Dehydrating Food

How to Dry Vegetables, Peppers, Tomatoes and more.

Dehydrating Food is becoming another favorite way of preserving our harvest.

Go here for information on dehydrating fruit.

dehydrating food zucchini I don't know that I'll ever give up canning but dehydrating has some advantages.

The main one is space. Dried foods take up hardly any space at all compared to both freezing and canning.

Most vegetables will dry to a crisp state. The veggie should snap and not bend when fully dry.
The more evenly you cut your foods the more evenly they will dry.
Vegetables are better to be cut smaller. This speeds up the drying time.
Drying times can vary from 4 hours up to 14 or more hours.

Good kitchen tools make all the difference

The more evenly you can make your slices of food, the more evenly the food will dehydrate. These are my favorite tools to use.

A mandolin slicer(on top), an egg slicer (to the right) and a gadget I picked up somewhere and don't even know what it is called! (to the left) I call it my tomato slicer because that is what it works best for. The egg slicer works for soft items like strawberries but not too much else. The wires will bend if your food is too strong. The mandolin is best for firmer items like zucchini or sweet potatoes.

A good knife. (I didn't take a picture, surely you know what a knife is right?)

A good dehydrator is the essential piece of equipment. More on what to look for in a dehydrator coming soon.

The most recommended is the Excalibur dehydrator.

I personally have a commercial dehydrator from Cabelas.

Basic steps to dehydrating food:

Slice or chop vegetables into small pieces.
Blanch most vegetables.
Lay out on trays in a single layer.
Be sure air flows around individual pieces.
The actual drying process can be with a dehydrator, in the sun and air, or in an oven

The easiest and quickest method of dehydrating food is to use a dehydrator.

The most energy efficient way is to sun or air dry. Air or sun drying works best if you live in a dry climate with lots of hot days.

I don't have any experience drying items in the oven. It seems to me that it would be very inefficient.

Approximate times for dehydrating food in a dehydrator. Actual drying time will vary according to the size of pieces, temperatures and even humidity. You'll notice that these are very general guidelines.

Type of Food	How to Prepare	Approximate Drying Time	Notes
Dehydrating Tomatoes	Slice tomatoes 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Peeling is optional, I never do.	6 - 12 hours at 145 degrees	These can be crumbled or even ground in a blender to make tomato powder.
How to Dry Cherry Tomatoes	Wash and remove stem. Slice in half and lay on trays cut side up. Salting or seasoning is optional.	at 145 degrees.	Very tasty! These will dry more leathery not as crisp. They also take much longer than regular tomatoes.
Dehydrating Sweet Potatoes	Peel and slice sweet potatoes 1/4 inch thick. Blanch 3 minutes.	4-10 hours at 125 degrees.	I tried to make these for snacking on... like the zucchini chips. I did not care for them as a snack.
How to Dry Peppers	Remove tops and seed peppers. Slice or dice and lay out on trays.	5-12 hours at 125 degrees.	Don't forget to wear gloves when handling hot peppers. Leave the seeds if you want hot. Dried red peppers can be ground to make chili powder.
How to Dry Carrots	Peel or scrub. Dice or slice 1/4 inch. Blanch 3 to 4 minutes.	6-12 hours at 125 degrees.	If you dry these diced, be sure and stir the carrots occasionally during drying. This prevents them from sticking together and will encourage more even drying.
Drying Green beans	Snap beans into 1 inch pieces. Blanch 4 to 6 minutes. Spread on trays.	6-12 hours at 125 degrees.	Very easy to dry.
Dehydrating Zucchini	Dice or slice into 1/4 inch pieces.	5-10 hours at 125 degrees.	Use diced dried zucchini in soups and casseroles. Add seasoning salt to slices before drying to make zucchini chips.