Ehhh..........what happened to my veggies?

[Autumn]

This former dehydrating virgin has been at it all weekend. Up and down. In and out. Huffing and puffing and....... oh... a friend lent us his dehydrator and I'm stumped. My veggies have shrivelled up to the size of my thumbnail at the largest to my pinkie fingernail at the smallest. Did I cut them too small to begin with? I know they were going to get smaller, but golly gee whiz. They certainly are not the "chip" size I was expecting. These look more like something you'd sprinkle over salad or a casserole. They taste okay I guess. Some seem too rubbery. I guess I didn't leave some of them in long enough but I thought they would disappear all together! :eek:

Hubby snacked on a few and said, "Okay, where's the rest of the veggies to cut up?" I replied, "This is ALL of them!" I mean, wow. I have bananas in there now and apples. I better check to make sure they haven't disappeared by now. It sure doesn't seem worth it to shrivel up all that produce so now it wouldn't fill a cavity, let alone satisfy any hunger.

Any suggestions or insight to what I did wrong? I want to make fruit leather tomorrow, but hubby is afraid of spending $25.00 on strawberries and end up with a 2 inch strip. :rolleyes: Two inches isn't going to do it for me, I can tell ya that!

[Wendy]

I am by no means a dehydrating guru, but maybe the dehydrator is on a too high temperature setting. Perhaps you have to dip them in something first. Dunno, I'll await the answer from the real dehydrating guru here.

[FEELIN'GOOD]

You are so funny Autumn! I made cucumber chips, and well, they shrunk up so much that I had to scrape them off the tray! I just made more of them, and I cut them in 1/2 inch circles and I soaked them in braggs... I thought they were too think, but the first time I did it at 1/4 inch and that was way too thin... they came out okay- the braggs made them too salty :eek:

I also just made my own sundried tomatos- they came out great! I cut them in 1/2 inch circles and I did soak the tomatoes in garlic flavored olive oil and then sprinkled them with a little cracked pepper and dried italian herbs- to die for! So much cheaper than buying them... and they are great! That's about all I have done so far with that sort of thing... good luck with your fruit leather!

:D
Melissa

PS- Love seeing your locks again... :D

[RawTruth]

Me, too, me, too.

My hand is up, can you tell? (First clue that I'm a teacher, right?)

I made sweet potato chips in the dehydrator the other night and I am soooo disappointed in them. They're like lightweight pieces of ruffles (not the potato chip - they're actually ruffled all around, not curved or flat) and some are a little rubbery, too. They're very, very thin, which is good, I guess. On top of that, I just don't like the flavor.

Did I do something wrong in that they're so light and ruffly? I did a huge yam and the bag is light as a feather.

Is this normal?

Thanks, Autumn, for letting me tag along on this one.

[RawTruth]

CUCUMBER chips, Melisssa? Would've thought? Definitely not me. So ... are you going to try again?

And ... how are you with the Bragg's? Does the MSG bother you at all?

What size tomatoes did you use? Just regular? And ... since it's winter and the tomatoes aren't really in season, which ones did you buy?

I've been so wanting to do sundried tomatoes, but was thinking I'd have to wait till summer.

[Sweet lips]

Ladies,

Welcome to the First Time Club - mine was cucumber chips soaked in lemon juice and celtic salt and when they came out - yukky-poo-poo.

I found that to make effective chips - cut them a little thicker than you thought originally - I used the spiral slicer first, next I used a mandolin, much better - now if you don't have a madolin, use a really sharp knife and keep your fingers out of the way - I daresay chopped fingers are considered meat and mess you if you are 100 raw.

Anyway, I always marinate my chipster stuff to add flavor and it helps them not shrink so bad. A little oil, some times lemon juice or acv, celtic salt , and it works wonders

[Autumn]

Thanks peeps.

I didn't know that a pretreatment helped with shrinkage. I thought it was just for flavor. Since I love the flavor of the veggies naturally, I didn't think it was necessary. Hmmmmmmmmm, I will definitely try to cut them bigger next time.

I did cut the apples and bananas a little bigger, so we'll see when they come out. Also the fruit leather I put in a little thicker. I guess it is all trial and error the first few times, huh? I hate to waste so much produce though, ya know?

RawT- My sweet potato chips are so hard I might break a tooth on them!

Feelin'-oooh, cucumber chips. I didn't think of that. I SO LOVE cucumbers, and come summer we usually have 40 million of them and I am screaming at my husband to get them out of my house!

Sweet - LOL on the fingers. We bought a fabulous professional knife set a few years ago. Parents thought we were nuts, it was nearly $1,000, but I use it every single day, 3 or 4x a day. Gotta be careful though. I nearly slipped once when I was very tired. That woulda been icky. :rolleyes:

[askcassyfirst]

I have found that cutting things thicker, as well as "wider" has helped. For instance, I use the ribbon cut on my slicer for the yam chips, so that when I put them in, they are ripplely ribbons...that way, when they come out they are more substantial. I think they are kinda beautiful too...like orange rose petals. I like them plain, even without pretreatment. Flavor wise, I think it has a lot to do with using organic yams, but it may also be the particular soil in which they were raised. That can affect flavor tremendously.

Oh- here is a hint for using up those veggies that were "over" dried. I have ground them up to powder, and added them to raw soups. Really brings out the flavor. Kind of reconsituted boullion, without the MSG and cooking required! :)

Cassy.:)

[Autumn]

Oh- here is a hint for using up those veggies that were "over" dried. I have ground them up to powder, and added them to raw soups. Really brings out the flavor. Kind of reconsituted boullion, without the MSG and cooking required! :) Cassy.:)

That's a great tip, thank you. :D

[sweetgoddess]

I am following your dehydrator capors with great interest.....same things I have wondered..lol Let us know how you make out!
Warmly~
Carmel

[FEELIN'GOOD]

Raw Truth- I use very little of the Braggs... and after I marinate them, I sorta rinse them a little- but they still came out too salty! I didn't even realize that Braggs had MSG- I am throwing it down the drain as soon as I am done here...

To be honest, I didn't like the cuc chips all that much.... I will try it one more time without any salt or flavor added...

My sundried tomatoes are awesome! My hubby bought the tomatoes at small produce mart out here- they were really red and look great for this time of year. Anyway, I washed them several times, and scrubed them with a veggie brush before I started. I think they were beef steak tomatoes... anyway, the olive oil made them wonderful! They look just like the store bought ones, but I KNOW what are in mine and what temp I dried them at... oh and my house smelt so good!

I was about to make the yam chips... I will let you all know what they taste like...

Melissa