Dehydrated food questions

[rapt67]

So, I just got my dehydrator last week and so far I've tried eggplant bacon (:eek: hot, less pepper next time), zucchini chips, and onion bread (:D incredible stuff).

How should I store these items? Do they need to be refrigerated? Also, about how long will they keep?

Also, my zucchini chips are kind of rubbery and stick to the teeth badly. Did I not dehydrate them long enough, they are very dry, how thick should they be? I may have cut them too thin because if I had dehydrated them longer I think they would have disappeared. Are there any chips I can make that will actually get crunchy? I'd like to get my daughter to eat them and I don't think she'll go for these.

And my last question...does anyone know if the dehydrator takes a lot of electricity? My husband made a snarky comment about how long the onion bread took and what kind of power it was taking to run it that long:rolleyes: . I'm sure it won't be so bad after I get the hang of things and know what I like so I can fill it up and get more done at one time, but I just wondered if anyone had noticed a big difference in their electric bill when doing a lot of dehydrating.

TIA!!

[Aleesha Sattva]

my elec bill has not increased at all since i got my dehydrator.

i don't know about your other questions... but i do know i store my onion bread in the fridge.

[Evike]

I was wondering about the same thing myself.About the electricity usage.
Having it on for 12-18 hours at a time is much more than using the oven or the microwave.
Also when it was humming it didn't bother me at all but I was worried that my kitties would jump up on the kitchen counter and attack it.
Do you put the door on when you use it?

[RAWorship]

I just read in the manual that came with my Excaliber that the cost of running it is $.01 to $.03 per hour.

[jacsam]

I always have the door on when I use mine, that's what keeps the heat in on my dehydrator. Thanks for the running cost figures...that's great, $.01 to .03 per hour. Hey, make the raw, blondie, macaroons from the book "raw food/ real world" and your husband will be wanting a second dehydrator. I never enjoyed the zucchini chips I made but really liked making chips out of sweet potatoes, which were crisp. For me, the texture is alot of what makes me like these over the zucchini chips. I store my crackers, chips, dried fruit etc in zip lock bags because they get eaten quickly but even if they didn't I would think they'd be fine even for a few weeks.

[beppa66]

blondie, macaroons

Ok, um...YUM. :eek: :p
Recipe? :)

[kaybee]

rapt67--

try collard chips if you want something crunchy. these are the only thing i really got to get crunchy. you HAVE to marinate them/coat them with a bit of oil though if you want the real crunch. add salt/seasonings if desired. AWESOME.

[rapt67]

Thanks! That electrical usage is not bad at all. I didn't think it would be too much since it is just low heat with a fan. I will have to try the sweet potato and collard chips. I may have to get Raw Food Real World now to find that recipe, sounds good. Right now I have Alissa's book and my sister in law got me Rawvolution for Christmas, there are some great sounding recipes in it too.

[Rubyred]

Chips and crackers will last at least a week or so, from my own experience. I store them in the refrigerator. There is really a learning curve to cooking raw and using things like a dehydrator.

Certain vegetables will react differently at different times, or so it seems to me. One time it comes out one way, and at another time the same recipe comes out a little differently.:confused: Some books are not really helpful in dehydrating times either. I have recipes that call for dehydrating for 4 hours at 105 degrees. Well, if I did that I wouldn't have a cracker I would have icky mush.

Also, I had a 4 tray dehydrator and recently purchased a 9 tray. They both react very differently to the same recipes. I guess that's why Excalibur doesn't give exact time and temps for certain things, because there are other factors like where you live - like the climate.

By the way, I would recommend Raw Transformation by Wendy Rudell for your raw library. Very yummy recipes. :p :p :p