Dehydrating Outcome

For my first dehydrating attempt, I added bananas, kiwi, mushrooms, and cantaloupe. I used a egg slicer to cut the kiwi and bananas into 1/8 inch slices (the same thickness as 2 quarters stacked). For the cantaloupe, I used the quarters as my guiding tool to cut them 1/8 inch. I didn't cut the mushrooms since I bought them pre-sliced ones from the store and broke the slices into little chunks. I turned on the dehydrator and set the temp at 130. Looking at the trays before they went into the dehydrator, I had high hopes.

Banana Results:

Chewy like leather. Mine don't taste, look, smell, or feel anything like the banana chips found in the store. How do they do this??? My bananas are icky and I plan to put them in some bird food. 

Kiwi Results:

Chewy and bitter. I've had dried kiwi before from my co-op and it was quite sweet. Boy oh boy was I surprised when I chewed on my first piece of kiwi. Yuck! I think my face puckered up like they do in the cartoons. These kiwis might be going in that bird food mix along with the bananas.

Mushroom Results:

Crisp all the way through. I can't wait to try these in some homemade soup mix!

Cantaloupe Results:

YUMMY! The slices were crisp and sweet. Cantaloupe has been my fruit of choice since my childhood days so I am super excited to dry as many cantaloupe as I can get my hands on.

Can I dehydrate Food?

Earlier this fall, I took a seasonal position at Cabela's and since employees get a discount I decided to buy myself a dehydrator for my birthday...YAY Happy Birthday (Early) To Me! Was it a good idea to give myself a dehydrator when I could have given myself something cooler like a GPS or Nemo spoon shaped sleeping bag?  Only time will tell!!!

I have minimal food dehydrating experience. For my spring AT hike, I borrowed a friend's dehydrator and tried to make some food to put in my mail drops. I placed a few cans of pineapple on the round trays and called it good. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out as good as I hoped (it was still a bit sticky and molded within a month). I also tried dehydrating some chili mac and this actually turned out okay. I still have some leftover chili mac and ended up re-hydrating some on the stove last week for dinner.

Earlier today, I had some brown looking bananas sitting on the counter, so, I decided to give it a go at dehydrating them.

After doing some banana research, I learned that it is good to spray lemon juice on the banana slices to prevent them from turning brown. My house lacked a spray bottle, so, I bundled up and headed to the store with only one item on my shopping list (a spray bottle). When I returned home, I had a few grocery bags hanging off my arm...who knew a tiny spray bottle required two grocery bags! I ended up buying some cantaloupes, kiwis, apples, and mushrooms to keep the bananas company during their 12-18 hour drying process. I am soooo excited to wake up tomorrow morning and see how my food turned out! LOL that's the last thing I expected to say on the eve of Christmas.

If you are an avid dehydrater (is that what you call a person who dehydrates?) you are more than welcome to give me advice, links to your favorite websites, names of you favorite books/guides, or anything else that will help me become a Master Dehydrater.