Strawberry Leather Forever

If you or your parents watched a lot of infomercials in the early nineties, this will look awfully familiar to you:

My parents had a bunch of those products: the Snackmaster food dehydrator, the Jet-Stream Oven, the Bamix.... I can't really talk when I personally have spoken the words, "I would like to order a set of Miracle Blades," but you know how most of those purchases go. You use them a few times before you discover that you actually can live without them and after storing them for a decade or so you give them away, throw them away, or sell them for five bucks in a yard sale.

So it should come as no surprise that as soon as I mentioned that I was interested in purchasing a food dehydrator, both my parents and my in-laws offered me the Snackmaster collecting dust in their respective garages. With their offers I could hardly justify the $200+ price tag of the dehydrator I really wanted--the Excalibur--when my primary reason for choosing it over the Snackmaster was so that I could have square trays for fruit leather instead of those pesky donut-shaped ones.

Though I was certain that a fifteen-year-old piece of Ronco couldn't possibly be worth anything, I decided to try it out on some strawberry leather, just so I could say I tried it and insist on buying the Excalibur. And of course, it made really awesome, totally delicious, all-natural fruit leather. Shaped like a donut. Really, I was very pleasantly surprised by the result and since this dehydrator didn't cost me anything, I'm trying really hard not to let the shape bother me too much.

I really didn't mean for this post to be about the dehydrator; I really wanted to talk about what a great thing fruit leather is. It's so easy to make, it tastes great (we've also made peach leather which was good, but I liked the strawberry significantly better) and it doesn't contain all the artificial coloring and sweeteners of the Betty Crocker variety so you don't have to feel so guilty about feeding it to your kids (or eating it all yourself).

Here are some tips I picked up through internet research and through my own experimentation (and failures):

- You don't really need to add any sweeteners or anything; just puree the fruit and pour it onto your drying trays. That said, I followed this "recipe" for strawberry leather and I think it turned out pretty well:
2 cups pureed strawberries + 2 tablespoons honey + 1 tablespoon lemon juice

- If you do decide to sweeten your fruit, do it with honey or corn syrup, as sugar can sometimes crystallize in storage.

- After you've prepared your puree, all you have to do is pour it onto your dehydrator trays. You can either cover the regular trays with plastic wrap or use these nifty fruit roll sheets. Then just dry it until it's no longer sticky and it peels away easily. In the Snackmaster, this can take anywhere from about 6 to 9 hours.

- If you don't have a food dehydrator and don't want to buy one (though you could probably find a real cheap one at a thrift store) you can dry fruit leather in the sun on baking sheets lined with plastic wrap. Just make sure you cover them with cheesecloth or nylon netting to keep bugs out of the leather but without touching it. Pick a day when the sun is hot and the humidity low and allow 1 to 2 days to dry.

- When you pour your fruit puree onto whatever drying tray you're using, make sure you spread it to an even thickness!!! This is very important. If you don't, some areas will be brittle when some are still gooey and you will end up throwing it in the garbage or letting your kids scrape it off and lick it off their fingers. Seriously, do the best you can to get it nice and even and about 1/4" thick like this:


- I found that in the Snackmaster 2200 (I'm not sure if other Snackmaster models have different diameters) it took about 1-1/2 cups of puree for it to come out just right.

That's all I got. What fruit leathers have you tried?

Dehydrated Veggies: Onions, Peppers, and Carrots

Before I forget, I thought I would mention that all of the products I've been buying from Macey's are now available at Wal-Mart, at least the one in American Fork. The label on the can looks just a little different and the brand is no longer called Morning Moo's, but I'm almost positive that it's the same company packaging and selling it. I don't know if it's just Utah County Wal-Marts that are selling these products or if every Wal-Mart carries them. Does anyone else know?

Anyway, over the last year or so I've collected several cans of different dehydrated vegetables. Here are the ones I've tried so far:


Onions
First off, if you've never used dehydrated minced/chopped onions, go out right now and buy a can! They are seriously a gift from Heaven, at least if you're like me and you hate chopping onions. I substitute them in everything that contains cooked, chopped onions and you would never be able to tell. I bought a #10 can of them from Macey's but you can also buy them from the LDS cannery for about $7 and any grocery store or bulk food store would sell them in a smaller quantity. The only time I ever even buy real onions is when I need them raw and/or sliced. Fantastic!


Carrots
I found a ten-year-old can of carrots from the LDS cannery (about $7 if you buy them there) in my parents' basement (my mom needs a little help rotating her food storage) and decided that I would see if it lives up to its supposed ten year shelf life. When first opened, the can released a smell that was identical to that of the bagged bunny food we used to feed our rabbit. As you would expect, the skepticism set in immediately. I poured a bowl of dehydrated carrots, covered them up with water and let them soak for about 10 minutes until they were flexible. I cooked them up in a stir-fry (recipe to follow) and honestly, I couldn't tell the difference and neither could my family. Another success! Obviously they weren't like raw carrots and I wouldn't ever try to eat them plain. But would I use them in a soup? Definitely. Would I use them in stir-fry? Definitely.


Peppers
These also came in a #10 can from Macey's which I bought for about $10, but as I mentioned earlier they now have them at Wal-Mart. They come in a mix of red and green, so you wouldn't ever be able to have either color exclusively, but we can't be too picky, can we? Anyway, I used these exactly the same way as I used the carrots (soaked and stir-fried) and they were great! Like I said, no one noticed. The pieces are pretty small. I would say they're the perfect size for anything that calls for chopped red or green peppers. They don't have that special tender-crisp texture that fresh peppers can have, but they would definitely do if you were living on food storage.


And last but not least, here's the recipe I used to demo the carrots and peppers. I used a Rachael Ray recipe and just subbed the re-hydrated dehydrated veggies for the fresh ones (except for the green onions; I haven't ever seen them for sale and haven't tried drying my own... yet). It's a great recipe! I'm adding it to my 3-month supply menu.

Cashew Chicken

Ingredients:
-1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced
-1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced [or use re-hydrated dried peppers]
-1 tbsp. sesame oil
-2 cloves garlic
-2 tbsp. rice vinegar
-a couple shakes of crushed red pepper
-black pepper, to taste
-1 tbsp. sesame oil
-1 large carrot, peeled and diced [again, try the dehydrated!]
-1 can water chestnuts, drained and coarsely chopped
-3 heaping tablespoons hoisin sauce (an Asian condiment that can be bought in the ethnic section of most grocery stores)
-a couple handfuls unsalted cashews
-3 green onions, thinly sliced on an angle
-hot, cooked rice

Combine first seven ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat until it smokes. Add carrot and stir-fry for 2 or 3 minutes. Add coated chicken and peppers and cook another 3 or 4 minutes. Add chestnuts and heat through for 1 minute. Add the hoisin sauce and toss to coat evenly. Serve over a bed of rice and top with cashews and green onions. Feeds 4 well.

[Sorry I don't have a picture. My camera always makes food look crappy anyway and it wouldn't really motivate you to try it.]