Snack July 8, 2023
Note: Also dehydrated at the same time as cherries. I tried following directions from someone who knew what they were doing better than I do, but I don't know if it was worth it.
Ingredients:
1 pint Blueberries
Directions:
Fill a large pot that a colander can fit in with enough water that the berries in the colander will be submerged
Bring the pot of water (without the colander in it) to a boil
Meanwhile, wash the blueberries and remove any stems
[This first time, I pat dried a small handful of blueberries and put them on a dehydrator rack while quick boiling the rest]
Boil blueberries by dipping them into boiling water for 20-30 seconds. Put the berries in a stainless steel colander for dipping so you don’t have to worry about fishing them out.
The quick boil “checks” the blueberry skin, allowing the heat of the dehydrator to permeate and dry out the pulp of the berry.
Place blueberries on the dehydrator's racks in a single layer, making sure they do not touch
Turn on the dehydrator (mine is only "on" or "off", no temperature control)
After about 10 hours in the dehydrator and allowed to cool:
Thoughts: Still have some moisture, which could work in a muffin or other baked good
After about 24 hours in the dehydrator and allowed to cool:
Thoughts: Smaller berries were removed earlier, but the rest were done around now. I Gently squeezed the berries between my pointer finger and thumb to see if they were still squishy, and therefore still had too much moisture. If they kind of felt like store bought raisins, I took them out.
Final Notes:
I don't think that quick boil thing really did anything but waste time. Maybe the none boiled blueberry skins stayed puffed up even after the center dried, but when I gently squeezed them to check to see if they were done, the skin caved in.
Luke suggested cutting the larger, partially dehydrated berries in half to help them dry faster without oozing all over the racks. I tried it on some with a pair of kitchen shears. It worked so well that I ended up cutting more after those first cut ones dried. Highly recommend doing next time.
I think I wasn't giving my previous dehydrated fruits long enough. 24 hours seemed about right, at least in our apartment in the summer.
Bottom berries are not boiled. Top ones were boiled, it made their skins dark.
Left are whole berries (I don't think I saw a difference in boiled vs unboiled) and right are cut. For some reason, I didn't feel like cutting them completely, I have no explanation other than that's just what I felt like doing.
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