Q and A: dehydrating celery and jelly not setting up

Dehydrating celery

My first attempt at drying celery proved disappointing. I used a brand new dehydrator (Presto). The process took twice as long as suggested: the pieces turned brownish and the rehydrated pieces were flavorless and texture resembled wet cardboard. What did I do wrong?

Margaret Jensen
Branchville, South Carolina

I cut my celery into fairly thin slices, across the grain. Be sure to lay them out in a single layer, not touching each other. I don’t fill the whole dehydrator, just four trays as celery is quite “wet.” When the pieces are starting to dry, change the trays around making the top ones the bottom ones as the bottom ones often dry first. Once dehydrated, your celery should be crisp-dry and retain its color quite well. I also include the tops and leaves in the dehydrating as they make great additions to soups and casseroles. — Jackie

Jelly not setting up

Holly and I spent the day yesterday making pin cherry jelly. We just can’t seem to get it to set properly. I used the recommended amount of sugar (¾ cup sugar per cup of juice), lemon juice, and temp of 220 degrees. After overnight it still wasn’t set, I re-boiled it all and tried again and it still won’t gel. It is the consistency of syrup. Any ideas or thoughts?

Chris Shanahan & Holly Langevin
Clifton, Colorado

Did you use any pectin? You didn’t mention it and it is sometimes easy to forget. The jelly won’t set without it. I use a bulk powdered pectin, available online but you can run to the store and get some powdered Sure-Jel, which works well. — Jackie