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How to Dry Fresh Herbs at Home 

September 1, 2022 by Melissa Norris 17 Comments

Learning how to dry fresh herbs at home is easy, and there's no replacement or substitute for doing it yourself. Learn the best methods for drying herbs at home in this post!

dried herbs in Mason jar on counter

Growing an herb garden is an excellent place for a beginner gardener to start, and making your spice blends at home is a frugal way to save on your grocery bill.

Why I Love Growing and Cooking With Herbs

When drying your own herbs, you know that they haven't been sitting on the shelf at the grocery store for years, and your food will taste much better because you are using ingredients from your garden. 

Cooking with fresh herbs is incredible. I love adding fresh basil before serving my homemade tomato soup, and dill to this Ukrainian Borscht recipe, or having rosemary, thyme, and sage on hand to make marinated cheese balls. 

[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”EPJiUO15″ upload-date=”2022-08-29T23:33:24.000Z” name=”Secrets to Drying Herbs With This Centuries Old-Method for Stronger Medicinal Properties.mp4″ description=”Learn how to dry fresh herbs at home to use all year long.” player-type=”default” override-embed=”default”]

The depth of flavor is so much more than the dried version. However, if you live in a climate that has cooler winters, then not all of your garden herbs are available year-round. 

So like any true Pioneer, we're preserving our herbs for use during the winter. When cooking with dried herbs, I put the herbs in at the end of the cooking time to maximize the flavor.

If you're looking for more of a fresh herb flavor, try preserving herbs in salt following this homemade celery salt recipe or this recipe for preserving fresh basil.

A pot of basil on a deck.

When to Harvest Herbs

It's crucial to know how to prune and harvest herbs correctly because you want to get the most flavor out of your herbs.

As an herb grows, it has the most intense flavor in the leaves just before it flowers. If you aren't ready to harvest, it's best to clip off the flower buds to keep the plant from putting its energy into the flowers.

The best time of day to harvest herbs is in the early morning. Herbs have the highest concentration of oils in their leaves at this time of day. You want to gather right after the dew has dried but before the sun begins to heat the air and plant.

Basil is the exception to this rule and can be picked later in the morning.

Fresh celery leaves in a colandar.

How to Harvest Herbs

The part of an herb used for cooking is generally the leafy part. I find it best to use scissors and cut off the entire stem to prevent the leaves' oils from rubbing off on your skin. Minimally handling the plant allows oil to retain more in the leaves when needed.

Lightly rinse the herbs to remove any dust or other unseen debris. I'm sure you practice organic gardening at home, so we don't have to worry about any chemicals or pesticides.

Place herbs on paper towels to absorb the excess water and dry completely.

Bundles of fresh herbs laying on a wooden table.

Drying Methods Used to Dry Herbs

There are several ways to dry herbs. The two ways I prefer are the hanging method and using a dehydrator.

  • Dehydrator – This is the method I use most because of our damp weather in the Pacific Northwest. After a ton of research, I purchased my Nesco Square Dehydrator due to its design to hold more food per tray than the circle varieties, and I liked the price point. I've had my Nesco for more than five years and love it. We've dehydrated fruit leather, jerky, candied apples, and herbs. I've run it for two days straight without any problems, and it's extremely quiet. You can also purchase mesh tray liners here.
  • Hanging Method – This method (also known as air drying) requires no special equipment, and anyone can do it. 
  • Freezing – Freezing is an option that some people find retains more flavor. You can add frozen herbs directly to your food when cooking, which works best in foods such as meats and vegetables.
  • Oven Dry – I don't recommend drying fresh herbs in the oven, as most ovens' lowest setting isn't low enough to allow the herbs to dry without burning to a crisp.
Bundles of fresh herbs tied with twine and hanging upside down to dry.

How to Dry Fresh Herbs – Hanging Method

Tying the stems together in this method is critical. Moisture content reduces as the herbs dry, and they shrink together. Another vital part to remember is to hang them upside down. Gravity pulls the essential oil into the leaves, which is the part we want to keep.

Supplies Needed

  • Fresh Herbs – Make sure your herbs are freshly cut with no spots or bruising on the leaves.
  • Twine, String, or Rubber Band – You'll need something to secure the stalks together.
  • Dry Location – A dry location out of direct sunlight with plenty of airflow is necessary for the best drying environment. Pro-Tip: If you don't have a place away from sunlight, use a paper bag to cover the herbs as they dry. Paper bags will also protect the herbs from dust that may settle onto them as they hang to dry. Simply create a hole in the bottom of the bag for the stems to poke through and hang the bag around the herbs.
  • Hook or Nail – This is needed to secure the upside-down bunch of herbs. 

