This is the season for fabulous fresh
veggies from the garden and abundance of fresh fruits. There
is nothing like fresh tomatoes, ripe strawberries or later this summer sugary peaches off the tree. I find myself eating more than
I need to get my fill of the fresh produce. I have made many
attempts at gardening and usually grow the $50 tomato! I spend
lots of time and money to prepare the garden bed only to get lots of
green plants that produce only one or two tomatoes. :)
I have concluded, a gardener I am
not, so I enjoy the produce from all you wonderful gardeners. The
next question would be how do I preserve or extend this bounty past
the summer season? Do I have a story to tell you! :) Let me suggest....boldly encourage you, to consider dehydrating your
bounty. Our family is hooked on fruit but you will probably
be much better at preserving your veggie bounty along with the wonderful
fruit.
We have three options to preserve foods: canning, freezing or dehydrating. With canning, you lose 60% of
the nutrients. However, with freezing or dehydrating, you only lose 20% of the nutrients. So let's look at the how-to's of dehydrating...
What do you look for in a dehydrator?
You need to be able to control the temperature. The
L'Equip Filter Pro dehydrator has
this feature. When doing herbs you need 98 degrees; for most veggies
and fruits you need 125 degrees; and for meat jerky, you need 165 degrees. You also want good air circulation, as this is how the food is slowly
dried...yes, the L'Equip Filter Pro dehydrator has this as well. :) An important feature is the solid state
motor...yep, you guessed it...the
L'Equip Filter Pro dehydrator has this as well.
So what is involved in dehydrating? You simply wash the produce, cut into the shape you would want it to be as a finished product, put it
on the tray, turn on the dehydrator and let it dry!
How long?....well,
this depends on the water content of the food. Watermelon is going
to take 2-3 days!! Go figure! :) Most items take 8 to 12 hours. This means you don't want to put your dehydrator in the center of
the kitchen. It will also be warm. I usually keep ours in
the utility room out of the way.
This leads me to another eye-opening
thought!! The
L'Equip Filter Pro dehydrator is the only dehydrator on the market which filters the air
that flows over your food. Imagine the dust and pet dander in the air being pulled over your food! When
I think back of all the years I dehydrated without the
filter, it is rather sickening. This is the purest
dehydrator you can buy!
Another suggestion: those wonderful tomatoes can be pureed and then
poured on fruit leather trays. You have now made your own tomato
paste to use for the winter! Another fun thing our family likes
is dehydrated cucumbers! Who would have thought they would be
good?!
How many trays can you do at once? You can stack the
L'Equip Filter Pro dehydrator 24 trays high! That is a lot of garden produce being
preserved for winter. Let your imagination go, you will love it.
Start dehydrating today!!
