

Enjoy!

[Shamrock1121]

Like i said before, i dried some food *few years ago and they are still good but have lost their color.
Yesterday, i dried a large bunch of carrots and today a large stalk of celery.
I didn't exactly know what to do to retain the color but would like to have more info re lemon dip etc. to retain color. Please give me exact info if you know what to do for next batch of carrots, etc..
I want to do apples today or tomorrow and need to know a lot about that venture. All the help i can get will be appreciated.
I've never had any problems with bananas, but didn't do so well with apples in the past. love, alma
What else can i dry do you think. What do you dry?

I'd like to suggest a great book on the subject - Making & Using Dried Foods by Phyllis Hobson. Not only does this book tell you how to dehydrate a wide assortment of foods, there are also recipes for how to use them. Check your local library for a copy, or have them get it through inter-library loan.

Here's a great web site for information: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/dry.html

You can also dry lean cooked meat, such as roast beef. Although jerky is a popular "snack" item with people who dehydrate food at home, dehydrating cooked meat is a great way to use up those bits and pieces of leftovers. In fact, dehydrating foods is one of the best uses for small amounts of foods. I recently purchased fresh bing cherries. After we had them fresh for several meals/dishes, I cut them in half, removed the stone (seed), and dehydrated the 2 cups of remaining cherries at 115°F (until they are dry, but still chewy).

Almost as important as the dehydrator is having good equipment for slicing and dicing foods. Even an inexpensive slicing mandoline is a good investment so that you can cut things like zucchini into very thin slices. You can quickly slice foods to the same thickness, which is important when drying food.

I dehydrate apples nearly non-stop when they are cheap, fresh, and plentiful in late summer and early fall. Jonathans are our favorites. They are sweet for snacking, and don't fall apart. If you have a mandoline, you can cut apples from the stem side, down to the bottom (crosswise apple rings) - without coring or removing the seeds, or peeling. The whole apple slice will have a pretty little "star" where the seeds were (the seeds just fall out of the holes). I cut the slices 1/8- to 1/4-inch thick.

To make apple slices, I first use one of those kitchen gadgets that you press down on the apple from the stem side down, and it removes the core and leaves the apples in segments. I take the segments, and with a sharp kitchen knife, slice them into thin slices.

I usually have a bowl of cold water with either lemon juice or vitamin C powder in it, and add the sliced apples to it. This helps keep the apples from oxidizing (turning brown) before I can get them sliced and into the dehydrator. Only slice as much as will fit into your dehydrator. Drain and pat dry. Spread the slices in one layer and dry at 120°F for 6-8 hours, or until there is no moisture in the center when the slice is bitten. (Follow the instructions for your dehydrator for food temperatures.)

It's important that you dry food at the correct temperature. You can't speed dehydration by using a high temperature. What happens then is that you will actually "cook" the food. The high temperature will cause the outside of the food to dry too quickly and then the inside of the food will not get dry. The "crust" on the "cooked" food will not allow the food to completely dehydrate inside and the food will mold. Always check your dehydrated foods for mold. There are some foods that I dehydrate, vacuum seal, then I keep in the freezer as a way to prevent mold. I vacuum seal (with a FoodSaver) a lot of my dehydrated foods in canning jars as soon as they have cooled from the dehydrator. DO NOT allow dehydrated food to sit too long after they are dried or they can rehydrate if you live in a humid climate, which can cause the food to mold.

Carrots: I scrub carrots with a stainless steel scrub pad (or you can peel them with a vegetable peeler, or brush them with a stiff vegetable brush). Cut into 1/8-inch slices. I steam blanch for 3-4 minutes (in a steamer basket, or in the top of a double boiler that has a pan with holes in it), or water blanch the carrot slices for 2-3 minutes (do small amounts of sliced carrots at a time). Drain. Chill in ice water, drain again, and pat dry with paper towels.

The blanching halts the enzyme action and helps keep the color in the carrots.

Place the slices in one layer on the trays and dry for 12-18 hours at 120°F until tough and leathery with no moisture in the centers. Stir pieces and rotate trays occasionally.

-Karen