Dehydrating foods is making me mad!

[SekhemNefer]

I spent a lot of money on apples, peaches, broccoli, cauliflower and sweet potatoes and zucchinis to dehydrate for the first time in order to carry around dry snacks to avoid me breaking my Raw Food diet by eating SAD fast foods.

I let that stuff dehydrate for 10 hours. Open up my Excalibur dehdyrator and all those big slices and portion of foods shrunk down to the size of pennies and nickles. I mean, big palm size spears of broccoli and califlower are the size of a penny!

3 cups of zucchini shrunk down to a half of cup of after dehydration.

My whole grocery list is ruined with Liliputions sized portions. Basically, I hate all of that in one setting for dinner. Basically, 4 days of food was eaten in one meal since everything was so small!

Seriously, what is the point of a dehydrator if it is going to be like this?! And yes, I had the temperature on the Live Food dial.

:mad: :mad: :mad:

[Revvell]

A very large portion of fruits and veggies is water. When you remove it, all you'll have left is the fiber. Juice your veggies/fruits and see how much juice you actually get compared to the fiber that's left.

Most of us create combinations of things to dehydrate ~ cookies, pies, etc. and, after awhile, most of us do that rarely.

Basically, if you're going to dehydrate, then, it's best to rehydrate before eating.

[SekhemNefer]

I added water on my penny size zucchini slices and they are still a penny-size. Water is suppose to make them inflate in size, because that ain't working.

I guess, I have to move onto gourmet dehydrated recipes, because just doing fruit and veggie slices is not working for me.

[goobygirl]

Yeah, unfortunately dehydrating those things is just robbing you of the water that you would have got eating it raw. I would say that if you want to make raw snacks, either make the recipes using nuts and coconuts (for dehydrating), and cut up the watery vegetables and put them in bags in your fridge that you can grab (like carrots, celery, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, even squash).

I'm sorry that happened to you. I don't dehydrate anything that is watery that way. If you look up the goddess kale chips recipe, however, you will not be disappointed. It makes an excellent snack to go. So good that my standard poodle tore the bag open that I left in the bedroom and spread them all over the floor eating them.

If you are going to dehydrate, use recipes that have worked, versus just throwing a piece of fruit or vegetable in the trays. Better to put a whole apple in yourpurse, banana, or carry around ziploc bags of cut up veggies than to dehydrate them. You could even use little lunch box cooler if you are worried about them staying cold.

[juliebove]

What did you think would happen? have you not seen dried fruit before? Dried fruit is generally not so satisfying to eat because it is so small. Best (I think) to be cut up in small pieces and mixed in with some nuts and seeds. I don't do a lot of dried veggies. Have done some mushrooms and tomatoes, but I always rehydrate before eating. Rehydrating makes them bigger again. Also remember to drink plenty of water when you eat dehydrated foods!

I lived for a great many years on one or two meals a day and the rest of the time, trail mix with nuts, seeds and dried fruits. A handful of that stuff is really a meal. And quite filling too!

[blaqberry]

Yes, (unfortunately) the more water a fruit or veggie has inside it, the more it'll shrivel up. But that can work well for certain dishes you prepare where a flavor or texture change is needed/preferred...depending on how long you choose to dehydrate the fruit or veggie.

[SekhemNefer]

What did you think would happen? have you not seen dried fruit before? Dried fruit is generally not so satisfying to eat because it is so small. Best (I think) to be cut up in small pieces and mixed in with some nuts and seeds. I don't do a lot of dried veggies. Have done some mushrooms and tomatoes, but I always rehydrate before eating. Rehydrating makes them bigger again. Also remember to drink plenty of water when you eat dehydrated foods!

I lived for a great many years on one or two meals a day and the rest of the time, trail mix with nuts, seeds and dried fruits. A handful of that stuff is really a meal. And quite filling too!


Actually, my produce shrunk more than the dried fruit and vegetables in the store. Sorry, but I do not see penny sized fruit and veggies sold at stores. Oddly, I dehydrated my grapes and they hardly shrunk into raisins at all. Now that was weird!

[goobygirl]

Of course they are going to be smaller, you did them at home, not at a factory where everything is planned out to make the fruit and veggies look attractive, and where chemicals are used.

[freespirit]

Try making flax crackers instead- they r filling and they dont shrink- nice bang for your buck as well.

[deberaw]

...I still have a lot of tomatoes from my garden...and am dehydrating a mix of red and yellow ones....they are so great and chewy...I just love 'em...I also love dehydrated banana chips....they are best when left in for a couple of days...but mine don't seem to make it that long...that is, most of them don't!......but these are snacks for me....meals would be salads, fruits, smoothies, maybe raw gourmet meal once in a while..or a raw dessert!..........:D