5 THINGS I WON'T DEHYDRATE AGAIN AND FIVE THINGS I LOVE : My favorite dehydrating projects

My favorite dehydrating projects and those dehydrating projects that I won't do again. Sharing my least favorite and most favorite dehydrating projects and why I like them.

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[ThePurposefulPantry]

Share your favorite and least favorite things to dehydrate! I'd love to hear what you love! How could I forget PLUMS!? Probably because I don't have any left! Mushrooms, pears, canned pineapple...the list is for favorites and pretty short for non-favorites.

[peggyp]

I found myself laughing when you said grapes were on your "won't dehydrate again" because I have dehydrated more grapes than most people would eat in a lifetime. It all started with my mom. She was a famous baker and used raisins in a lot of her recipes. She didn't like the fact that commercial raisins had so much sugar in them and really, not much taste. After trying a few types of grapes, she settled on seedless red grapes for her raisins. She would scope out the sales ad until she found the lowest price and then call me. I would pick her up and we would just about clear the store's display of grapes. People would stare at us and many would ask what on earth we were planning to do with all those grapes. Mom happily gave verbal instructions on making your own raisins.

First, we were just making enough for her baking. Then she started giving them to friends and family. I was the only person who was willing to work with Mom to make her raisins. We would sit and pluck them off the stems for hours. We would tell stories and laugh and have a great time plucking and washing them and filling the trays. I had a bigger dehydrator than Mom did so of course, I always had to bring mine to her home to use at the same time hers was running. She kept promising raisins to all these people and that meant more and more work for me.

Eventually, when Mom was in her mid-90s she moved into my house with me. She just wasn't up to doing her annual baking anymore, so I would turn her recliner around to face the kitchen and she would talk me through her tips and tricks to making all of her many Christmas cookies. She always made trays to give to family, friends, and her doctors, the newspaper guy, the mailman, etc. You get the idea. Prior to the Christmas baking, I would be running load after load of raisins through my machine, partly to keep aside for our baking but mainly because everyone wanted to be given bags and bags of them.

I suggested we just give dehydrators as Christmas gifts with instructions on what they needed to do to make their own darned raisins, but Mom loved to be helpful to others so I always made them for her to give away. She would write little cards and tie them to the bags of raisins and I would take her to deliver them.

Mom died a few years ago and I can't tell you how much I miss our raisin-making sessions. I still do a few batches for myself. I like them in my oatmeal and in my chicken salad. And I still get teary-eyed when I start the process though.

My second favorite thing to dehydrate is thinly sliced chicken breast. I have a dog and the price of buying dehydrated chicken strips in the stores versus what I can make them for is shocking. So at least two or three times a year, I am running chicken strips through my dehydrator. I always say I am going to grind some up for myself to use in various things, but I end up giving every last tidbit to my dog.

I haven't found anything that I won't make again. I'm sure I will, but haven't done so yet. Although there was a time I would have said GRAPES right before sitting down to make the dozens and dozens of pounds that Mom wanted to make.

I am new to your channel and I have subscribed and will look forward to watching all of your older videos as well as new ones that come out.

[bamasher]

As a stage 4 cancer surviver, one of my staples is veggie juice. I use a centrifuge juicer which separates juice from pulp. I drink the juice, then I dehydrate the fruit and veggie pulp, then grind it into powders. I make lots of powders and use to boost nutrients in my other dishes.

[susieq]

My brother John and I dehydrated some black grapes one time. However, they never made it to the end. The reason being, when they were half dehydrated they were out of this world and we had eaten them all before they had a chance to completely turn into raisins.

[cjboac]

My family doesn’t like dehydrated banana’s either! So I wouldn’t waste all those I dehydrated, I ground them all up into a powder. It works great in smoothies, pancakes, cookies, breads, cakes, etc. anything you want a little banana flavor! 👍❣️

[mnsheila]

I dehydrated a bunch of eggplant last year. I used them in lasagna without rehydratng first, in place of noodles. My lasagna wasn't runny. It was excellent!

[wendirodewald]

I just started dehydrating and my favorite thing to dehydrate so far is lemon peels, to make lemon powder. I have been using it in place of lemon zest and it it amazing because you get the flavor, but not the bigger peel pieces in recipes. I freeze the juice from the lemons to make ice cubes for my water.

[annmc]

I take extra large zucchini (grown in the garden that got away from us), cook it in pineapple juice, then dehydrate it. It taste like dried pineapple.

