excalibur dehydrator , summer squash

[applestar]

Thanks, Lindsay!

[nltaff]

Great post, Lindsaylew! I'm getting bumper squash and have wondered what else I could do with them. On your description of oven canning-sounds simple. Now, after you turn off the oven, do you hear all the jars popping as they cool (like you do with water-bath canning)? Thanks for the seasoning recipe as well.

[Lindsaylew82]

You know.......I don't know if I've heard them ding or not! They do come out with a depressed deal though.

You do want to make sure that whatever you seal up is completely dry, not flexible. Crisp dry. Otherwise, they will mold.

[nltaff]

Thanks for the tip. Sounds like the chips need to go straight from the dehydrator into the jars and into the oven. Leave a potato chip on a plate for 15 minutes around here and it gets soggy! I can imagine your part of the country is very humid as well.

[Lindsaylew82]

It is! I take them out, and put them in a baggie for a few hours. If they have movement, they go back into the dehydrator.

[nltaff]

Got it. Thanks! I'm anxious to try it and I've been meaning to rev up the dehydrator as I have a mess of sweet marjoram that's ready to go into it.

[StuartGrows]

the moisture in the air is what causes the crispyness to be lost when storing your summer squash chips.

I've recently done a ton of research on preserving. I've heard that you shouldn't re-use a jar once you have canned with it and opened it. I hate wasting stuff so I was determined to find out what I could do with the jars once I opened them and also to continue keeping my food fresh.I found out that Vacuum Sealing is a great way to do both of those things.

Removing the air from the container that you are storing your summer squash chips in will keep them perfectly crisp.

I think I will write a blog about sealers. Would anyone want to read all the stuff I found out about them?

[Lindsaylew82]

Glass Canning Jars are meant to be reused.

[applestar]

Yep. Rings, too. It's the flat lids with only thin rubber seal that shouldn't be re-used because they may not form a reliable seal. There are re-usable silicone based lids now -- I want to try that at some point, but haven't had the chance yet.

[pepperhead212]

I use my Foodsaver to seal a lot of my jars of dry ingredients. I also save those dessicant packs found in countless things (and friends and family save them for me as well), and I put those in jars that can't be vac sealed. And some things, like spices, I put one of those oxygen adsorbant packs - something that I got a bunch of, and keep vac sealed, until I need one.

[StuartGrows]

I'll look for the silicone jars. That sounds great.