Dehydrating with Dolly

Meet Dolly! She is the newest member of the family! She’s big and brown and beautiful! She’s hard working and trusty. I have recently adopted her. I know she is so happy to join our family!

She is our monstrous dehydrator! I bartered two massages for her. She is a late 70′s or early 80′s model. And the company that made her still makes them today and they look exactly the same today! It retails currently for approximately $700! If you are into preserving food, its a great investment. I have been using a very small 5 tray round dehydrator for the last several years. Dolly came with two books and the food saving possibilities are endless! She can even be used for making crafts and drying herbs. She will be kept very busy here. My mind is just buzzing with ideas for her and I! I will for sure be gathering my herbs for my soap making.

Her first job here has been drying onions. Gavin grew around 2,500 onions this year for his garden business and we were storing what was left.

He grows a sweet onion that are just delicious about any way you use them but they are not good “keepers” in the winter unless you store them in refrigeration. I have done two different batches of drying with the onions.

Just simply peel the onions and roughly chop them and place them in a single layer on the screens.

The temperature range for drying onions is between 95 and 105 degrees F. It takes approximately 3 days for them to dry.

Once dried, I then store them in a gallon jar with a lid. If they are completely dried they will keep for many years in an airtight container. A half bushel of onions dries down to approximately one gallon dried onions. Dried onions are so handy to have around. They can be used basically the same as a fresh onion. You simply place your dried onions in water for about 15 minutes to bring them back to life. They look the same and taste the same as a fresh onion. You can add them to soups and stews with no need to soak them first. They will take on the liquids from the soup. They are actually tasty too just as a dried onion crunchy snack!

Fruits and vegetables are anywhere from 70% to 95% water. Dehydrating simply removes the water from your produce for safe and easy keeping. Another great way to use your dried onions are to make your own homemade onion powder! Simply place your dried onions in a blender or food processor and blend to a powder. This can be used in about any form of cooking for great depth and flavor. And then you are not having to purchase jars of onion powder for recipes that require it!! Self sufficiency! That’s what I’m all about!!!!

Here’s a fun fact! A half bushel of onions is approximately 25 pounds of onions. That will dry down to approximately one gallon of dried onions. One gallon of dried onions pureed in a blender processes down to approximately 2/3 of a quart jar of onion powder.

I hope you have enjoyed meeting our new friend. I am so very excited for all that is in store for her and my family! I am sure you will be seeing many more future articles involving her!

Here’s to a new year with more self sufficiency ways of living!

Blessings!