7 Ways to Dehydrate and Preserve Your Food

After coming back from the supermarket with fresh fruits and vegetables, it is important to know how to store them, while at the same time making sure that they don’t lose their nutritional value. One of the most practical techniques is to dry or dehydrate the food in order to get the most out of it.

5-Minute Crafts shows you how to do that step-by-step. Dehydrating fruits and vegetables is a fairly simple way of preserving your food for a long time and making sure you always have something healthy at home for when you’re hungry.

1. How to dehydrate mushrooms

Instructions:

1. Stick a large skewer through a number of mushrooms to keep them from moving. Then cut them into very thin slices, about 5 millimeters thick.
2. Insert a needle with a long and strong thread through the head of each slice.
3. Separate each slice by at least 5 cm, until there are around 15 slices on each thread.
4. When you have several threads full of cut mushrooms, dry them in the sun for about 2 days.
5. Keep them in an airtight glass container with a lid once they are ready.

2. How to dehydrate mint, parsley, oregano, and rosemary

Instructions:

1. Soak your fresh herbs (mint, parsley, oregano, or rosemary) in a glass bowl with water and salt and tie them together using string.
2. Place each string of herbs on a clothes hanger using a paper clip or by just tying the string to the hanger.
3. Let them dry completely.
4. Prepare your glass jars by labeling them, one for each herb.
5. Detach all the dried leaves from the twigs using your fingers and put them in their airtight containers. Cover with a lid.

3. How to dehydrate tomatoes

Instructions:

1. Cut the tomatoes in half.
2. Place them on a tray and sprinkle salt over them.
3. Let them dry in the sun.
4. When they are dry, put them in an airtight glass container and fill it with olive oil.
5. Keep them in the refrigerator.

4. How to dehydrate garlic

Instructions:

1. The fastest way to peel a head of garlic is to put it inside a jar, shake it, and that’s it, your garlic will be peeled by the movement in the jar.
2. Grind the garlic heads with the help of a food processor. If you prefer, you can also chop them with a knife or a garlic press.
3. Dry the chopped garlic for 2 to 3 hours in the oven at 77°C.
4. Crush the dried garlic again with the help of a food processor, or you can also grind it by hand, until it is pulverized and ready!

5. How to dehydrate kale

Instructions:

1. Chop the kale into small or medium sized chunks, depending on what you like.
2. Place the chopped kale on a baking sheet.
3. Add oil and salt to taste, mix well.
4. Put the tray in the oven until the kale is very dry.

6. How to dehydrate pears

Instructions:

1. Slice the pears into very thin slices.
2. Place them on a baking tray.
3. Use a spoon to sprinkle each slice with white or colored sugar.
4. Bake the pears in the oven at 150°C, and let them sit there until they are dry.
5. Turn them over and repeat the process from step 3 onward.

7. How to dehydrate orange peels

Instructions:

1. Peel the oranges with a cutter. It’s very important to not damage the peel while doing this.
2. Once you have the quantity of peel you want to dehydrate, put it in a pot, fill the pot with water, and bring it to a boil.
3. Let the water boil for a few minutes.
4. Use a strainer to remove the boiled orange peels.
5. You can add sugar to taste and enjoy!

Tips

• Dehydrated mushrooms can be used in pasta recipes or on sandwiches.
• Dried herbs, mint, parsley, oregano, and rosemary can be used to season your favorite sauce. You can also mix mayonnaise with your favorite herb and serve it with French fries.
• Dried tomatoes are ideal in salads, sandwiches, and on pizzas. You can also use them to make red pesto.
• Dried garlic is a great add-in to soups, fried foods, and baked bread with butter.
• Instead of having processed supermarket snacks, you can now have dried kale instead. It is a very healthy snack.
• You can use your colorful dried pears to decorate a cake.
• Dried orange peels are excellent to have with fruit infusions or as a dessert.