home made dehydrator?

[dragonlaurel]

I used to buy mashed pintos. They were marketed as instant refried beans. Yummy. They were precooked, seasoned, then food processor / blended till smooth. I guess you would dry them like fruit leather after that.
It was powdery, but you'd lose more nutrients probably trying to mess with it that much. I'd just ziploc pieces of it, and stick it in the closet.

By the way- Mother Earth has plans for a few kinds of dehydrators.

I like the one that was a wood frame (1 x 1 - probably) supporting a bunch of mesh or cheesecloth shelves/trays. Then more mesh around the outside to keep bugs out of it. It was designed to store almost flat when not needed. You could make it freestanding, or hang it from the ceiling. Wish I knew the plan # but I probably remember enough to improvise it.

 

[homesteader]

In reply to making homemade dehydrated refried beans.
I usally do about a pound to a pound and a half of dry beans at a time. Soak overnight in water with a half teaspoon of baking soda. This really cuts down on the gas that they can cause. Next morning rinse well and slow cook until tender. We add no spices at this time, those can be added when the beans are rehydrated. I do add a little salt when mashing the beans. Mash and cook with some of the broth until like somewhat thin pudding. The dehydrator we use has square shelves with foodgrade netting. It`s a type of plastic. Anyway this makes it easy for us to line the shelves with single layers of plain unbleached muslin. This is used to spread the mashed bean puree on. We dry at about 135 degrees until the beans will crumble. Then break the puree up into small pieces and continue to dry until no moisture can be felt when one of the largest pcs. are crushed between your fingers. Let cool for just a few minutes and store in clean jars and lids in a cool dark place.

 

[hankus]

On TV in the special "After Armageddon" the people were shown way after the event using an old van as a "solar dehydrator".

 

[ninny]

Im wondering if this would work? Make some selves out of wood and hardware cloth and set a space heater next to it. If need put a washcloth down. Would that do anything? I really want to do fruit leathers.