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TIPS FOR DEHYDRATING
When dehydrating fruits, vegetables, nuts, or spices keep these tips in mind:
• It’s best to use fruits and vegetables that are in season, grown organically/locally (for more
flavor, keeps prices down, availability up.)
• Use fruits or vegetables with appropriate hardness, with no soft spots that discolor during
dehydrating.
• Remove unwanted parts: stalks, cores, unwanted seeds, rinds that are not wanted, or outside
skins, peel if desired.
• Keep the slices the same size: this will help the dehydrating time stay the same as well.
• When using spice (e.g. BBQ or salty flavors) coat foods with something wet, sticky, or oily to
help the spices/flavorings adhere to the food. Olive oil, miso, liquid marinades, or sweeteners
like honey or agave work well.
• Store in airtight glass containers to keep the food dried longer.
• To re-hydrate, if you over dry, put a moist paper towel, add a lettuce leaf into the container, or
lightly mist the foods with water to re-hydrate back to the desired texture.
FRUITS:
• Fruit chips are tasty and a good way to save extra produce for camping, hiking, or for later
use.
• Use crisp fruits, or fruits not overly ripened for best results.
• Most fruits lose their sweetness when dehydrated-especially banana chips, so putting a
desired spice (e.g. cinnamon, nutmeg, or vanilla) or sweetener (e.g. agave, stevia, or maple
syrup) on top of each ‘chip’ can sweeten the finished food.
• Make sure to take remove cores, seeds, and other inedible parts (peels, etc.).
• When using larger pieces (e.g. a small apple, pitted fruits, or bananas) keep them the same
size to keep the drying time the same.
GRAINS:
• Best to soak/sprout grains before dehydrating – two or three days is sufficient.
• Grains can be sprouted and dried back in order to make a sprouted flour.
• Savory or sweet crackers and breads can be made by combining the grains with spices, herbs,
vegetables, dried fruits, or even the pulp from juices. The best part of making these foods is
that you can improvise. It is not like baking, where exact measurements are necessary for
success.
• Grain recipes are done best in the COMBO mode.
NUTS:
• Soak nuts initially in enough water to cover entirely, then add a splash of hydrogen peroxide
into the soaking water, and rinse thoroughly after 5 minutes (this gets rid of unwanted mold.)
• Softer nuts, (e.g. cashews or pecans, hardly need any soaking) just the initial soak/rinse (as
mentioned above with hydrogen peroxide) to remove unwanted molds.
• The harder nuts (e.g. almonds, brazil nuts) need to be soaked for longer (between 6 – 12
hours), after the initial soaking/rinsing.
