Dehydrating fruit with a food dehydrator
I am a bargain hunter. There’s nothing more exciting than buying something you love with a discounted price tag. One of my latest buys is a food dehydrator which is available at David Jones for something near $200.
After a quick search online, I found that it was only $59.95 on Deals Direct! Happy, happy, joy, joy!
The food dehydrator can be used to preserve food or make banana chips, dried mango or beef jerky. I can’t express how easy it is to use or how economical it is, to be turn excess fruit into a snack.
There are 3 general methods to drying food.
- Sun is the most natural form but requires a warm day with low humidity. Keep in mind that it could take up to five consecutive days to dry certain fruits.
- Oven temperatures need to be consistent and low and also requires the oven door to be open for air circulation, making it a costly and inefficient process.
- Food Dehydrator is energy and time efficient and is my preferred method 🙂
Homemade fruit jerky – pineapple, apple, strawberry, grapefruit and orange
Once you’ve decided on your preferred method to dehydrate fruit, you can experiment with different preparation methods to best bring out the food’s natural flavours.
Here’s a few which I have tested and tasted:
- Pineapples: brush a mixture of honey and water onto both sides of each slice for awesome pineapple jerky
- Apples: toss slices of apple in a bit of apple juice or a combination of cinnamon and sugar
- Pears: toss slices of pear with a bit of five spice and sugar
- Citrus fruits (oranges, grapefruits… etc): don’t require anything
Follow the directions on the food dehydrator and voila! Enjoy as a snack, with ice-cream or in a cocktail!
