Saturday Surprise — Dusting off the Dehydrator (Again)
August 29, 2020
First off, THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART for all of the awesome comments and offers of support last week after my post about my recent struggles with this writing career.
I do want to clarify one thing, though: I’m NOT giving up writing. I’m just in the “pivot” stage, figuring out what is next for me. The post was also a way to let my readers/followers know which series would be affected. At this time I will have 2 releases for sure in 2021 — I just can’t talk about them at this time 😝
Okay, onto the weird thing I decided to continue: use of my dehydrator. My cherry tomato plants put out just enough produce that it’s more than we can eat, but not enough to can. I posted a pics of the red cherry tomatoes I dried and packed in oil. And when my yellow cherry tomato plant went crazy, I opted to dehydrate them too. Except this time, I put them in spicy olive oil. I can’t wait to use them in something!
We tend to buy a lot of fruit in the summer, and since the dehydrator was already sitting out on the counter, I thought, what the hell. I’ll dry some fruit too. (I hate waste) The grapes turned into lovely raisins.
The plums didn’t taste like prunes at all–likely because of how I sliced them. And I did squeeze lime juice on them and that really kicked up the taste.
I also had a couple of older apples so I cut them up and dosed them with lime juice too.
And yes, I did dry the tomatoes, the plums and the apples all at the same time. I think I started out with the grapes too, but those took a lot longer to dry. I had an epic fail with the cranberries I attempted to dry. They turned into these…puffy shells. Since they were whole, unsweetened cranberries, they were yuck. But not nearly as yuck as this:
My folks brought me a HUGE muskmelon from Woonsocket, SD which is called the melon capital of the US, and where my family’s farm/homestead is. I love muskmelon, it’s got a more pungent flavor than cantelope. I ate as much as I could and then wondered…what dried muskmelon would taste like. The pic of it dried–gross looking, huh?
STRAIGHT INTO THE TRASH.
So, my folks also brought me a huge watermelon. Yep, you guessed it, I chopped some of that sucker up and dried it. Pretty huh?
I think I might’ve sliced them too thin 1/4-1/2 inch, but I was afraid bigger pieces would take forever to dry. Guess what? Dried watermelon is GOOD. It’s very sweet, a little chewy. This, I’d definitely do again. I did freeze some pieces of watermelon to use in watermelon margaritas 🍉🍹
For some reason, I didn’t get pics of the peaches I dried. To be honest, they turned out the best. Don’t know what I’ll make with any of this fruit (maybe a fruitcake of some sort over the holidays?) but I plan to keep the dehydrator out on the counter throughout the fall.
We’re headed to Denver next weekend and it is prime Colorado peach season, so I’m hoping to hit a farmer’s market for peaches (millions of peaches, peaches for me — bonus points if you remember who sang that little ditty) and I hope to make some peach jam or peach mango jam.
Tell me, gardeners…what great bounties do you have? Anyone who wants to chime in with how they’re handling fresh produce, I’d love to hear about it!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and again, THANK YOU for your support and visiting the blog. I’ll keep blogging as long as you all are interested 💟
L~
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Anne Stevens said:
You had me at watermelon margaritas lol. I had tons of blueberries and my apples on my 5 way tree are about readY to pick!
Janice Clark said:
First. Presidents of the United States. I love that song. Second, don’t have a dehydrator, but sounds like fun. I made plum jam that was to die for. Finally, glad to hear you haven’t given up on us completely. Looking forward to your next release. Enjoy Denver
Sharon said:
My garden was mostly a fail this year. My tomatoes produced very little but I got them in the ground late and then it got too hot for them to produce. I was sad, I enjoyed the few we got but overall it was a bust. I planted 3 thyme plants and only one has survived and it’s doing okay, we’ve used some in cooking. I’d love to be able to keep one year round but not sure it will make it inside. My rosemary had done okay, not great in all honesty I think our heat just doesn’t help. My basil has gone nuts, I have three plants that have produced non stop. I hate pesto, so not sure what to do with it to make it last. Maybe I’ll see if I can freeze the leaves? Glad you had a good bounty and enjoy dehydrating and your trip to Colorado!
Deb Morton said:
I had a ton of okra and jalapenos, so I canned them all. I ended up with 34 jars.😊😊😊
Anne Fortunato said:
I got Roma tomatoes from my CSA and made Bloody Mary Tomato Salad. Yummy!!
Connie said:
I wouldn’t count on a lot of peaches next weekend because of the fires in that area I have not seen any pop up stands selling them or any in the grocery stores.
Melinda Hennies said:
I Love Colorado peaches but they is very verh limited crop as it froze!!! If u get some..eat them all and think of me…
Safe Travels James Family.. You get Grandma snuggles ❤
Bobbie Sue Kearse said:
Well, we love your writing and we all have our favorites. I admit I’ll be sad we never got to see what happens to kyler. That said I will read whatever you write and support you whole heartedly. I’ve always wanted a dehydrator myself. The yellow tomato’s look amazing.
Rebecca said:
Can’t wait for your next releases! Peaches & watermelon are my favorites but I’ve never used our dehydrator. That is used solely for jerky during hunting season. (We have 4) We got lots of tomatoes ( spaghetti sauce) and cucumbers this year. Just a few green peppers. The onions got really big this year which is great because I use them daily. My pumpkins didn’t get too big this year but the kids are excited they grew at all. It’s definitely been a trying year. Hope you guys have an awesome time in Denver, grandma time!! Enjoy
Moran said:
First of all I’m so happy you’ll have 2 book releases for sure in 2021 !!!
Second, I love the pictures of all the fruits before and after, it’s so cool that you dehydrate them yourself and you can control what you put into the fruits. I buy dehydrate fruits and I try to buy the natural ones without added sugar and other preserves.
I love summer fruits and I try to eat them fresh every day but I also buy frozen fruits for smoothies.
I got a big shipment on Thursday and now I have enough frozen fruits for a few months.
Tracy Barbour said:
Peaches by Presidents of the United States! Remember I’m a peach princess from the PEACH state!!!🍑
Aileen Daproza said:
denver? I live in Denver! Let me know if you need any recommendations.
April Pawless said:
My very first concert was the Presidents of the United States. I love that song. Also if you get enough peaches try this peach bread pudding with Preach Crown sauce. Its my recipe and it is oh so good. https://musingsofmyeverydaylife.blogspot.com/2019/10/easy-peach-bread-pudding-peach-whiskey.html
Ellen Bartel said:
I think I’d like the dehydrated watermelon! I’m still getting blackberries here in MA and with those I make blackberry syrup and sangria. Next to ripen here are my peaches (they’re late bloomers). Last year I got so many peaches from my one tree, I made peach jam…yum! I also made a pie, which I didn’t care for too much. The year before I made peach moonshine, that was delish! My peaches are white peaches so they’re not really good for canning, which stinks because I love eating peaches out of the can/jar.
NANCY EVERITT said:
You can make great fruit rollups (fruit leather) in dehydrator. We used to make strawberry fruit rollups in dehydrator when I was younger. Better than buying the ones in the store. Also, banana chips with honey drizzled on the nana slices before dehydrating. They are amazing.