Instructions

  1. Tie the ends of four or five stalks together.
  2. Hang the bunches upside down in a warm, dry area, out of direct sunlight.
  3. Allow herbs to dry until the leaves crumble at your touch.
  4. Remove the leaves from the stems, keeping them as whole as possible (this allows for more flavor when it comes time to use them).
  5. Store the dried leaves in an air-tight container (you know how I love a good Mason jar!).
  6. Label contents of the container.

Note: Moisture content and climate will be factors, and it could take weeks to months for herbs to dry. Just be patient and use the paper bag trick if you're concerned about dust or debris.

Raspberry leaves on a dehydrator tray.

How to Dry Fresh Herbs – Dehydrator Method

Supplies Needed

  • Fresh Herbs – Make sure the herbs are fresh with no spots or bruising on the leaves.
  • Food Dehydrator – Any dehydrator should work. If you have a Nesco like mine, try these Nesco screens. Herbs shrink as they dry, and these screens keep them from falling through the cracks.

Instructions

  1. Place herbs in a single layer on the food dehydrator tray or drying rack, ensuring they aren't touching.
  2. Herbs dry best at 95° F. If you live in an area with high humidity, you may need to increase the temperature slightly, but try to stay as low as possible to maintain as many nutrients as possible.
  3. Dehydrating times for herbs will vary depending on the size of the leaves and the moisture content. Some herbs will dry in 12 to 24 hours, and others may take several days.
  4. Herbs are dry when they crumble at your touch.
  5. Store the dried leaves in an airtight container.
  6. Label contents of the container.

Pro-Tip: Herbs don't transfer flavors when drying, so you can dry them together. I have dehydrated four trays at once with chocolate mint, spearmint, oregano, basil, and thyme.

How to Tell When Herbs Are Dehydrated

Take a leaf between your thumb and pointer finger to test if the herbs are dry. It should crunch and crumble when pressed.

If you're unsure whether herbs are dry, you can take them out of the dehydrator and place them immediately into a ziptop baggie. Seal the bag and watch for any condensation to form on the inside of the bag. If you see any moisture, they're not dry yet.

The smaller the item, the faster it will degrade and lose its flavor. Leave the leaf in its largest form for storage and grind it up before use.

Dried herbs in a mason jar.

How to Store Dried Herbs

After the drying process, it's time to get them packaged in containers and stored on the shelf. It's best to keep dried herbs in a dark, cool, dry place to retain the most flavor and extend the shelf life.

Store herbs in an air-tight container. I prefer glass jars as plastic containers seem to affect the flavor of the herbs over time.

Mason or Weck jars work well for herbs. Make sure to label the contents of each container.

How to Use Dried Herbs

Here are my favorite herb blends to make (including FREE printable labels for the jars!).

Have you dried herbs at home? Share your experiences below! Especially if you have any favorite herb blends to share.

A woman pointing to a basil plant where it's starting to flower.

More Posts About Herbs and Their Uses

  • How to Prune Herbs & Perennials for Maximum Growth
  • Medicinal Kitchen Herbs (6 Herbs You Should Grow)
  • 8 Medicinal Herbs and Their Uses for Growing an Herbal Tea Garden
  • Homemade DIY Bath Salt Recipe Use Herbs or Essential Oils
  • 7 Ways to Use Medicinal Herbs at Home
  • 7 Herbs for Natural Remedies Your Grandparents Used

Filed Under: Dehydrating, DIY Recipes & Tutorials, Food Preservation, Natural Medicine Cabinet Tagged With: dehydrating, DIY recipes & tutorials, gardening, Herbs, Pioneering Today, prepper, preserving the harvest, survival

How to Dehydrate Fruit (Cherries, Blueberries, Grapes, Raspberries & Blackberries)

August 2, 2022 by Melissa Norris 26 Comments

Learn to make the best dehydrated fruit and enjoy your summer harvest all year long. Dehydrating fruit works especially well for cherries, grapes, and berries. Using an oven or a dehydrator, use my secret trick to speed up the dry time.

A bowl of dehydrated cherries on a wooden counter.

Why I Love Dehydrated Fruit

Dehydration is an excellent way to preserve your fruit, especially berries for year round use. It's shelf stable and can be eaten as is.

It's light, meaning easy to pack and shove into pockets. And you can use it to make delicious candies, treats, cakes, and breads.

Dehydration, when done at a low temperature, makes it “raw” food, retaining almost all of the nutrients.

This year as I was dehydrating trays of cherries my husband asked why I was doing it if we never eat them? Unbeknownst to him, I dehydrate them every year and just tuck them away! We don't get many cherries for dehydrating, so they're my special treat!