[peggygreenhill]

I dehydrated spinach. Used in sour cream for veggie dip along with some onion powder. It was amazing 💖

[jacquiemoppett]

I have just bought my first dehydrator at the age of 73 wish me luck.

[melindawolfUS]

I'm a big fan of the caramelized onion powder! It's a rich flavor that's versatile and really adds some nice complexity to simple veggie soups and dishes. Pro tip- cook the onions with water and not oil so they are shelf stable for much longer. I add a bit of water to the bottom of a pan, cover and let the onions steam until soft, then I take the lid off and continue cooking the onions on low/med heat until they're all brown and gooey. The water speeds up the process by about half and adding a splash of water every now and then keeps them from burning

[ritakus]

Wow, you have fantastic comments! What a great audience you have captivated. You have the ability to get people engaged, and to leave very helpful information. They are also energetic and love their families. I can tell because they talk about what their children and grandchildren enjoy, such as the zucchini or green ketchup. Plus so many of us learned some great ideas such as carmalized onions, marshmallows, and pomegranates. I also learned from two of the comments about dehydrating rose petals and marigold petals. I loved a comment left from a woman's story about her daughter dehydrating liver for the dog, but dehydrated it out in the garage due to the smell, only to find out all the neighbors were grossed out by the smell, including her dog, who also refused to eat the liver.😂. Thank you 💯

[rwjingo]

I'm not very adventurous, although we've had dehydrators for years. My all time favorite and one of the easiest though, is potatoes. I don't even peel them. A quick wash, slice in the food processor (store in a bowl of fruit fresh or lemon juice in water as you go) blanch, pat dry and dehydrate. They re-hydrate great to fry, put in casseroles or even mash. And I can easily store 20-40 (fresh) pounds in relatively small airtight containers in my long term pantry. Being just my husband and I, we can't go through even a 5# bag of fresh before they start to sprout, so we might eat 1 or 2 meals from the bag, then I'll dry the rest.

[kimbacak]

We like dehydrated bananas. But we also love dehydrating the banana peels. We then powder them. Use them in the soil when planting our tomatoes!!

[JaniceCrowell]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE dehydrating greens. I add 1/4 tsp to dog food every day. This equals several leaves per meal. Studies show most old dogs eventually get cancer, and vegetables make a huge difference!

[aiminghigh]

I'm 67 years young and have always loved eating my vegetables. I also love broths, vegetable or otherwise. I was purchasing vegetable powder from a health food store but they discontinued it. So now I dehydrate whatever veg I have on hand, add onion, garlic and a few herbs - then grind them to a fine powder. A heaping tablespoon in a cup of hot water, a pinch of Himalayan salt or Braggs Aminos, a dash of cayenne - and I've got a delicious, nutritious pick-me-up! I love your channel Darcy - so interesting and informative! Thank you!

[RoseFelton]

I like dehydrating mushrooms. Fresh ones go bad so fast in the refrigerator that I started dehydrating them usually the second day after I bought them. I usually try to use some fresh the first day, but I don't like keeping them undried after that.

[doriepennington]

I grow and dehydrate catnip for my kitties. Before I moved out of state, I used to make up packets and donate to the vet to resell with the proceeds going to helping lo-income folks pay for vet services. 25 cents for small 2" x 2" baggy in a gallon jar on the vet's counter!

[cheri]

I have been dehydrating all my cherry tomatoes. They can be blended to make a great tomato powder to add to eggs, chili, etc. BUT my grandchildren ask for them to snack on and they won't eat fresh tomatoes. They are tangy, sweet and chewy. And if my grandchildren like them, ill keep making them!

[daphneraven]

The Purposeful Pantry: You may have set out just to discuss principles and experiences related to dehydration of food stuffs, but are you certainly more than make your contribution to society, when you look at the quality of comments that you also generate the supplement the actual presentations that you make.

Your videos are not flashy, and I suspect that’s one of the things that attracts the people that follow your work. They tend to be people of substance and experience of all ages, who share generously of what they know, Kind of like you are doing.

Thanks very much for the hard work that you do. It’s important to offer thanks and acknowledgement when somebody does this kind of thing. I hope you always are this excited about the Important things in life like this, and continue to put yourself out there so that there will always be more of this growing body of information freely shared in one place.❤️ You sure make a difference.

That’s not small.