Food dehydrators are becoming increasingly popular in today's world because of the rising trend of food preservation at home. Also, buying and maintaining a food dehydrator is pretty cheap as compared to freeze dryers. Apart from just dehydrating food items to preserve them for a long time, you can make several other recipes with your home-dried foods that add to the taste and convenience of cooking.
You can make snacks like jerky, chips and dehydrated yoghurt at home with the help of a food dehydrator. Also, you can use it to dry your soup to carry it easily when going on a trip, and you can revive stale chips too! Beyond culinary applications, food dehydrators are also helpful in making potpourris, dog food at home, and drying DIY clay articles too.
So, if you have a food dehydrator at home, try these interesting recipes!
7 Snacks You Can Make With Food Dehydrator
1) Jerky
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Traditionally, jerky is made by trimming meat pieces into long strands and dehydrating them for preservation. It tastes so good in itself, with that crunchy texture, that you wouldn't want to rehydrate it again. With the help of a food dehydrator, you can make your own jerky at home with chicken, pork, lamb, and even vegetables.
2) Dried Tomatoes
Tomatoes dried in a food dehydrator taste just as lovely as sun-dried tomatoes. Even the texture is very similar. If the sky seems too cloudy or you want to make dried tomatoes in any weather, a food dehydrator can be a helpful option. The sun-dried tomatoes are a good topping for salads and can be added for a tangy bite in pizza and pasta dishes as well.
Also Read: Food Dehydrator Vs. Freeze Dryer: Breaking Down The Process, Basic Differences And Pros & Cons
3) Vegetables and Fruit Chips
Several vegetables and fruits, including potatoes, zucchini, apples, bananas, cucumbers, pineapples, mangoes, pears, okra, kale and eggplant, can be made into delicious and crunchy chips with a food dehydrator. With all the moisture soaked up, these foods taste amazingly good and make a healthy snack for any time munching.
4) Yoghurt
There are many ways to make yoghurt at home from scratch, but when making it with a food dehydrator, you get an extra tangy punch in every spoonful. To make yoghurt with a dehydrator, you need to heat up the milk, add a starter culture and let it incubate in the dehydrator at a specific temperature overnight. You can also completely dry the yoghurt for easy backpacking.
5) Dried Peppers
Drying peppers not only helps in preservation, it also makes them a delicious ingredient with a concentrated smoky flavour. You can dehydrate almost every type of pepper in a food dehydrator and use it to add complexity to your recipes. Dried peppers can also be ground to make homemade chilli powder.
6) Fruit Powder
Several fruits and fruit peels can be dehydrated in a food dehydrator and ground to a fine powder to use as a condiment. This powder can be sprinkled over oatmeal, added as a flavour for ice cream, used to flavour baked treats and mixed into smoothies as well.
7) Herb Mix
Buying herb powders from the supermarket can be very expensive. To avoid dependency on grocery stores, you can try making your own herb powder at home by drying your favourite herbs in a food dehydrator. From mixed herbs for food to beautifying herbs for skin scrub, you can try several ideas and dry many herbs and flowers at home with ease.
The possibilities with a food dehydrator are endless. If you have a food dehydrator at home, try these amazing ideas and make the most of your investment.