Stuffed mushrooms too tall for my dehydrator

[SamuelWilson]

I made the stuffed mushrooms and the button mushrooms where a little too tall for the dehydrator. The mushrooms themselves are too tall, it is not the stuff I am putting in them that makes them too tall. What do most of you people do when you get that situation?

The stuffed mushrooms are the only one I have ever encountered this problem with. Everything else, I just cut it thin enough so that it fits.

[jenna rose]

Uhmm... take out a couple of trays so it'll fit better?

[rawpriestess]

Hi,

I am assuming you have the stacking type of dehydrator where you can't remove trays to make more room.

so, either I would cut the mushrooms in half and just put some pesto on them, or place the pesto on a parchment sheet, and place the mushroom, trimmed down inside of it, you need the olive oil in the pesto to keep the mushroom from drying out, maybe you can just coat the mushroom a little with olive oil, cut it the right height and dehydrate, then stuff them with the dehydrated pesto blob when they are done, I don't know of any way to make those other kind of dehydrators taller inside, unless they have some kind of attachment that you can purchase.

Good luck, the pesto stuffed mushrooms are delicious.

[Rawkinlocs]

Samuel,

For future reference, if it is an American Harvest model that you have, you can go to their website: http://nesco.com/products/?category=300&subcat=200&id=33 and get the "Convert-a-tray" set that are trays with a removable center for when you need to make taller, larger things.

[SamuelWilson]

rawpriestess, I do have the stacking type of dehydrator where I can't take out trays to make more room. I ending up taking some utility scissors and customizing one of the trays in order to accommodate taller contents. Do you have a recommendation for something besides basil leaves in the pesto mix. 2 cups of basil leaves is hard to come by sometimes because it is sold in small quantities at the health food store I shop at. I can buy parsley in bulk though. Do you think parsley would work?

Rawkinlocs, thanks for your reply, ordering the trays you mentioned is also an option.

[PixieGreen]

I use cilantro as an inexpensive substitute for basil. I actually prefer it. :)

Christa

[mandarin honey]

Samuel,

For future reference, if it is an American Harvest model that you have, you can go to their website: http://nesco.com/products/?category=300&subcat=200&id=33 and get the "Convert-a-tray" set that are trays with a removable center for when you need to make taller, larger things.

Thanks for the link Rawkinlocs. LOL I just commented in another thread that I felt limited by my Nesco and this was the reason. I'm going to look into the Convert-A-Tray.

[SamuelWilson]

PixieGreen, that is good to know, that I can substitute basil with cilantro. The key is this though. Can I find it large enough quantities. The health food store I shop at puts those things in the litlle flat plastic containers and they might be a 1/2 cup in them at the most. At least I have an alternative now though. I was really hoping parsley would work because they sell that in the bundles.

[PixieGreen]

Samuel, if you go to a Mexican market they will probably sell cilantro in big bunches. In Texas I regularly purchase a bunch [2-3c] of cilantro for 3/$1.

Christa

[rawpriestess]

Cilantro and parsley are entirely different herbs than basil, and they have a much different taste, although it is probably very tasty.

To extend basil when you can't get enough, use 1/2 basil and 1/2 spinach leaves, this doesn't alter the flavor much at all, and tastes almost the same.

We planted 20 basil plants, so that we wouldn't miss out this winter on our pesto stuffed mushrooms, last year, we ended up only making a few batches as it is hard to find basil in the winter, and in such large quantities.

So, this year we grew our own, and are dehydrating it.

Each plant that we grew fills 3 dehydrators of leaves, and was over 4 feet tall, so we should have plenty to tide us by this winter. LOL

My hubby loves those pesto stuffed mushrooms, tomatoes and squash too.

We stuff everything with it. LOL

[sweetgoddess]

I love pesto made with spinach instead of basil! its quite yummy. :)

[SamuelWilson]

Ok then, how about this as an alternative.

2 cups of spinach and then just add 1 T dried basil. This way I have the leavy bulk that it needs, yet I still have the basil taste. You can get spinach pretty much year around here with no problem.

Also, someone mentioned dehydrating basil. To what level do you dehydrate it if you intend to use it as leaves in an ingredient. (as compared to dried flake bits)

[rawpriestess]

Well, you can certainly try it, but it's not going to taste like 2 cups of fresh basil.


I am dehydrating tons of basil right now, and 1 cup of fresh basil is about equal to 1/2 cup of dried, or so.

I only dehydrate the leaves for recipes, I use the flowers in spells.

I toss the stems, as they are as big as my thumb, my hubby grows everything huge.

I dehydrate until crispy, I have no idea how long that takes, one day? two day? not sure, my hubby does all that. He says around 24 hours or so.