Dehydrating Fruit

[Danielle]

Hi,

I may have missed this in another old post, but my question is: How do I know when the fruit in the dehydrator is done and ready to take out and bag?

I just tried ours out for the first time last night (we're hoping to thru-hike next year), and although the pineapple looked to be done after 7 1/2 hours, how do you really know? Any ideas for me on this one?

Also, do you have to let the dehydrated fruit/veggies/chili/etc sit for a while before you bag it and store it away?

The instruction manual didn't seem too helpful on these points....
Many thanks for your suggestions!
-Danielle :)

[Doctari]

Apples, peaches, pears, etc.: leathery to crispy is good. Put a little orange juice on the slices to reduce browning, it's actually the vitamin C that do it..

Bannanas: (orange juice) till hard, not quite crispy.

Pineapple: Till chewy, not quite leathery.

Apricots: I like them chewy, fairly soft.

I DOUBLE Bag (zip lock type, freezer bags) everything straight from the drier, this reduces the amount of water that whatever you dried can absorb from the air. I also (usually) store what I dry in the freezer, makes it last longer.


Doctari.

[deeddawg]

Apples, peaches, pears, etc.: leathery to crispy is good. Put a little orange juice on the slices to reduce browning, it's actually the vitamin C that do it..Yep. I put some water in a bowl, add a bit of lemon juice, and slice the apples into that, letting them sit in there a couple minutes before transferring to the trays.

All the other advice is good, only thing I would add is that when a fruit is "done" is really subject to what you want to end up with. Experiment a little and see how you prefer your dried fruits -- I like my pineapple chunks (only have done canned, dunno if fresh would be different) chewy to the point that they're almost hard. Try out different times and see what works for ya -- that's half the fun. :)

-- Lew

[wspartykid]

If you dehydrate fruit how long does it stay good for??
I've never really tried any of it but it sounds like a tasty idea.

[deeddawg]

If you dehydrate fruit how long does it stay good for??
I've never really tried any of it but it sounds like a tasty idea.The exact answer would depend on how dry the fruit was dried, how it was stored, and possibly what sort of fruit it was (acid content).

As it turns out, I tried a pineapple slice last night which I'd dried probably three or four months ago and it was fine. It had been with others in a single ziplock baggie in the kitchen pantry (dark).

Stored in a foodsaver bag or doubled freezer ziplocks in the freezer, I'd imagine fruit would store for many months if not a couple years.

You might see if your library has Mary Bell's "Complete Dehydrator Handbook" -- I know it discusses the best way to dry all sorts of fruits/veggies (blanch, dip, etc.) and may also discuss expected shelf-life.

[Frosty]

I do pineapples and apples in tandem.

I can fit six cans of pineapple rings in my four tray dehydrator. I save the juice. I dry the pineapple for one day.

The next day I core and slice apples (last time I did Galas for a change) with the peel left on. I soak the apple slices in the pineapple juice for a few minutes before putting them on the tray. It keeps them from turning brown, though as others have said, lemon juice and orange juice work equally well. I like the apple/pineapple flavor combo. I dry them for two days.

I've dried banana slices. Very interesting. Crunchy, but if you let them sit in your mouth a few minutes, they turn to slime. Taste great, but you have to get beyond the texture.

I did grapes once. Spent three bucks for grapes, ran the dehyrator for a week to dry them (after three days I stabbed EACH friggin grape with a tooth pick to hurry along drying process), and when I was done had raisins that were decidedly inferior (in quality AND quantity) to a 79 cent box of Sun Maids.

Last time I ever dried grapes!

Tom

[Danielle]

I've been doing some experimenting with the dehydrator since my first post. So far the bananas and strawberries seem to have worked the best, and taste the best. Both of them I sliced really thin, and dried overnight for approx. 10 hours.

We took a bunch of both on a backpack last weekend--they were wonderful! We didn't bring enough...

I plan to keep on working at it.

The question I have is this--do most people use a vaccum sealer before they store away their dehydrated food? We don't have one (yet) and so I've just been double-bagging the fruit/veggies and then putting the bags in the freezer? Will this suffice?
Thanks for all the info!
-Danielle :)