I (like most all of you) are so so so busy lately that I never find the time to pop in to post - even though I obviously cook and bake daily. Three or more times a day. But I often don't bother to take photos - or I start to take them but forget to take a 'finished' product picture - or I do take photos and then they live in my computer files and never see the light of day because.... too busy.
A couple weeks ago I was doing some dehydrating. I had limes leftover from a weekend of guests, and I didn't want them to go bad before I could get around to using them. So, I juiced the limes to get the juice for my favorite chicken marinade and then used the peel to get a nice little bottle of dried lime peel. I like to keep dried lemon peel, lime peel and orange peel on hand for baking and cooking.
I also had extra cabbage on hand - which lasts forever - so I didn't need to hurry really, but there have been times when I wanted cabbage and we didn't have any so I decided to dehydrate a head of it so I'd have it ready in the pantry for beef stew and boiled cabbage, etc.
You don't have to blanche it or do anything to prep it.
Just slice into thin strips or small pieces, place them on your dehydrator trays, and let them dry until the pieces are dry, small and ready to put into a mason jar or container of your choice.
For the limes I used half of them to make dried lime peels for the pantry and then used the rest to dry 'whole' and grind up into dried lime powder. You can buy dried lime powder and dried lime slices online but they are sooo simple to make yourself!
For the dried peel, just peel the zest off your lime (the green part) and lay them out to dry on your tray. When they are brittle, you can pop them into your container, or chop them a bit first, or spin them in a small food processor first to chop them quick and easy.
To do the lime slices, just wash your limes well and slice thin.
Lay the slices out and dry until brittle.
They will turn quite dark.
You can use them as is to cook with (laid under chicken and fish is nice!) but I grind mine up and use the dried lime powder in marinades.
I just reuse old spice bottles and repurpose them to whatever I need at the time.
This one now holds dried lime zest.
This is a close up of whole dried limes ground into powder.
In 2022 I upgraded my dehydrator to a larger, rectangle version with shelves and adjustable temperature. Any dehydrator will do, but I do find the upgrade is easier and better to adjust the temperature so I get the colors of my goods to stay nice and bright.
