Re: dehydrating cranberries

[Guest guest]

--- In , " Suze Fisher " <s.fisher22@v...>

wrote:

> does anyone have a good recipe or basic suggestions on how to best

dehydrate

> cranberries without cooking them, if possible? the only recipe i have calls

> for boiling them 2 mins. prior to dehydrating. i tried just throwing them in

> the dehydrator " as is " but after two days there was absolutely no sign of

> any dehydration going on. it occured to me that they may need to be

> punctured or something to expose the moist insides to the air?

----------Despite growing up near cranberry bogs, I know very little about

them. That said, my idea (for what it's worth) is this:

Don't cranberries have a sort of waxy finish on the outside? Maybe this

prevents moisture loss, and boiling destroys the coating so they can

dehydrate. You might want to experiment with soaking them in something

that would dissolve the waxiness... apple cider vinegar, maybe? There are

probably some scientific minds on this list who could run with this idea and

come up with some natural heat=free way to dissolve water-impermeable

substances.

Good luck!

[Guest guest]

Suze-

I had the same problem, so I ran them through the food processor and

dehydrated the paste into a fruit leather, which I then ran through the

food processor until it turned into a coarse powder. But then it made the

pemmican taste even worse, so it was all a waste of time.

>i tried just throwing them in

>the dehydrator " as is " but after two days there was absolutely no sign of

>any dehydration going on. it occured to me that they may need to be

>punctured or something to expose the moist insides to the air?

-

[Guest guest]

I had this same problem as well with blueberries. I tried dehydrating some

without boiling, they just wouldn't dry. So I tried boiling some to break the

wax coating and they turned so squishy I could barely handle them (can you tell

I don't cook with fruit much?). I drained them anyways from the water and tried

to dehydrate as well and they also wouldn't dry. I love dried fruits and beef

for convenience since I am always eating on the run. Anyone had success with

blueberries at all?

<does anyone have a good recipe or basic suggestions on how to best dehydrate

cranberries without cooking them>

[Guest guest]

>Don't cranberries have a sort of waxy finish on the outside? Maybe this

>prevents moisture loss, and boiling destroys the coating so they can

>dehydrate. You might want to experiment with soaking them in something

>that would dissolve the waxiness... apple cider vinegar, maybe? There are

>probably some scientific minds on this list who could run with this idea and

>come up with some natural heat=free way to dissolve water-impermeable

>substances.

I had this problem with blueberries. The skin makes them difficult

to dry. You can puree them and make fruit leather though. You just

make a puree and pour it onto sheets (some people use plastic --

I have special trays that came with the food processor). You can

also mix it with yogurt and make 'yogurt leather', I'd expect

kefir would work good too.

BTW I'm experimenting with kefir-sausage. I mixed some kefir

with some hamburger, Penzy's Italian sausage mix (no nitrates),

and kefiili and am letting it set a few days in the fridge. Then I'm

going to dehydrate it. I'm guessing it will come out a lot like

pepperoni -- might be an answer to the " inedible pemmican " problem.

-- Heidi

[Guest guest]

>

> >Don't cranberries have a sort of waxy finish on the outside?

Maybe this

> >prevents moisture loss, and boiling destroys the coating so they

can

> >dehydrate. You might want to experiment with soaking them in

something

> >that would dissolve the waxiness... apple cider vinegar, maybe?

There are

> >probably some scientific minds on this list who could run with

this idea and

> >come up with some natural heat=free way to dissolve water-

impermeable

> >substances.

>

> I had this problem with blueberries. The skin makes them difficult

> to dry. You can puree them and make fruit leather though. You just

> make a puree and pour it onto sheets (some people use plastic --

> I have special trays that came with the food processor). You can

> also mix it with yogurt and make 'yogurt leather', I'd expect

> kefir would work good too.

>

> BTW I'm experimenting with kefir-sausage. I mixed some kefir

> with some hamburger, Penzy's Italian sausage mix (no nitrates),

> and kefiili and am letting it set a few days in the fridge. Then I'm

> going to dehydrate it. I'm guessing it will come out a lot like

> pepperoni -- might be an answer to the " inedible pemmican " problem.

>

> -- Heidi

Heidi, you used both kefir and kefiili?? How come? Sounds good

though. I am anxious to hear the final results. How are you planning

to put it in the dehydrater? Are you going to lay it out the same as

you would leather and then cut it after?

