Dehydrating attempt

Thursday afternoon event:

I had two cantaloupe slowly rotting in my kitchen and it got to the point where they started getting soft and mushy. Due to the holidays I completely forgot about them...I can't quite remember when I bought them! I figured I better get them in the dehydrator before it was too late. To fill up the rest of the trays, I added three sliced sweet potatoes.

For the sweet potatoes, I tried to cut them up as even as possible. The recipe I was using said to peel the potatoes, slice them up at an 1/8 inch, soak them in warm water for ten minutes, drizzle oil on them and add salt. Have you ever tried slicing a rock hard, raw potato before; it's difficult! I hard such a hard time cutting the potatoes; I even slipped but luckily the knife blade cut into my fingernail (thankfully not my flesh!). After dehydrating them at 350 for 12 hours, they turned out okay. I could taste to rawness of the potato...maybe next time I will cook them to reduce the starchy taste. My ma loved them so these will not be added to my bird food :)


Beside having issues with cutting my potatoes, I had melon issues as well. After quartering my cantaloupes, I decided that one was way too soft and juicy to slice up, so, I turned it into a puree. My intent was to make a fruit leather...instead I made a dry bitter orange mess. It was gross! The sliced cantaloupe turned out crispy and sweet, making the dehydrating attempt not a total loss.

Overall, I would call this dehydrating attempt a rank just below a success...not quite a failure but not quite a success...is there a word for that?

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.