WHY talk about an Air Fry Toaster Oven on the Herbs Forum?

[Dirtmechanic]

Small batches, That is why I thought drying herbs would be perfect. Unlike vegetables you usually only harvest small batches at a time.
DD's have a dishwasher and they set it to run middle of the night. I like that the trays are dishwasher safe.
I have looked into dehydrating bananas to make chips, and I understand that you need to coat them in sugar to get the taste of the store bought ones.
Never been a fan of sun dried tomatoes, but I could see DD trying that and liking it better than me.
And...of course, there Will be toast!

Try to understand the magical relationship between banana and mayo oil in your dehydrating and tell me your findings. PLEASE?

 

[ducks4you]

Dehydrating is a great way to preserve a small batch of something that doesn't freeze well. Just a couple of something? A few mushrooms left in the box and you are too sick of mushrooms to eat them? Only takes a few minutes to slap on the dehydrator! Slowly over the course of the summer I acquire enough bits and bobs of things to last me all winter. I tend to use them up in soups and casseroles, things I can toss them in without rehydrating them.

Once it gets hot enough that I need the air conditioner, I stick the dehydrator in a room far away from the thermostat and close the door. I once made the air run constantly for two days because I left it in the kitchen, too close to the thermostat. Oops, lol

AND, all dehydrated herbs keep Very well in canning jars. I often buy fruit in jars, like from Aldi. Their solid lids Fit Ball, Kerr and other jar tops--not the wide ones, unfortunately--and I clean up and use Those lids to store dehydrated herbs AND dehydrated peppers, bc the peppers don't take up a lot of space.
This is where I use stick on labels. Hate to use those for product like tomatoes bc I keep reusing those jars much more often. It's a pain to clean the labels off of the jars. But, @Prairie Rose, Anything in a jar takes no electricity to store.

 

[flowerbug]

AND, all dehydrated herbs keep Very well in canning jars. I often buy fruit in jars, like from Aldi. Their solid lids Fit Ball, Kerr and other jar tops--not the wide ones, unfortunately--and I clean up and use Those lids to store dehydrated herbs AND dehydrated peppers, bc the peppers don't take up a lot of space.
This is where I use stick on labels. Hate to use those for product like tomatoes bc I keep reusing those jars much more often. It's a pain to clean the labels off of the jars. But, @Prairie Rose, Anything in a jar takes no electricity to store.

when i was making more cooked jams i would keep all store bought jam jars and lids to reuse for odds and ends when i was making batches. they always worked and haven't failed me, but i only did it for the tail ends of things instead of using a regular canning lid and jar. waste not want not... when the lid started looking kinda beat up too much or wouldn't clean up well enough then it was time to recycle it. we keep canning lids from most pickled things or the tomatoes because we freeze a lot of portions of various meals in jars and so can reuse those a few times too. they're cleaned and washed and inspected to make sure they're sound/safe. the only thing i use new lids for in the freezer is the strawberry freezer jam, but instead of using the high priced name brand lids i can get by with the off brand bulk lids. i just warm those up and put them on and tighten down the lid really firm and that is a good enough seal for those jars. i just don't want them to leak or get any freezer burn type off-notes sneaking in.

when i was doing pickled garlic i put up an entire case of store bought used 18oz jars/lids with 100% ground garlic. it turned out very well as a relish for pretty much anything (hot dogs and kraut really got kicked up another notch for sure using this) and as a really good ingredient to add to bbq sauces. it was more like a sweet and sour relish not just pickled. it took me about 5yrs to use it all up and give it away. i've not grown that much garlic since then so i don't know if i'll ever repeat that recipe in such a large batch.

 

[henless]

I love using my dehydrator. My favorite is sweet onions. I love the smell of them as they dry.

 

[ducks4you]

@henless, every time I dehydrate onions I burn them. How doyou do yours?

 

[Ridgerunner]

For onions, I use a dehydrator, not an oven or toaster. If I remember right I set the temperature at 135 F, while I use 95 F for herbs. I chop them, don't leave them whole or in big chunks. With the fan constantly going they still take a while but turn out well. I mostly use them in soups or when I make chicken broth and don't have fresh onions. I turn them after a day or so to keep them from sticking so bad. My dehydrator has solid inserts to put over that mesh so stuff is easier to clean off. Before I got those inserts I'd use parchment paper to put over the mesh to keep stuff from sticking so bad. I'd think wax paper would work well too.

That's one of my questions on that toaster/oven. How low can you set the temperature? Another is if the fan is constantly running? I don't want to heat the herbs up very hot, afraid I'll cook the flavor out of them. I've never tried herbs higher than 95 F. What kind of experiences have others had with warmer temperatures? How much difference does it really make?

 

[Dirtmechanic]

I want to know about drying onions too. 95f I presume? Any citric acid to preserve color or something else perhaps? And sidenote: I too am a pickled garlic fan! @Ridgerunner my breville shows 86f as a low temp, with a no fan, convection, super convection fan choice.

 

[Ridgerunner]

My dehydrator has a range of 95 to 155. The 95 is for herbs and spices, 135 is suggested for fruits, berries, and veggies, and 155 is for meat and fish. I dehydrate in an outbuilding because of the noise and smells plus I don't want to heat up the house. Ambient temperature outside can approach 95 , especially with the heat from the dehydrator. Humidity can be pretty high too. I imagine your conditions are similar outside. Outside humidity especially can slow down dehydrating for me.

I don't use citric acid or anything to stop discoloration, but I don't see why you couldn't. It's just something I've never worried about with onions. With apples and peaches, yeah.

 

[henless]

I don't use anything on my onions, but I do blanch them. It helps them rehydrate faster & it helps them dehydrate faster. I usually do about 9lbs to fill my trays on my dehydrator. I put them on in the afternoon, they are usually done by morning. I have an the dehydrator that has NO temp gauge on it. It was a Christmas present from my family and they didn't know that I wanted one with a temp dial on it. I dehydrate a lot on it, just not herbs.

 

[ducks4you]

I have a super simple dehydrator, NO temperature controls. I like the idea of blanching them before dehydrating. Gonna have to wait until late next week before we could even try DD's new machine. I will let you know.