~Del

[Guest guest]

>Heidi, you used both kefir and kefiili?? How come? Sounds good

>though. I am anxious to hear the final results. How are you planning

>to put it in the dehydrater? Are you going to lay it out the same as

>you would leather and then cut it after?

>

>~Del

No, I just used kefiili. I guess I was implying that either

would work. I don't actually have any regular kefir any

more.

I was going to lay it in strips in the dehydrator --

there are special " jerky guns " to do this with hamburger

because a lot of folks like " jerkyburger " -- it's more tender

and no gristle, I guess. Or cheaper and they don't like

slicing. Slicing it after might be easier though. Maybe

try it both ways ...

-- Heidi

[Guest guest]

> I had this problem with blueberries. The skin makes them difficult

> to dry. You can puree them and make fruit leather though. You just

> make a puree and pour it onto sheets (some people use plastic --

> I have special trays that came with the food processor). You can

> also mix it with yogurt and make 'yogurt leather', I'd expect

> kefir would work good too.

------>ah, excellent idea! thank you :-) i have a cheapo $30 american

harvest dehydrator that only has trays with *slats*, though, so i

think i'll have to do it in the oven. i sometimes do my crispy almond

slivers in the oven too, since they fall through the dehydrator

slats. hmmm...maybe i should invest in some decent stainless steel

cookie sheets.

thanks again heidi!

suze

[Guest guest]

>------>ah, excellent idea! thank you :-) i have a cheapo $30 american

>harvest dehydrator that only has trays with *slats*, though, so i

>think i'll have to do it in the oven.

Suze:

I have a cheapo AH too -- I just bought the " extras " (which make it not

so cheap anymore!). They have liners with tiny tiny holes for

small stuff, and plastic solid inserts for fruit. Check their website.

My oven just doesn't work -- I have a convection oven in the garage

that might if I hooked it up but the AH works fine.

-- Heidi

[Guest guest]

Hi Suze,

We have a cheapie dehydrator also, bought at a yard sale. It works

great for the crispy nuts and what we've done is to cut a piece of

screen to fit the trays, and that works great; it still allows for the

heat to flow up thru but doesn't allow for pieces to fall thru the

cracks.

Not sure about something like fruit leather, tho; but what about using

tin foil on the trays, and perhaps cutting a few slits here and there?

~Fern

Re: dehydrating cranberries

> > I had this problem with blueberries. The skin makes them difficult

> > to dry. You can puree them and make fruit leather though. You just

> > make a puree and pour it onto sheets (some people use plastic --

> > I have special trays that came with the food processor). You can

> > also mix it with yogurt and make 'yogurt leather', I'd expect

> > kefir would work good too.

>

> ------>ah, excellent idea! thank you :-) i have a cheapo $30

american

> harvest dehydrator that only has trays with *slats*, though, so i

> think i'll have to do it in the oven. i sometimes do my crispy

almond

> slivers in the oven too, since they fall through the dehydrator

> slats. hmmm...maybe i should invest in some decent stainless steel

> cookie sheets.

>

> thanks again heidi!

>

> suze

[Guest guest]

--- In , " Fern " <readnwrite@f...>

wrote:

> Hi Suze,

>

> We have a cheapie dehydrator also, bought at a yard sale. It works

> great for the crispy nuts and what we've done is to cut a piece of

> screen to fit the trays, and that works great; it still allows for

the

> heat to flow up thru but doesn't allow for pieces to fall thru the

> cracks.

----->thanks fern. i'd be concerned about putting my almonds or

whatever on an unknown metal and heating it, albeit at low temps. i

wonder if unbleached cheese cloth might work? your screen idea made

me think of it.

>

> Not sure about something like fruit leather, tho; but what about

using

> tin foil on the trays, and perhaps cutting a few slits here and

there?

>

----->thanks, but i don't use foil, again i'm not sure if any of the

aluminum leaches into the food, but i'd rather not do that without

knowing. i will probably try laying some cheesecloth in the

dehydrator next time and see how that goes.

thanks again for your thoughts!

suze

[Guest guest]

> ----->thanks fern. i'd be concerned about putting my almonds or

> whatever on an unknown metal and heating it, albeit at low temps. i

> wonder if unbleached cheese cloth might work? your screen idea made

> me think of it.

What about parchment paper?

Lynn S.

