Dehydrated food recipes

[Peter1142]

So I got a food dehydrator to help deal with the harvest, and I don't really know what to do with dehydrated food. I have an overabundance of: tomatoes (cherry, roma, globe), eggplant (fingerling and bell), zucchini, acorn and delicata squash (I don't see these going in the dehydrator), bell and cubanelle peppers (red and green), potatoes (Kennebec), snap beans (Fortex, French Filet), and pears. Please help a newbie and share some recipes!

[CharlieBear]

You can cut small summer squash into 1/4" slices and place in the dehydrator until they are dry. Take off and store in a plastic bag in the refrigerator, then add to stews, soups in the winter, or even eat them as they are. Potatoes should be stored in a cool dark place, rather than dehydrated. The pears dry well, generally. Cut them open and take out the core then slice into 1/4" pieces and place on the trays and dry. Store in plastic bags in the refrigerator or freezer or at least somewhere cool and dark. If they are not in the frig or freezer then they have only about a 6 month shelf life. By, the way I don't bother to peel them just wash them well. If you find someone with apples to give away then peel them core and slice in 1/4" slices and place in the dehydrator. Note, I don't know how your dehydrator is configured, so I can't tell you how to set it, there should be a booklet that tells you how hot to set for fruit etc. Snap beans are best canned or blanched and frozen. It is possible to dry roma tomatoes, again cut about 1/4" thick and dry, then place in good olive oil in the frig and use like sun dried tomatoes. The winter squash, let it good and ripe then harden off and store some where cool on several layers of newspaper with plenty of air circulation. They will usually last until April or some years early May.

[Peter1142]

I am out of freezer space.... and am not going to be canning this year. I also don't have a cool dark place for potatoes.

The winter squash is Acorn and Delicata.... I am not sure how long to expect these to last... they are noted for not lasting as long as other winter squashes. I am pretty sure my Acorns last year lasted 3+ months.

Thanks for the advice.

[applestar]

I made some dehydrated tomatoes, dressed and dehydrated kale, and dehydrated apple slice chips

[applestar]

I made some dehydrated Kakai hulless squash. I don't have pictures because they disappeared so quickly.

Although the rind is edible when cooked, for dehydrating I peeled then sliced into 1/4" rounds WITH SEEDS AND SPONGY PULP INTACT.

Some were just sprinkled with SeaSalt. DH liked those best.

I also brushed some with roasted sesame oil/Sriracha sauce mixture, and third flavor slices were cut into semi discs and dipped in hot tomato juice galam masala curry dressing.

The seeds toasted perfectly and added desirable pepito/pumpkin seed embedded enticement -- the slices with the best and plumpest seeds went first, of course.

At 160° the curry dressing threatened to burn so I couldn't dry them crispy but they were chewy and very yummy.