What are you DEHYDRATING today?

[freemotion]

Monique, we dry the entire walnut but with the skin/peel. Actually in the front of our patio door that we never use. Once it seems thouroughly dry we break them with a hammer.

I am drying the hulls for possible use in deworming recipes for the goaties! So they are supposed to be picked off the tree, not drops, and the hull should be perfectly green. I smash it with two bricks, break it up into pieces about 1/2 inch to fit in the dehydrator and to dry more uniformly, and set the unit at 135 F. Then I will grind it into powder. I am still early in the research stage, but this shows up in a lot of recipes and I have walnut trees all over the place, and the nuts are dropping so time is off the essence! So I am preparing the powder just in case, while it is available for free.

Free is good!

 

[GardenWeasel]

Today I am drying hot peppers. Anybody out there dry Habernaros? How do you use them and do they turn out all right? With or without seeds. I have never had such a year for peppers, yikes!

 

[freemotion]

No clue on that, hopefully someone will chime in.

I took some cayennes out of the dehydrator today, along with the last of the basil. I have geranium leaves in there now, Attar of Roses.

 

[SKR8PN]

Just finished up a dehydrator FULL of tomatoes.

 

[TanksHill]

Today I have red and green bell peppers in . I love that smell.

 

[dragonlaurel]

Today I am drying hot peppers. Anybody out there dry Habernaros? How do you use them and do they turn out all right? With or without seeds. I have never had such a year for peppers, yikes!

The seeds and the membranes are normally hotter than the rest of the pepper. Habaneros are so extreme- it might not even matter. Have you thought about threading a needle and stringing some of them? They do it with chillies.

 

[Farmfresh]

I have strung chilies. You get a more even drying with the dehydrator. Even if you DO string them stick them in the dehydrator to dry.

On a string you often get mold where the peppers touch each other.

 

[ORChick]

Mushrooms! I stopped by the farm stand to pick up some corn (my garden isn't big enough for corn ), and found a box of ordinary white mushrooms marked "seconds", at 99c a pound. The "good" ones were $2.99. I couldn't see any difference , so I bought several pounds. Some are in a paper bag in the 'fridge for the next few nights' meals; the rest are in the dehydrator.

 

[Farmfresh]

A little grocery store near me does this. When their boxed mushrooms start to look a little "tired" they mark them down to about 1/4 the price! Since the "tired" mushrooms are usually just starting to dry out, I usually buy ALL they have and run them home to the dehydrator!

A great way to be Self Sufficient is to watch the "loss leaders" at the local stores. Sometimes they will mark items like celery, which is very hard to grow around here anyway, down to a very low price. Thanksgiving is usually one of those times. Then I will go to the store and buy lots of celery (enough that people stare at me )! I take it home run it through the food processor and the dehydrator. Then I have enough celery to season my supper for a long time at a low cost!

 

[1stepcloser]

Basil!