Once upon a time, I was the shopper who bought what I needed for our groceries for a week. If something happened to be on sale, that was fine but it wasn’t a priority. These days, I rarely buy anything that isn’t on sale and when I find things on sale that I know keep well, I stock up. It’s sometimes hard for me to understand that not everyone does things the way I do, nor do they want to do things the way I do but it’s so nice not only buying things on sale, but also having so much of what I need in my own pantry.
Mushrooms
A couple of days ago, I was again talking to my friend, Judy, and she mentioned dehydrating mushrooms. That is one ingredient that I either need for a recipe and don’t have, or I buy them and either don’t use them before they go bad or only use part of them and the rest of them go bad. After talking with Judy, I grabbed my Kroger ad and there were no mushrooms on sale but when Vince and I were out Thursday and we went by Kroger for a few things, I looked to see what the price of mushrooms was and there they were . . marked down mushrooms. The “use by” date was still a couple of days away but they were marked down from $3.99 to $1.99 so I bought all four packages that were marked down.
I didn’t want to run the dehydrator for 4 or 5 hours half full so I cut a bunch of green onions from the garden and sliced them to fill up the dehydrator.
Ready for the Dehydrator
It ended up that the mushrooms filled the dehydrator and there were enough left over to fill a couple of shelves for a second batch.
Dehydrator
The onions dry more quickly than do the mushrooms so when these photos were taken, there were still mushrooms in the dehydrator.
Dehydrated Veggies
By the time everything was finished, I had 4 pints and 5 half pints of mushrooms, 3 pints and one half pint of green onions. They were vacuum sealed in jars once they were cooled. When I need these, I’ll pop the seal, use what I want, re-seal the lid and they will keep for several years without a diminution in flavor.
Once the veggies are dehydrated, I could also put them in the blender and pulverize them into a powder, and sometimes I do it that way.
When I’m ready to use these, I can either sprinkle them directly into a dish, or soak them in warm water to rehydrate them, drain them and use them as I would fresh ones.
There are enough green onions in the garden now that if I dehydrated them all, they would last me through at least one year. It would be really frustrating for me if I didn’t save them and then during the winter, I had to purchase those little packages of sad looking green onions for over $1 for a dozen or so green onion blades. Just a little work and I’ll have home grown, pesticide free, never touched by anyone’s hands but my own green onions til next year’s crop is ready and we can start the process all over again.
We have used the Excalibur dehydrator for several years and we use it a lot during the summer. Often I have several loads of items waiting to be dehydrated and sometimes keep it running day and night so yesterday I ordered a second one. That’s how much we love the Excalibur! I got the 3900B, which is a newer model than the one I currently use. Still 9 drawers . . everything is pretty much the same. They do have the same model with an upgrade – a timer that can be set. It costs a little more and I’m not sure why it’s needed. I don’t see how you would really burn anything in it . . even if I had to leave the house and it dehydrated for an hour or so more than I had planned, it wouldn’t hurt most things. Also, I use mine on the front porch and if it goes off, there’s a chance of bugs getting in there so if there’s food in it, it’s running. Therefore, I didn’t spend the extra money to get the model with the timer.
Most of us who use the Excalibur have used other models previously and I think any Excalibur user will tell you they are one of the best dehydrators out there. If you do much dehydrating at all, I think you would be absolutely in love with an Excalibur.
shirley bruner says
we had a different model dehydrator….that my husband bought….and hated it. i bought an Excalibur because you said it was the best….and you were right. i love it and use it a lot, especially in the summer. i always use your advice….it is always good advice. thank you, Judy
Judy Laquidara says
We’ve had several through the years and I would probably have completely given up on dehydrating had I not tried the Excalibur. Glad you like yours.
Judy D in WA says
My Nesco has been running all night with carrots, celery, mushrooms and cilantro. When I buy another it will be an Excalibur but I borrowed my daughter’s to run a second one today,
Judy Laquidara says
Do you put the stuff in jars and seal them or use the bags?
WyoPat says
When you chop your green onions before dehydrating them, do you use the white bulb part, too? Do you also dehydrate chives?
Kate says
Judy, I am curious – if something is dehydrated, can you store it in plastic, or does it need to be kept in jars? Would good Ziploc bags or sealed plastic bags work as well? thanks for keeping us all thinking about new ways to do things.
Sherrill says
Excalibur EXD400B 4 Tray Dehydrator, Black — so like this one would be as good just smaller? You probably have the stainless and this one’s not. I have a Nesco and have ONLY tried bananas in it but didn’t like the way they turned out. Maybe they weren’t done quite long enough but wound up throwing away.
Linda in NE says
Love my Excalibur!! Though I also have one of those little round ones that I’ll use for just a bit of something that won’t fit in the Excalibur.
Mary-Kay says
Are you using the Food Saver to remove the air from the jars? I must say you have certainly inspired me to start gardening and canning. Not that I have a big space to garden but I’m going to give it a try this growing season. I have tons of canning jars, I just need some new lids. Baby steps, maybe a dehydrator next season.
Cindi says
We went to Aldi’s this afternoon and they had 8 oz. packages of white mushrooms marked down to 25 cents. My hubby picked up a couple and put them in the cart, and I started tossing in more. He wondered what I was going to do with all those mushrooms. I told him about you dehydrating them. We got 8 boxes and about 5 are now in the dehydrator. The rest I will cook or he will munch on raw over the next couple days. I just have a round countertop dehydrator, so hope they turn out well.
Gardenpat says
Love, love, love my Excalibur! I have jars of dried mushroom slices, strawberries, bananas,peppers and the list goes on and on! I even dehydrated slices of pumpkin and then blended them into powder to reconstitute for anything that calls for pumpkin puree! Put it into jars and sealed with Food Saver (another love-it appliance!) and it takes up so much less space than if I froze the puree!
Sara Schmidt says
Judy, a question for you. You say that you use it outside, I think that I would do that too to keep the temps in the house down. My question is, would that work for me too as I live in the crazy humidity of Alabama? What do you think, would I need to run it longer? Being a novice, I just don’t know which way to go. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us!
Margaret R says
Judy, I love soaking up all your knowledge. After a post like this it would be extra special nice if you would do a post answering all the questions asked in the comments. This curious mide would like to know your answers because they are the same questions I have. Thanks for sharing and being so helpful.
Joyce - WV says
Judy, here in WV, the morel mushrooms are up and we found a bunch. I was wondering if I could dehydrate those. I’ve canned them, and they were terrible. Love all the great information I gleam from your blog!