Hey Janet -
Yep, I dehydrate! I use this one:
This one can be expanded to as tall as you like
An Exaclibur is the super-dehydrator, but it's a more expensive, a bit larger, but if you can afford it and know you're going to be doing it long-term, it's worth the investment.
I dehydrate a lot of things, fruit, vegetables, I use it to dry herbs that we've harvested, I make our own garlic and onion powders, vegetable powders, and am beginning to look at doing things like dehydrating spaghetti sauce, etc., for storage. We've even made our own crackers in ours.
When we dehydrate fruit, many times we use it as snacks later. Some things will be included in cookies (where you need to add a little more liquid), or granola or oatmeal. We dehydrate vegetables - and you can then rehydrate them in liquid - whether in soups/stews, or in some water before adding it to a recipe. Whenever I rehydrate mushrooms, I actually end up using that liquid to cook with - sort of like a mushroom stock.
When you rehydrate fruit, it's not going to be like it as originally. So, dehydrating an apple, then rehydrating it isn't going to give you an original apple, so aren't always something you want to eat alone when you rehydrate, but are great as snacks in their dehydrated forum- we love apple rings with a little cinnamon sprinkled over them! I love dehydrating pumpkin and making pumpkin powder that I can then rehydrate a year or two later to make pumpkin puree, but store it in a much smaller space.
When storing dehydrated fruits and veg, especially if you are going to be storing for a period of time, I recommend getting silica packs (you know the little packs of silica gel that you get in shoes and purses and electronics - we save and reuse those. They can be dried in the oven on very low temps to dry out, and use again). They help absorb moisture that is in your jar to help keep your dried food a little drier over time. You can also use a food saver (if you have one) to remove the air from a canning jar to vacuum seal it, with an attachment. If I'm going to be storing anything dried for a longer period of time, I tend to vacuum seal it, and use the silica packs on regular jars for immediate use.
When dehydrating, it's really important that you cut the fruit/veg into uniform sized pieces, on the smaller side, so that they dehydrate at the same rate.
Dehydrate2store is a good site, and her youtube videos are definitely worth watching to learn.
http://dehydratingwaybeyondjerky.blogspot.com/
http://www.backpackingchef.com/dehydrating-food.html
http://www.pickyourown.org/dryingfoods.htm
If you have any questions, catch me in PM or FB. I can hook you up with some good Pinterest boards if you do Pinterest.
