A vacuum-sealed jar of dehydrated apples.
Wash, peel and core apples.
Slice the apples into 1/4 inch thick slices.
Put the apple slices into an citric acid mixture. This helps prevent discoloring and helps preserve the fruit. Citric acid is available in most grocery stores or places where they sell canning or dehydrating supplies.
Dry at 150 degrees Fahrenheit for 2 to 3 hours. The time varies considerably, so check the apples periodically.
When they easily break in half, they are done. Turn the dehydrator off. Allow the apples to cool. Pack into an airtight container if possible. If not, put them in a canning jar in a cabinet or into a freezer bag and freeze them.
Filed under Dehydrating by on Oct 13th, 2011. Comment. 
That's a lot of limes! 460 pounds worth!
Last week I went to the local Mission Mart to do some shopping. They were giving away limes. This was the second year in a row for this to happen. The lady behind the counter said to take what I wanted because most people did not know what to do with limes and if no one took them, they would get tossed.
Whole limes in the freezer.
By this time I had filled about six grocery bags with limes and answered several people’s questions about what to do with limes. It was wonderful to see people begin to fill bags with limes once they knew they could freeze them and use them as they needed to. I took several bags of limes to others who were not able to get out, then I headed home.
Once I returned home, the first batch of limes went into the freezer since that was the fastest way to deal with them and I was busy that day. My friend Shirley told me last year all you have to do is put them in a freezer bag and freeze this. This is true for any of the citrus fruits. No washing, no peeling, no juicing! Nothing could be easier! Best of all, when you are ready to juice them, just let them thaw at room temperature and you will get a lot more juice than you would if you juiced them when they were fresh.
Of course, if you are like most people, you have limited room in your freezer for limes. That was my next problem when I went back and the limes were still there. I wanted to take more to keep them from being thrown away, but what on earth was I going to do with them?
Fresh limes being juiced.
Lime juice certainly takes up a lot less room in the freezer than whole limes, but you have to divide it out into small portions to prevent thawing too much at once. That is very time consuming. Trust me, I did that last year.
Fresh-squeezed lime juice being canned.
So, I went in search of a recipe for canning. Jerry was the one who actually came across one. Lucky for me! I went to my Ball books first and there was no mention of canning lime juice in them. So we began juicing – and are still juicing limes! Canning lime juice is easy. Here in Indiana we cold pack the pints for 5 minutes and the quarts for 10 minutes.
The left over lime peels ready for me to freeze until I am ready to use them.
After you juice the limes, you are going to end up with a ton of highly fragrant lime peels. Be sure to save them. You can candy them, distill them, zest them or use them in a variety of crafts such as potpourri once the peels are dry. I put my peels in freezer bags and freeze them until I have time to put them in the dehydrator, in the still or use them in a recipe.
In the end, I ended up with 460 pounds of limes – and there were still a ton left. I’m not sure if people finally started taking what was left or where they ended up. I hope someone took them. I hate seeing food wasted.
Filed under Canning, Dehydrating, Food Preservation, Freezing by on Oct 12th, 2011. Comment.
The summmer of 2009 we received a Shiitake Mushroom kit from Fungi Perfecti. I set up the Shiitake mushroom kit in the corner of the kitchen and grew a few mushrooms.
Several months later I moved the Shiitake Mushroom kit to the greenhouse, setting it in a corner that was partially shaded. I refilled the saucer the kit sat in with rain water and waited to see what would happen. We noticed more Shiitake Mushrooms were beginning to form. Yesterday we removed those mushrooms noticing more were forming underneath of the ones we were removing.
Once the Shiitake Mushrooms were removed, we brought them inside and rinsed them under cold running water, then set them aside on a plate while we researched different methods of preservation such as canning, freezing and dehydrating. We decided dehydrating them would be the best choice for us.
The next step in the process involved cutting them into either 1/8 inch slices or 1/4 inch slices and removing any of the stem pieces that were tough.
My initial concern was that these slices looked pretty big and I was not sure they would dry quickly. The instructions I found on dehydrating mushrooms said they should dry within 6 to 8 hours.
Once all the Shiitake Mushrooms were sliced, it was time to put them onto the dehydrator tray. I have several dehydrators, some with fans, some without fans. I chose to use one without a fan that simply used a gentle heat only. Jerry felt this method would be the one that most resembled drying in natural sunlight.
I laid the pieces of the Shiitake Mushrooms onto the drying rack, making sure there was plenty of space around each piece so the heat could easily circulate and they would dry evenly. Every hour I would go in and turn the Shiitake Mushrooms over so the heat could heat both sides equally. Within about six hours, the mushrooms were dry.
I left them sit on the trays in the dehydrator overnight so they would cool and I could check to make sure they were done. I checked them for dryness by trying to bend one. It snapped easily, so I knew they were done.
From the dehydrator tray they went into a glass jar with a screw on plastic lid. The jar was labeled with the contents and the date, then put into a cool, dark cabinet for storage.
The Shiitake Mushrooms can now be rehydrated by soaking them in water or another liquid or simply tossed into a soup base where they will rehydrate on their own.
Filed under Dehydrating, Food Preservation by on Jan 6th, 2010. 2 Comments.
I really expect the winter months to be bad this year due to increasing prices and the fact that the stores are already having bare shelves. With the produce season in full swing, prices should be coming down and store shelves should be fully stocked. Even though no one really knows what lies ahead it is better to be prepared than to do without.
So far I have put up quite a bit for winter. I go out early every morning to see what is available to can, freeze or dehydrate for that day. Last night I was blessed with ten dozen canning jars – that makes almost 500 jars! I only need 1,000 more! I just might make it.
Here is what we have put up for winter so far – and the list grows daily.
6 half pints of rose jelly
2 half pints of rose honey
2 two pound packages of honey wheat bread
2 one and a half pound packages of honey wheat bread
1 package of orange sugar cookies
4 pacakges of peanut butter and oatmeal (mixed flavors) cookies
4 packages of dinner rolls
1 pacakage of honey spice cookies
4 pounds of noodles
3 quarts plus 1 1/2 pints of chicken broth
5 pints plus one half pint of strawberries
1 pint spinach
3 half pound pacakges of sugar snap peas
1 pint of carrots
1 pint plus 14 four ounce jars of grape jelly
7 pints of tomato juice
7 four ounce jars plus 1 6 oz. jar of lemon balm and lemon verbena jelly
1 half gallon of mixed herb vinegar which I will divide up once it is ready
1 pint black stem peppermint leaves
2 pints sage leaves
1 quart lavender flowers
1 quart chocolate mint – still filling the jar
1 pint lime balm – still filling the jar
1 pint rosemary
2 pints tarragon
1 pint oregano – still filling the jar
I have raisins in the dehydrator. I have no idea how many I will get but I am guessing around a pint. I may package these in little zip bags to make division easier.
I am heading back outside now to see if there are anymore ripe strawberries or any vegetables ready to harvest.
Sheri
Filed under Canning, Dehydrating, Food Preservation, Freezing by on Oct 31st, 2009. Comment.
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