Food Dehydrater For Homemade Recipes?

[Natalia]

*Update in post #9*

I was thinking after reading and posting in the hibiscus thread.......I know some people on my street who have some pretty exotic plants which can be used for haircare. Problem being that the parts of the plant to use arent always "in season" so to speak.

Anyway i have inherited a food dehydrator that has been sitting in the grage for years and i was wondering if it would be good at drying the plants without dimishing their effectivness and creating a more convienient product?

Ive thought of using it to make popuri (sorry i have no idea how to spell that) out of oranges and such but would it work for say those hibiscus flowers/leaves? That way i could grind them for future use.

So if youve tried it or something similar id be very interested in hearing about it :D Thanks <3

[Finoriel]

I do this all the time :) have a big garden with herbs and various teas and mushrooms, apples or berries.
I´m not sure about what we´re talking when you say food-dehydrator... I assume it´s something electrical?
Usually an easy drying-grating put on a well ventilated place is enough to dry most herbs. It´s not recommended to dry them in direct sunlight (sometimes I just do that anyways :wink:), depending if you need/want stuff which is photosensitive or evaporates fast. I even dry mushrooms or apples on mine and I live in Sweden :p not exactly the warmest place. As long as you cut the more solid herbs or watery plant parts into small enough pieces, they usually dry well anyways. Simple leaves like birch or peppermint I do not even cut. Simple rule of thumb is that whatever you dry, it should be dry in 2 days, if it takes longer the pieces have been too big or the place not ideal.
The method takes a bit longer, but is much more eco-friendly than an electrical one and saves you a lot of money for electricity :wink: old food dries tend to be energy monsters.

Drying grating made of some leftover wood and plastic fly screen. Old window-frames or light screen doors can also be used if you have a permanent place to set them up. Picture is from drying soapwort. HTH
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?pictureid=36097&albumid=2818&dl=1239085744&thumb=1 (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=2818&pictureid=36097)

[Natalia]

WOW! Very exciting read! All the thing you grow and the experiance you have....like i said wow. I wish i had a place to set up something like yours but aside from lack of space i have 5 free roaming pets 2 who go out doors regularly and the other three can fly :p. The dehydrator i inherited is fairly old i think i will try it and if it works out invest in an ecofriendlier one. It was origally used to dry meats fro jerky. You have quite a mas sof information thank you for sharing with me :) <3

[Tornerose]

yes you can dry them in a food dehydrator. The lower the tempearute the better off they will be, but it takes longer.

[Finoriel]

And you get a wow back :wink: I´m dreaming of a meat-drier to make jerky. It´s insanely expensive to buy it premade and it´s ideal to take it on hiking tours.
Hmm yeah it takes some space to dry plants that way :o I have about 8 of those drying gratings. Thankfully are my cats not very interested in them, it´s hard enough to keep away the chickens.
You can dry herbs in your meat drier, it´s a bit overdimensionated for herbs :wink: but it will work and dry them much faster. Pet safe and not taking up much room, too. As long as it´s not getting too hot in there and it´s one with gratings inside it will work without problems. (There are also huge ones with hooks or ´clotheslines` :p for the meat. Those tend to get problems with air circulation when installing gratings later in the wrong way. More complicated to modifie them for herb drying.) For herbs it´s recommended to dry them below body-temperature. So check how hot your drier gets, if it´s one without temperature regulation you can plug it in via a clock timer and for example let it run for half an hour, then off half an hour, then on, etc.

One of my friend buit a fruit drier. Basically it´s a wooden box aka old small cupboard with holes, a 40W light bulp and some gratings in it :wink: I´m sure there are several instructions on the internet how to build them. It´s not too hard.

[Natalia]

And you get a wow back :wink: I´m dreaming of a meat-drier to make jerky. It´s insanely expensive to buy it premade and it´s ideal to take it on hiking tours.
Hmm yeah it takes some space to dry plants that way :o I have about 8 of those drying gratings. Thankfully are my cats not very interested in them, it´s hard enough to keep away the chickens.
You can dry herbs in your meat drier, it´s a bit overdimensionated for herbs :wink: but it will work and dry them much faster. Pet safe and not taking up much room, too. As long as it´s not getting too hot in there and it´s one with gratings inside it will work without problems. (There are also huge ones with hooks or ´clotheslines` :p for the meat. Those tend to get problems with air circulation when installing gratings later in the wrong way. More complicated to modifie them for herb drying.) For herbs it´s recommended to dry them below body-temperature. So check how hot your drier gets, if it´s one without temperature regulation you can plug it in via a clock timer and for example let it run for half an hour, then off half an hour, then on, etc.

One of my friend buit a fruit drier. Basically it´s a wooden box aka old small cupboard with holes, a 40W light bulp and some gratings in it :wink: I´m sure there are several instructions on the internet how to build them. It´s not too hard.

Another wow for you :p. You must have an amazing place! A garden, checkens, cat, herbs, and drying racks...sighs....sounds french painting. I know my drier has racks with fairly fine grates. And if i recall correctly it wasnt to large maybe 20 inches across? I dont know about tempuatire though and honestly the only other thing i remember is that it is LOUD! We always kept it in the grage....far side....past the work bench...and car....surrounded by an open cardboard box just to buffer it :p lol

Thank you for the input on drying if it is heated that will help me alot. And the dimentions and basics for that fruit dryer :) I will look into that.

Oh and Tornerose! I didnt forget you :D thank you for the input.

[Tornerose]

Ooh yeah the loudness... What kind of dehydrator is it? You should google the brand and find the best tips for your dehydrator.

I have an excalibur dehydrator, and it took me some googling and books to figure out that the temperature surrounding the food doesn't actually mean the food itself will be that hot. Wich is very nice because that means that I can eat warm food on a rawfood-diet wich come in handy in the long cold winters :D

[Natalia]

Ohh good to know TornRose :). I dont know which brand it is because i have yet to find it :p. When i haul it out i will deffinatly be using your advice :D

[Natalia]

Alright so yesterday i finally pulled it out! I didnt use it for plant drying this time as we had lots of fruit around about to go bad so now i have in some fruit leather :D. This ones got 2 banans, 1 apple, 1 carrot, 2 tablespoons ground flax, and two tablespoons agave. I couldnt reist nibbling on the edges once they dried some and its so YUMMY! Im having so much fun im going to try some veggie chips later and maybe some more fruit leather then do some herbs and plant stuff when its becomes available. The next batch of fruit leather will probably make use of the 5 pounds of frizen fruit in the extra freezer lol. So probably raspberry, mango/something :). Sorry this is kind of irrelivant to the thread other than i finally got the darn thing out and clean but im just so excited right now :p !!!!