Processing the Harvest

That's a http://wildchildurbancity.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/dehydrator-update.html Rommelsbacher DA750 Dörrautomat priced at $319 in 2013 and we have 4 additional trays for it.

I may not have mentioned it above, but we also have a vacuum packer.

 

Only just finished the huge jar of pickled beetroot mentioned in the early part of this thread

 

I know nothing about that one, but I purchased my Rommelsbacher from Vigo in Devon (who also do loads of apple pressing stuff) and they have it in stock for £125 incl delivery http://www.vigopresses.co.uk/Catalogue/Fruit-and-Vegetable-Drier/Fruit-Vegetable-Drier-99056 and £24.50 for 2 additional trays http://www.vigopresses.co.uk/Catalo...ier/Trays-for-Fruit-Vegetable-Drier-x-2-99057

I ordered ours when it was reduced by about 15% in their Xmas Sale which made additional trays almost free and gave it to Mrs Scrungee as a Xmas present (so she could spend her time preserving the stuff I grow).

 

Impressive dedication Sc. Yes, I am in USA but was from London many years ago. I garden fairly seriously because I am resigned to being stationary and need to spend a lot of time outdoors. Someone mentioned a vacuum packer - again I have the cheapest one but it is amazing in how it keeps food perfect for long time frozen. I have beets almost a year old which are as excellent as the day frozen. I bought it mostly because I fish seriously and fish do not keep frozen for long at all unless vacuum packed.

I do make some jams, and pickle eggs (I have chickens so always trying to use eggs).

One of my goals this year is to perfect a blend of herbs (grown and dried by me) that are excellent for omelets. Years ago I bought a bag of French herbs done especially for omelets and they were marvelous but I have no memory of the content and ratios of the mix.

marley, I have the onions dry and need to begin another batch. My multiplying onions have been very prolific, I will dry another five pound batch. I will include a picture when the site allows me to later. Multiply onions are supposedly a year round thing with a shallot phase at one end and green onions the rest of the time. They were a staple of the deep south gardens when everyone had to keep one for food (just recently everyone traditionally had a veg garden in rural USA.) This is my first time growing them.

 

I just looked at some of your links and wow. I like my bottom of the line one

Link to amazon USA cheap dehydrator deleted - I can not post it

$33.99

I lived a few years drying gourmet food products in the field and that was an art. Sometimes 100+ pounds a day (we would often have to build the drier from wood cut from the forest) - so I am not very fussy about using great machines - although I am sure they are very good at drying. I also know many foods are hard to dry and keep quality but I have not tried them yet and my low end machine may make a poor job of them.

This is a post refused yesterday because one has to be on here a certain time before one can post a link.

 

Was it the Nesco FD-37A American Harvest Food Dehydrator, 400-watt?



EDIT @Marley Farley beat me to it, but only because I was adding the info about that cheap clone

Amazon.co.uk appear to be selling a clone of our £125 dehydrator for only £51.62, but I haven't compared the specifications yet http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bielmeier-6...6&keywords=food dehydrator#productDescription

 

Would not let me link to that Sc. But that is the one - $33.99 not $39.99 Marley, even cheaper, free postage too - and it works great but you have to rotate the product a couple times. I just tip it all into a bowl, mix it up, and re-pile it on the trays, no bother.

I love making pies and that is a main consumption of my constant egg avalanche that swamps us daily. Any good sweets you love made from dehydrated stuff? I had a glut of 5 colors of carrot last year and dried quite a lot of them. They are not great but I dutifully use them in soups. I think the drying has brought out the strong side flavors the multi colored kinds have. The best eating one is the scarlet N, the common orange - but they are not as fun as growing red, orange, white, yellow, purple (purple through, and, purple outside - orange inside) Still, the ones I grow are organic and pure so that counts for something too.

 

It is a pain to share from flickr. This is my truck bed processing the onions for drying. I use the truck tail gate to clean my fish and this sort of thing because it makes a nice outside work surface. That is a lot of onions and I got almost all on the five trays, a good five pounds. They have dried really nicely.

 

Dehydrating onions (and garlic) can get rather smelly if done indoors.