I don't have a dehydrator, solar or anything of the kind...but i'd like to dehydrate minced onions in the oven...I just dried a bunch of mushrooms that way, and wonder if there is a way to keep the onions fron sticking to the pan. I didn't have that problem with the mushrooms after i switched them from the pan to cake cooling racks. Or should I dry them in whole slices, then crush them?
dehydrating minced onions
- Thread starter Kwynn
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keljonma
Epicurean Goddess
Whole slices might be easier, but may take longer.
When using the oven for drying, I like to line the baking sheets with foil or parchment paper, brushed with a bit of oil.
When using the oven for drying, I like to line the baking sheets with foil or parchment paper, brushed with a bit of oil.
enjoy the ride
Sufficient Life
It might take quite awhile in a conventional oven- if you have a convection one, it would be faster. In a regular oven I can see it taking 12 hours or more on a low heat. If you have someway of moving the air across them, it would be faster.
Are your onions keepers? If so, it might be more economic to store them. I used to braid onions like garlic and they kept very well like that.
Also freezing minced onions might work too although I have never tried it. I have seen packages of them in stores.
A person I know also made his own dehyrator with plywood, window screening and incandescent light bulbworked really well.
Are your onions keepers? If so, it might be more economic to store them. I used to braid onions like garlic and they kept very well like that.
Also freezing minced onions might work too although I have never tried it. I have seen packages of them in stores.
A person I know also made his own dehyrator with plywood, window screening and incandescent light bulbworked really well.
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
I have tons of onions stored this way....want to know why?mgibbzzz said:
un My 16 yr. old boy was told to gather my fine crop of sweet onions, clean them off and cut the shriveled tops off...then spread them out on the back porch to dry. Should have been about a bushel out of that particular group, to use for salads, sandwiches, etc. this winter.I go out later and he had chopped both ends off each one, peeled the outer layers of skin and had spread them out "to dry". I about died!!!! I had explained the process, I thought, in detail, but since he only listens to 1/10 of what I tell him, this is what he did. Wish I had had a dehydrator right then, as I would have loved to store these as minced onions, at that point.
As a punishment for not listening and not following my very explicit instructions, I made him dice them up very finely and place in freezer bags. Even double bagged, they stink up my whole freezer!
To add insult to injury, after hearing me go ballistic over this incident, my 18 yr. old son was told to do the same thing to about 1/4 bushel of sweet onions that had been grown in another bed. I went out to see his job and he had cut the tops too far into the onion. Plus, he had cut out any "bad" spots he thought they had! I had given even more detailed instructions this time and had anticipated no mistakes. Sooooooooo.....once again, the whole batch had to be diced and frozen.
The irony of this event is that neither of these boys like cooked onions, only raw. Yep...you guessed it....I'm using minced onions in every recipe from now to kingdom come to drive home the importance of listening to instructions!
enjoy the ride
Sufficient Life
Beekissed- but you do have to admit that it was not laziness, just misdirection.
I remember one kid that I hired to move a giant pile of shredded bark into the horses paddock. I told him to put a wheel barrow full every 3 feet or so.
Then I went in to visit with his mom- bad mistake. When I came out, he had raked up the bark that I had already spent days getting into the paddocks and had spread it in neat little piles all over the field............... AARRRGGGHHHHH...........
His mon and I spent then the couple of hours raking up the piles so he could take it back.
I remember one kid that I hired to move a giant pile of shredded bark into the horses paddock. I told him to put a wheel barrow full every 3 feet or so.
Then I went in to visit with his mom- bad mistake. When I came out, he had raked up the bark that I had already spent days getting into the paddocks and had spread it in neat little piles all over the field............... AARRRGGGHHHHH...........
His mon and I spent then the couple of hours raking up the piles so he could take it back.
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
Yeah, it wasn't about laziness...this time! 
You'd have to know my 16 yr. old, Jon, to understand the frustration. My other two sons are alot like myself, very hard workers and a good work ethic. Jon? Well, there is only one way to describe our Jon....
If I didn't pump his lungs in and out, he wouldn't breathe on his own...he's that lazy!
He finds more ways to get out of work than actually doing it! He once took 10 hrs to do dishes...and that isn't the record..I think its actually taken longer. Denial of privileges, taking things away, paddlings(he doesn't sense pain like normal people, so this doesn't work for him), threats of disembodiment....nothing works for Jon except standing over him and making him move his body. It doesn't help that he's been diagnosed with ADD, so instructions are barely heard or recognized.
He has to have a bowel movement every time a chore is assigned...he must have the most regular bowels in the world by now. He is charming and can mimic any actor...which makes him an endless source of laughter. We always tell him that he would make a good stand up comic.....except that he would have to stand up!
He was helping a friend of mine park cars at her estate auction the other day and she saw me staring at him out in the field. She said, "He's so cute and sweet, isn't he? What are you looking at?" I told her that was the longest I've ever seen the child vertical and I was soaking it up!
You'd have to know my 16 yr. old, Jon, to understand the frustration. My other two sons are alot like myself, very hard workers and a good work ethic. Jon? Well, there is only one way to describe our Jon....If I didn't pump his lungs in and out, he wouldn't breathe on his own...he's that lazy!
He finds more ways to get out of work than actually doing it! He once took 10 hrs to do dishes...and that isn't the record..I think its actually taken longer. Denial of privileges, taking things away, paddlings(he doesn't sense pain like normal people, so this doesn't work for him), threats of disembodiment....nothing works for Jon except standing over him and making him move his body. It doesn't help that he's been diagnosed with ADD, so instructions are barely heard or recognized.
He has to have a bowel movement every time a chore is assigned...he must have the most regular bowels in the world by now. He is charming and can mimic any actor...which makes him an endless source of laughter. We always tell him that he would make a good stand up comic.....except that he would have to stand up!
He was helping a friend of mine park cars at her estate auction the other day and she saw me staring at him out in the field. She said, "He's so cute and sweet, isn't he? What are you looking at?" I told her that was the longest I've ever seen the child vertical and I was soaking it up!
