"George Shirley" > wrote in message
...
> Green Newb wrote:
>>
>> "George Shirley" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>> Green Newb wrote:
>>>> I got my Food Dehydrator early and wow what a lot of fun! The smells
>>>> that are coming from that unit are amazing! Making me constantly
>>>> hungry.
>>>>
>>>> My first ever drying: Oregano from my Garden. I had a 14 inch Tray, 3
>>>> inches high of washed Oregano. Dried it and ended up with 15 grams of
>>>> dried Oregano, hahahah. Looked in my cupboard and a sachet of Dried
>>>> Oregano contains 8 grams. Therefore, I made, nearly two little Oregano
>>>> sachets. Will check out the price next time I go shopping, but think
>>>> its really cheap. Was it worth it? Probably not, but its a lot of
>>>> fun. Smelt like Spaghettie bolognaise cooking. Could drive a person
>>>> mad!
>>>
>>> If you use dried herbs in cooking be aware that you only use half as
>>> much dried as you would fresh. If the recipe calls for two spoons of
>>> fresh only use one of dried.
>>>>
>>>> I had a tray spare, when prepping the oregano, so I sliced up some
>>>> onion. They weren't done when the Oregano was, so I added more trays of
>>>> onion slices. MMMMmmmm French Onion soup smell.
>>>>
>>>> No one ever mentions that little side effect
>>>
>>> I've had my dehydrator for more years than I care to remember. It has
>>> dried many trays of basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, etc. All of which
>>> get sealed in an air tight container for later use. Today I'm going to
>>> harvest and then dehydrate at least one tray of Mexican Mint Marigold,
>>> an herb that closely approximates the taste of French tarragon. The MMM
>>> grows wild around here so is plentiful. I think there may be one more
>>> tray of basil in the herb garden and I will check my supply of oregano
>>> and maybe put on a tray of that.
>>>
>>> Some things need to be dehydrated outside though, you will discover
>>> which ones that turn your stomach while drying but taste good when done.
>>> <G>
>>
>> Oh, please tell me . I have basil, just starting to grow, 8 plants of
>> Thyme, which I plan on dehydrating. I brought a Rosemary plant and took
>> cuttings of it and made 4 more plants. Recently I stumbled across some
>> warnings for Rosemary. I need to research that. Is that the one that
>> turns your stomach?
>
> No, wasn't rosemary, but we still had to do rosemary out in the garage,
> smelled too much like a pine tree like the ones that people put on their
> rear view mirrors. I'm pretty sure it was garlic chives that smelled so
> bad. I shut the thing down and threw them out. They grow year around here
> anyway so just go out and pick what you need when you need it.
>>
>> My husband smelt the onion, wafting outside. He came in and said: Oh my
>> god where are the sausage rolls? I said um.... Thanks for the tip on how
>> much to use. I had a little taste of the dried onion and it was lovely.
>> Does the Basil come out good? I make mint sauce, out of my mint, using
>> fresh.
>
> Basil drys good but is useless for sauces and pesto when dried. For that
> you should freeze some. Do a search on rfp for freezing basil and you will
> probably get plenty of hits. I make pesto in large amounts but without the
> cheese. I then freeze it for a couple of hours on a large bun sheet, take
> a pizza cutter and cut it into squares that will fit inside a quart vacuum
> bag, and seal it and put back into the freezer. Stacks well.
>>
>> I haven't got any vegies, ready yet. I plan on drying Spring Onions
>> next, when they grow a little more. Going from seed to harvest with all
>> the vegies, so far has been a little tricky, but so far so good.
>
> Scallions don't do well in the dehydrator for me, they get so dry they
> never rehydrate whatever liquid you put them in. I gave up on them and we
> have bunching onions growing in every cinder block that makes up the
> perimeter of our garden. Planted them ten years ago and just pull a few,
> cut the green part off, let them air dry in the shed, then replant them to
> start another batch.

Oh thats a very handy tip! Thank you. (onions) Rosemary grows all year
around here too, so I shall just pick it when I need it. My garlic chives
never grew. In a way, phew lol.