Dehydrating with Excalibur

[LuvzWDW]

Hi all,

My family and I are transitioning to raw right after payday (the first) (well, we're slowly transitioning now but the major transition will be after pd) and I have been starting to experiment with our new Excalibur dehydrator. I have attempted to make potato and carrot chips as well as banana fruit leathers.

The banana fruit leathers came out perfect and we love it, but it only took 9 hours to be perfect as opposed to the recommended 18-24.

The carrots turned out just okay, but the potatoes came out looking completely nasty (very, very brown). Or is this normal?

The banana leather, the potatoes and the carrots were all dehydrating at the same time for the same amount of time.

Is it possible that I had the potatoes dehydrating for too long or is there some trick about getting good dehydrated veggies (and fruits)?

My family wants to dehydrate other fruits, but I'm afraid to because I don't want to ruin and toss all these yummy fruits.

The temp. was set at about 107 but not at 110, so I don't think that I had the settings too high. My only other thought is that maybe I should have kept the door off of the Excalibur while the foods were dehydrating?

Any suggestions or tips anyone could give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a bunch,

Kirstyn

(Getting ready to go "raw" along with my mother, aged 52 (shhh! don't tell her you know), my brother, aged 27, my daughter, aged 13 and Down Syndrome and my son, aged 10 and high functioning autistic, oh, and I am 31!)

[VeganVixen]

I have never liked white dehydrated potatoes ,I would try zuchhini ,squash and sweet potatoes (get a mandoline or a thin veggie slicer,see the post that is called Great chips)

[RawTruth]

You don't want to leave the door off the Excalibur. I've heard that dipping the potato chips in vinegar will help keep them light. I did sweet potatoes but didn't like the taste myself, so I haven't experimented any longer.

As far as time, it's not like a SAD recipe and the oven. It depends on how thinly or thickly you've sliced the veggies, the quality, if all the trays are loaded, etc. It's a very individual thing -- so no "right".

[Revvell]

As RT says, no, don't leave the door off.

IF you wish to do potatoes (not something I wish) I would possibly marinate them in maybe some olive oil, a tad of sea salt and/or other dried herbs after having sliced them VERY thinly with a mandoline or food processor. I've done this with zucchini. Make sure you drain them well or all you'll get is greasy potatoes.

You can pretty much juice and/or blend any fruit, put it on the sheets and let it dry and you'll have fruit leathers. I mix most of mine with banana as that seems to hold them together.

I've also dehydrated sliced tomatoes, apples, strawberries and bananas. Quite good and chewy.

I rarely dehydrate as long as many recipes say. Keep an eye on them and the door on. :)

Injoy ~

Revvell

[Sweet lips]

Congratulations that you are becoming a raw family and no, I will not tell your mom I know her age ;) - we are very close in age.

Potaoes are yukky and yes, most of the time they come out either gray or brown. I love sweet potatoes - sliced very thin with the saladacco, salad shooter, or mandolin - I rinse them and then I use a tiny bit of olive oil with a sea salt cajun seasoning - dynomite, also cinnamon that I have mixed with a little agar - again great.

There are some recipes here on the board that are deyhdrated - the famous onion bread with all sorts of variations - adding pulp to it - I created a spice bread with apples instead of onion - and even my cooked eaters love it.

www.fromsadtoraw.com - has many recipes for you to review with family for delights of the garden (oh that's a book too), Here are a few dehydrator recipes that you and your family may enjoy

Fruit Leather
2 large pears
3 small fuji apples
1 t cinnamon

Clean, core and dice pears and apples. Place in a blender and add a small amount of purified water and cinnamon, process for approx. 30 seconds. Pour mixture on teflex sheets and place trays in dehydrator. Dehydrate for 6-8 hours, remove teflex sheets and flip fruit leather over. Continue dehydrating until desired moisture is obtained.

PEAR FRUIT ROLL - from Rhio
(A Fruit Leather)

3 pears, coarsely chopped
2 apples, coarsely chopped
3-6 dates, pitted
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. Vanilla Powder or 1-inch piece of vanilla bean, cut into tiny pieces (check the Glossary for Vanilla Powder)

1) Put pears and apples (with seeds and skins - do not peel) in blender, adding a little water only if necessary. Add the next four ingredients and blend well.
2) Pour onto dehydrator trays, lined with Teflex (see Glossary). With the back of a large spoon spread out to 1/8 to 1/4" thickness. Dehydrate for approx. 12 to 15 hours at 95¡ F, or until fruit peels away from the Teflex sheet easily. This is the fruit leather. Makes 2 sheets approx. 12" X 12".
3) With a sharp knife cut leather into 2" X 3" wide pieces. Then roll pieces.
NOTE: This recipe can be used as the basis for Chewy Fruit & Nutcheese Crepes (see Recipe Index).

Make a sweet nut cheese, put it on the fruit leather an roll it up like crepes and put a fruit puree over that.

Hope you enjoy.