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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

I'm also a big fan of drying.  I have two cheapie dehydrators that are 
commonly found at WallyWorld, and of course, I have drying screens and 
also use the oven.  I love making jerky-it's my candy.  I make almost 
all of my own dried herbs and spices.  I keep a quart mason jar of dried 
onions that I sprinkle into sauces, meatloafs, etc.  I also have a 
similar jar of garlic and celery powder that I use for seasoning. I grow 
my own basil, oregano, thyme, etc., so it is easy. My hint is that 
sometimes the size and shape of the fruit/veggie affects the outcome.  I 
had poor luck drying zuke chips-they just did not taste right when 
rehydrated-but good luck drying grated zucchini.  I dry my onions in 
rings, then crush into smaller pieces.  Chunks are harder to powder for 
me, for some reason.  I love drying stuff. There's no better fruity 
snack than dried apples or pears with a bit of cinnamon. (Well, there 
probably is, of course!<g>)

To thwart ants, Sage, try drying things in your truck/car.  Use window 
screens or make something similar and simply place it in the truck with 
some towels or something underneath on the seats.  That hot Texas sun 
will do its job and you shouldn't have to deal with too many ants. Of 
course, the temps in a vehicle often hit 140 in the sun.  Perhaps you 
could start it there to eliminate the bulk of the water, then finish it 
somewhere else, like in your oven where you can better control the temps.

Bev

eureka AT hctc.net wrote:
> We dehydrate peppers and a lot of other veggies if we 
> can't eat them fast enough. They all make great soup, 
> stew, and casserole additions later. I figure it costs 
> less energy to dehydrate something and keep in on the 
> shelf than in the freezer. We don't have much freezer 
> space anyway, and I don't like the taste of freezer burn. 
> I use a Harvest Maid dehydrator I bought over two decades 
> ago (still works fine). My few attempts at sun dried 
> anything has mostly attracted ants. According to raw food 
> books if you dehydrate something at or below 115 degrees 
> you do not destroy the enzymes. That's what I keep the 
> thermostat set at on it.
>
> I got into dehydrating food because of the lack of 
> vegetarian choices in available backpacking meals. Once I 
> dehydrated an entire watermelon (this took a long, long 
> time) and the contents could fit in half a sandwich bag. 
> It was the best "candy" ever tasted! Broccoli is truly 
> amazing, it rehydrates in a little boiling water to almost 
> its original form. I remember backpacking and eating 
> broccoli with hollandaise sauce (and other wonderful food 
> I'd dehydrated) when others were eating macaroni and 
> cheese. Could have sold my meals for a fortune up on the 
> Continental Divide! The Sierra Club has a great cookbook 
> called Simple Foods for the Pack which is great for ideas 
> of what to do with dehydrated veggies.
>
> We avoid WalMart most of the time, but ocassionally it is 
> unavoidable. It's amazing you can get a soldering iron, 
> veggie burger, and evening bra in one place. Too bad their 
> ethics are so deplorable.
>
> --Sage
> Way Out in Texas
>
> On Fri, 30 May 2008 10:11:21 -0400
>   "Lisa K.V. Perry" <lisakvperry AT gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Fri, May 30, 2008 at 7:58 AM, Gene GeRue 
> > <genegerue AT ruralize.com> wrote:
> >
> > > On May 29, 2008, at 8:06 PM, Clansgian AT wmconnect.com 
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > So I ain't buyin' the 30% blather.
> > > Nor I.
> >
> > I haven't set foot in a WalMart in close to two years, 
> > and even then it was
> > only one or two times per year. I was never a WalMart 
> > grocery shopper, so I
> > haven't checked out their prices recently.
> >
> > Well, I can report that inferior coffee at WalMart costs 
> > substantially more
> > > than superior coffee at Trader Joe's in Phoenix, which 
> > > is not a place
> > > where poor families go to buy their groceries.
> > Based on this, I will happily continue living my life 
> > without visits to
> > WalMart.
> >
> > > And after viewing the fresh veggie prices I bought not a 
> > > single thing.
> > > Has anyone ever seen higher prices for bell peppers? 
> > > Grow, garden!
> >
> > For the first time since we've lived here (8 years) the 
> > deer got into my
> > older fenced garden, I lost 3 bell pepper plants a 
> > couple days ago. We
> > repaired or shored up weaker areas of the fence to keep 
> > them out until we
> > can put up a new fence. Hope that does the trick.
> >
> > Since it's not too late, I'll get another 4-pack and 
> > replant those lost
> > pepper plants. I'll bet peppers are easy to dehydrate. I 
> > usually diced and
> > froze them to put into soups and stews.
> >
> > Lisa
> > _______________________________________________
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--
BevanRon of EarthNSky Farm   NW Georgia USDA Zone 7
34.498N 85.076W    Bev is Earth, Ron is Sky