Dehydrating...

This year we have one raised bed that has had some kitchen herbs growing in it (parsley, basil, oregano, thyme, sage...), and right now the parsley is growing like mad. I hate to water it and water it just to see it grow and die, so I have been dehydrating it and storing it in jars when I don't have anything to use it in. Storing it for when I need it is awesome. I don't have to run to the store for 2 Tbsp of parsley, I just open the cabinet and there it is. I have found the canning jars to be the best place to store our homegrown herbs because they seal out the moisture very nicely.

Someday I will have a beautiful large-scale dehydrator (like the Excalibur) but for now I have our Snackmaster (that actually dehydrates quite a bit!). It has 5 trays and is about 15 years old and plastic. I'm not happy with the plastic part and the fact that it is so old but someday I'll have a much safer one for my family. It is a little awkward being round and I am sure a square or rectangle would fit more but for now, this is what we have.

Our Snackmaster loaded up with parsley.

Here are 2 of my dehydrated homegrown herbs, rosemary and parsley. And yes, those are pint jars!

We have plans to try dehydrating tomato sauce and making fruit leather this year. The boys are going backpacking quite a bit now so they want to start taking dehydrated foods to lighten their load. Stay tune for that!

Thanks for stopping in!

Jen