Basic dehydrating question

[everyonesmomtwo]

My dehydrator is going all the time and if its a big batch of srooms they go sepeate if not I've done onions on the top and mushrooms on the bottom.
I will also do a mixture that I bag up together that is my stew mix of different vegtables when I don't have alot as my dehydrator is a very large one. I'll but a tray of celery on the bottom, than carrots, green beans, potato, onion and final the stinky ones like brocolli and what ever else I might have left over or want in my stew pot. When they are dried out I make up bags of the mixture with my seasoning right in with the bag and seal them up with an oxygen packet and its good to go only need to add water.
I've never had troble with flavors mixing except when I did apples without washing the trays. Those where some funky tasting apples.
(had been drying garlic prior)
Ruth

 

[Home Maker]

Juice some of them! You can can up the juice or even freeze it(would make your freezer stink) in bags. You can add this juice to soup stock, livestock water for the immunity boosting properties, etc.

Interesting, Beekissed. I'd never thought of that. I just couldn't pass up the price on that bag.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Metal peddler, The first and only thing I've done was a dehydrator full of onions. My husband could hardly stay in the house! It was rough on the eyes. I have a 50-lb. bag sitting here waiting to be processed......

One time I had an excess of hot peppers from the gaarden, so I decided to dehydrate them to make a shake for chili, etc.. I quickly moved the dehydrater to the garage-our eyes were burning!!!!

 

[everyonesmomtwo]

I wish I had thought of that when I did the garlic. Boy did our house stink for ever.

 

[ORChick]

Do you have a spot outdoors where you could dry your onions? I do several trays of sliced garlic when the new crop is fresh, and fill up the dehydrator with onions - but I always put the machine out on the covered deck for this. Usually it lives in the kitchen, but not for onions or garlic . As for mixing things, I always have a mix of some sort going, and have never had a problem, even when some of the trays have cubed bread - but, like I said, the onions and garlic are done together, but with nothing else.

 

[Home Maker]

I seem to remember the dehydrator instructions say not to use it outside, but I certainly plan to do so the next time I do onions. I'll just pick a warm, dry day and set it out on the deck.

The day I did onions in the house, we just about couldn't stand it

 

[TanksHill]

Great thread, thanks for all the information everyone!!

 

[PamsPride]

How do you all process your garlic and onions to get them ready to put in the dehydrator? Do you putt them in the food processor to finely chop them or what?

 

[ORChick]

How do you all process your garlic and onions to get them ready to put in the dehydrator? Do you putt them in the food processor to finely chop them or what?

I personally prefer to have my onion bits in more uniform sizes, so I dice them. But then, I only do 3 or 4 large ones, just enough to fill up the trays while the garlic is going. Onions aren't too much of a problem to keep in their fresh state, so I don't want to dry lots. I suppose if I needed to dry a lot of them I would turn to the food processor, or maybe to the mandoline slicer, and dry the slices. As for garlic, I slice each clove as thinly as possible - actually, back in the days when I was still spending money , I bought a gadget, like a very small mandoline, that slices the garlic nicely, and fairly quickly. But I wouldn't go out to get one now if I didn't already have it; I'd use a knife, and plan on a bit more time.

ETA: Finely chopping the garlic would also be an option, though I find the slices more useful for me.

 

[freemotion]

I use a fair amount of onion and garlic powder. Has anyone ground up their own from home-dried onions and garlic?

I also prefer the taste of rehydrated onions on some things, like hamburgers, as they are milder. They are also yummy thrown dry into tuna, chicken, or turkey salad, or on those sandwiches, where the crunch is kinda good. IMO. But I am weird.