-----

Lynn Siprelle * Writer, Mother, Programmer, Fiber Artisan

The New Homemaker: http://www.newhomemaker.com/

Siprelle & Associates: http://www.siprelle.com/

People-Powered ! http://www.deanforamerica.com/

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 11/9/03 12:06:59 PM Eastern Standard Time,

peaceflmeadow@... writes:

> I had this same problem as well with blueberries. I tried dehydrating some

> without boiling, they just wouldn't dry. So I tried boiling some to break

> the wax coating and they turned so squishy I could barely handle them (can you

> tell I don't cook with fruit much?). I drained them anyways from the water

> and tried to dehydrate as well and they also wouldn't dry. I love dried

> fruits and beef for convenience since I am always eating on the run. Anyone

had

> success with blueberries at all?

>

I dehydrated frozen blueberries with no problem. Maybe freezing them would

do the trick?

Chris

[Guest guest]

--- In , Lynn Siprelle <lynn@s...>

wrote:

> > ----->thanks fern. i'd be concerned about putting my almonds or

> > whatever on an unknown metal and heating it, albeit at low temps.

i

> > wonder if unbleached cheese cloth might work? your screen idea

made

> > me think of it.

>

> What about parchment paper?

>

----->well i'm not sure if the air could get through, and my

unbleached parchment paper has some sort of waxy coating, which could

possibly be some petro-chemical or something of that nature. i used

to do my crispy almonds in the oven on this paper and a couple of

times it made them smell funny. i had to dump one batch because i

didn't trust the smell.

i went online and see that nesco has ready made screens and whatnot

for their dehydrators. probably all plastic, but so is the

dehydrator :-) in any case i'll try cheesecloth first and see how

that goes. thanks for the suggestion!

suze

[Guest guest]

> ----->well i'm not sure if the air could get through, and my

> unbleached parchment paper has some sort of waxy coating, which could

> possibly be some petro-chemical or something of that nature. i used

> to do my crispy almonds in the oven on this paper and a couple of

> times it made them smell funny. i had to dump one batch because i

> didn't trust the smell.

I get my parchment paper at the restaurant supply store and it's

literally just paper--no coating, no nothing. They're for lining sheet

cakes and a half of a sheet lines the average cookie sheet. I've never

had a weird smell from this. I can look up the maker if you (or anyone

else) would like, but any restaurant supply or grocery supply has

something similar, and for almost nothing, relatively speaking. We got

a huge box that would last your average bakery probably a week and me

the rest of my life. I'm sure the air can get through via the

central " core " of the dryer (if you're using an American Harvester

type), since the fruit leather sheets are " opaque " too.

Lynn S.

-----

Lynn Siprelle * Writer, Mother, Programmer, Fiber Artisan

The New Homemaker: http://www.newhomemaker.com/

Siprelle & Associates: http://www.siprelle.com/

People-Powered ! http://www.deanforamerica.com/

[Guest guest]

Chris-

You just drop them on the tray whole, not run through a food processor or

anything? I guess freezing bursts a lot of the cell walls, which would

allow moisture to escape. What temperature do you use?

>I dehydrated frozen blueberries with no problem. Maybe freezing them would

>do the trick?

-

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 11/12/03 12:26:41 AM Eastern Standard Time,

Idol@... writes:

> You just drop them on the tray whole, not run through a food processor or

> anything? I guess freezing bursts a lot of the cell walls, which would

> allow moisture to escape. What temperature do you use?

I did. I don't have a dehydrator, so I dehydrated them in the oven, around

100-110 F. I use to oven thermometers and adjust the knob accordingly over a

few hours to get the precise temp I want.

Chris

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 11/9/03 9:51:58 AM Eastern Standard Time,

kristenchavez@... writes:

> Don't cranberries have a sort of waxy finish on the outside? Maybe this

> prevents moisture loss,

All fruits and plants have a wax coating on the outside for that exact

purpose. Cranberries just seem to have more of it.

Chris

[Guest guest]

This is probably a late reply, but my dehydrator has plastic trays for making

fruit leather. What I'm saying is using foil or parchment would work the same

way and you don't need to put slits in it, there are not slits in the plastic

trays that I have.

Michele

>

> What about parchment paper?

>

----->well i'm not sure if the air could get through, and my

unbleached parchment paper has some sort of waxy coating, which could

possibly be some petro-chemical or something of that nature.