Dehydrating Fruit - How to store it

[Veggie PAK]

I would like to seriously begin dehydrating some fruit this year. I did a couple loads of apples in my son's dehydrator last year for 7 hours at around 165 degrees. (It had no temperature control, so I measured the discharge air with an AC thermometer probe.) After they sat a few minutes, I put them in Ball jars and closed the tops. They still look good, but how do you tell if there is a problem with them?

I would like to dry grapes this year. Do they require any special process or storage methods? Again, how long are they good in a Ball jar, or is there a better way to store them?

I would appreciate any guidance on how to dry and store fruits and vegetables.

I plan to build my own downdraft solar dehydrator after watching a YouTube video that someone had mentioned in a Sufficient Self posting.

Thanks!

 

[JRmom]

I am dehydrating for the first time this year. My plan is to use extra canning jars, along with ziplock baggies, for storage. From everything I've read, as long as you don't see any mold you should be good.

 

[Veggie PAK]

My brother told me about the Glad Bags Pump. It's an inexpensive suction pump that you use with their special bags that have an outlet so the pump can suck all the air out of the bag, thus having no oxygen for mold to grow with. Haven't tried it myself, but you might want to check it out. I haven't seen one.

 

[keljonma]

I store dehyrdated fruits and veg in canning jars. I haven't had any problems, except if the food wasn't dehydrated enough.

There are lots of good books available, so you may want to check your local library.

I got my dehydrator at a yard sale for $2, an old Ronco 5 tray....nothing but heat and trays, so I found the mfgr manual online.

I do prefer dehydrating over freezing, as we live in an area infamous for power outages.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[JRmom]

Keljonma, I have the same dehydrator - it's nothing fancy, but so far I'm very pleased with it. I wonder, with the more expensive models that have a fan, do you still need to rotate the trays? That would be my only reason thus far for wanting a model with more features.

 

[ORChick]

If the food is sufficiently dry you shouldn't need to do anything more than store it in an airtight container - I use glass jars. Fruit should be dry but pliable, with no obvious juicy pockets when you squeeze a piece; veggies, for the most part, should be dried so that they snap when you bend them. If you are in doubt about how dry your finished product is you could always keep it in the freezer. If putting it in jars, don't put the jars away immediately; keep them where you can see them for a day or two. If there is any sign of condensation in the closed jar dry the food for more time. As long as you don't see or smell anything *off* the food should be fine; I have some apple slices and apricots still on the shelf that I dried when I still lived in California, and that would make them at least 10 years old. They have both darkened somewhat (the apricots quite a lot ) but they taste fine.

 

[Veggie PAK]

ORchick, that's the kind of experience information I'm looking for. If they stayed good in that length of time, that's what I want to do. Maybe not that long, but that's certainly in the range I'm looking for. I don't want to dehydrate a bushel of fruit and then in six months have to have eaten it all. I'm looking for a little storage time. The moisture factor in the beginning is the biggest tell-tale sign if the fruit isn't "done". I'm also considering vacuum packing the Ball jars for dehydrated fruits with the top from the Food Saver storage system. I don't have one, but I'm exploring it.

I think this is a great site because it is "alive"! So many others... you post something and six months later someone reads it.

I'm grateful to the owners for that, and to all the participants in it.

 

[Marianne]

Did I welcome you yet?

Dehydrated fruit wouldn't last here. I could eat a boatload of that. Yum.

 

[GardenWeasel]

Do make sure to use a glass jar with a canning type lid. Last year I dried a boat load of fruit and veggies for Christmas presents in ziplock bags only to find them contaminated with insect larva. Very disappointing to say the least. Plastic bags of any type are not for long term.

 

[farmersdaughter83]

This is something I am very interested in also. I am wanting to make some "fruit leathers" basically a healthier version of a fruit roll up, and I too was curious how I should store them once made. I was thinking about putting them in mason jars and then using our vacuum sealer to seal the cans. Would this work? I'm trying to get away from using plastics, but if I have to I can vacuum seal them in the special vacuum seal bags.
Anyone have any input on this?? More specifically on the storage of dried fruits vegies ect.