New Thing #351--Going Bananas

Today I used a food dehydrator to dry fruit.

Son Brian's is a pro with his food dehydrator. His specialty is beef jerky, but he's also dabbled with drying apples and other fruits. For Christmas I got a dehydrator of my own, and I was excited to try it out. I've sun-dried tomatoes a couple of times in the summer, but it's hard to do in the Midwest humidity, and a pain to bring the trays in each night and when it rains. It's also impossible to sun dry anything in our cold winter weather.

A food dehydrator has an electric element for heat and a fan for air circulation. Dehydrators work by increasing air current around food to remove the moist air, which makes the whole drying process is faster and easier.

My dehydrator fit nicely on the island in the kitchen. It has a lid that contains the heater and fan; the lid sits on top of four round stackable trays. (However, I can buy more trays and expand the tower up to 12 layers). It has adjustable temperature settings for herbs, nuts, fruits and vegetables, and meats. Another nice feature is a top handle that makes it easy to check on things by lifting up the entire lid.

Brian was full of information about the dehydrator, the operation of my setup, and the drying process. I barely had to read the manual!

I decided to dry bananas today. They're easily available, inexpensive, and wouldn't take as much preparation as some other fruits. The biggest problem with bananas is their tendency to turn brown. I peeled and sliced them, tossed the slices in an ascorbic acid mixture, then laid them out on two layers of the dehydrator. The slices completely filled each tray.

The directions indicated the bananas would dry in 6-12 hours. However, if the surrounding air is humid, then drying will take longer. Our weather forecast called for several inches of rain over the course of the day, so at the six hour mark the bananas were still quite rubbery. They were also a bit browner than I would have liked, but they tasted good. The fruit flavor was intensifying nicely.

After about nine hours the process was almost complete. I took most of the dry banana chips out, leaving a few that were still sticky. Ten hours after I started, I was cleaning the racks and getting ready to put the dehydrator away.

The bananas had shrunk substantially in the dehydration process. I started with a little over two pounds of fruit, and finished with two cups of chips.

I'm looking forward to drying fruits and vegetables, and making fruit leathers and jerky