What are you DEHYDRATING today?

[dragonlaurel]

I have 2 plants worth of lemon basil and some rosemary drying.

 

[Bimpnottin]

Another 9 trays of pear slices. Need to cut up apples to get more of those going. Got sick of canning tomatoes, so dried a bunch of those - darn kids are eating them like chips, I finally had to hide them.

 

[BarredBuff]

We have apples to dry now! I need to do a batch of Rosemary and Spearmint as well............

 

[Wifezilla]

Apples, more tomatoes, and chocolate mint. I will have plenty for cold season

 

[BarredBuff]

Got apples in the dehydrator..........

 

[i_am2bz]

A local store had a 2 for 1 sale on 5lb bags of russet taters, so I want to try to dry up some for hash browns.

I've read lotsa different methods to do this, but one thing I keep coming back to is how to prevent discoloration. Some folks use lemon juice & some use vinegar, some methods don't mention either.

Any thoughts on this? Is the flavor affected at all? Any tips would be helpful since I'm a newbie on dehyrdating taters.

 

[VickiLynn]

I dehydrate lots of hash browns, in fact I am doing some today. The best way I have found is to cook the potatoes whole first (bake, boil or microwave), until they are not-quite done. You can get a fork into them, but you have to push. Then leave them in the refrigerator several hours until they are very cold, then shred them. By cooking them first, it keeps them from turning black, so you don't need lemon juice, etc. I cook them with the skins on, since most of the skin comes off then you shred them anyway, but you could peel them before or after cooking if you want. You can either dehydrate or freeze the shreds. If you freeze them spread on cookie sheets, then transfer them to freezer bags, they won't stick together. NOTE: If you cook them too long (like soft enough for eating), you'll end up with mashed potatoes when you try to shred them.

 

[i_am2bz]

Thanks, VickiLynn...I think that's exactly how I'm going to try my first batch.

 

[Damummis]

Apples, lots of apples...

 

[SSDreamin]

Potatoes: Hash browns, sliced and diced. Also need to put some banana's in there when it's free for a bit.