A few months ago I went on a jam making spree: Mixed berry jam and both half and non-bitter marmalade now crowd the shelves of my canned good storage. Well that and five pints of chow chow! Having this fabulous stash wasn’t meeting my need, though. We are in the prime season for inexpensive fresh fruit. What’s a girl to do?
Okay, I can freeze it. We do now have a deep freeze, which makes my heart go pitter pat, but freezing food is boring. I can’t get excited about putting fruit into baggies and then shoving them into the freezer.
After I bought three pints of blueberries at Costco, I wondered what I would do with them. No way would I let them go bad, but it was too many to snack on, plus I wanted entertainment value out of my food. And then I remembered: I own a food dehydrator!
Into my closet I went, and out it came. We use it at the end of each summer for our tomato surplus – dried tomato slices are so flavorful and sweet. They don’t last long in the house.
I’d had a lot of luck dehydrating strawberries – Holy cow are they delicious! – but for some reason blackberries were a complete fail. I think they might be too thick to get the centers done without doing horrible things to the outside. Because of that, I wasn’t sure how the blueberries would turn out. But being fearless, onto the trays they went.
Hours later, here they are.
The verdict? Drool-inducing good… and it did make more than the ones I’m holding in the picture! It’s the perfect sweet, slightly tart bite. Normally I buy the jumbo bags of dried cranberries from Costco to add to cereal and oatmeal, but not so long as these are around, which won’t be long!
What was your latest food invention? or Who else out there owns a food dehydrator?
Grown Up, Now What? 
I love the idea of a dehydrator. Here are my issues – where the heck would I put it??? Also, they seem pretty costly, so I’d have to figure out exactly what I would do with it and whether it would be worth the purchase. Studied the Vitamix for several months and evaluated how I was using my then-blender (which I destroyed) and what I would potentially do with it. Big bad expense – worth every penny. I use that thing nearly every day, if only for my daily smoothie. But I’ve used it for soup, homemade juice…so much!
So what would I do with a dehydrator…besides dry fruit?
LikeLike
I did have to think about where I would put it before I bought the food dehydrator. I was so glad I could find a spot in my closet for its home. The one I got was less than $50. I use it about once a month. Dried fruit and veggies can add extra crunch to salads, and I love them as snacks. I love it.
My juicer on the other hand I paid more than twice as much and has only used it once.
LikeLike
Dehydrated blueberries can be quite good. In some mixed nuts/berries containers I buy at the grocery store, they come with them. I actually quite enjoy them although I tend to stick with the regular ones – maybe I’m just traditional that way when it comes to food.
I don’t own a dehydrator and I don’t know if I’d find much use for it. Although I thought the same way about my hand blender before I got one and now I use it all the time.
LikeLike
Most of the time my dehydrator does sit in the closet, but whenever it comes out, the end results are memorable.
LikeLike
I recently came across a recipe for homemade breakfast cereal…honestly it is pretty much granola. But I am looking at your blueberries. And I am thinking I will whip up a batch of this cereal, and together we’d have a match made in heaven! I’ll bring the OJ!
LikeLike
What a delicious and nutritious breakfast we would make!
LikeLike