[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”obQKUEOj” upload-date=”2022-07-29T19:23:48.000Z” name=”DON'T Dehydrate Your Cherries Until You Watch This.mp4″ description=”Learn to make the best dehydrated fruit and enjoy your summer harvest all year long. Dehydrating fruit works especially well for cherries, grapes, and berries. Using an oven or a dehydrator, use my secret trick to speed up the dry time. ” player-type=”default” override-embed=”default”]

We're blessed on our homestead to have raspberries, blueberries, and a plethora of blackberries. I turn most of our bounty into various jams. I like to keep the sugar low in most of my jam recipes, and I like to make jam without pectin.

If you're in need of some jam recipes, here are some of my favorites:

  • Strawberry Jam
  • Cherry Jam
  • Blackberry Jam
  • Blueberry Jam

For more info on canning jam, be sure to check out this post on making jams and jellies like a pro.

Even though my love of canned jam runs deep, one thing they're not great for is for traveling or packing in lunch boxes.

Frozen and then thawed berries aren't friendly for munching on, although I will say freeze-dried fruit is quickly becoming another favorite go-to in our house, freeze dryers are cost prohibitive for some.

So in comes dehydration. I confess that I overlooked dehydrated fruit for years. Mostly because I tried dehydrating blueberries about 10 years ago and after three days straight, I still had half shriveled but not dehydrated berries.

I'm so glad I gave it another try after learning the trick to speeding up the dehydrating time.

Everything Worth Preserving Book Cover.

Everything Worth Preserving

Discover the 9 home food preservation methods to safely store delicious food for year-round eating with all of my step-by-step tutorials, recipes, and easy-to-use charts. Learn everything you need to know about cold storage (aka freezer), water bath/steam canning, pressure canning, dehydrating, fermenting, freeze-drying, root cellar, infusion, and salt/curing in the new book, Everything Worth Preserving.

Preserve food for a healthy well-stocked pantry & peace of mind, all in one resource.

In this book, you can search for any produce from A-Z and get a list of all the ways to preserve that item, plus recipes! Grab your copy (and FREE bonuses for pre-ordering) here.

A Nesco food dehydrator with cherries inside.

Supplies Needed

If you plan on doing much dehydrating, I recommend getting an actual dehydrator. They are a great investment and make dehydrating a “set it and forget it” kind of task.

Can you use your oven with the door propped open? Yes, but you can't control the temperature, and then you can't cook in your oven. Plus, if you have little ones, leaving your oven door open isn't probably the safest thing.

Nesco Dehydrator

I have a Nesco square dehydrator and am very happy with it. I purchased it many years ago and it still runs like a champ.

It's quiet and gets the job done. I haven't had any problems with it and have run it close to a week straight when doing cherries and then a batch of blueberries.

A Nesco dehydrator will be a more economical approach if you're just getting started. And I highly recommend getting these screens for sticky fruit and fruit leather (they're even dishwasher safe!).

Excalibur Dehydrator

If you plan on doing a lot of dehydrating, you'll want to consider the Excalibur dehydrators. This is a great upgrade for those dehydrating large batches of fruit at a time.

I don't have one, but know many people who do, and they all say it's the workhorse of dehydrators and well worth the investment.

It is more expensive than the Nesco. However, the air blows from the back of the unit instead of the top, making it more efficient.

This is the cheapest deal I've found for an Excalibur dehydrator.

Pro Tip: If you're dehydrating multiple batches back to back, consider setting your dehydrator up outside in a safe location to keep from heating up your house during the hot summer months!

Frozen blueberries.

How to “Check” Your Berries Before Dehydrating

When you're dehydrating berries, you need to use one simple trick to cut hours and days off your dehydrating time. You need to check your berries.

“Checking” is merely piercing the skin so the moisture can evaporate more quickly. Berries are mostly water, after all. Checking should be used with blueberries, cranberries, and grapes, or any other similar type of fruit.

I pit my cherries before dehydrating, so I'm technically checking them when I pit them. There are multiple ways you can “check” your berries to speed up the dehydrating process.

  1. Poke each berry with a pin – Take a safety pin or sewing pin and poke a hole in each berry. If you're doing a small amount, this might not take very much time, but if you're doing tray fulls, this is going to take forever.
  2. Boil/steam your berries – Briefly boil or steam berries until they've split their skins, but not enough to cook them. This method works well, but you will lose some nutrients by heating them.
  3. Freeze your berries – This is the method I prefer. Simply toss your berries into the freezer for a few hours. It will rupture the cells and make your berries good to go. When it's the middle of summer, and a task takes no work on my part (okay, besides the harvesting), I'm all about that!

Sometimes getting kids involved in the process is fun, if they can safely poke the berries then this is a great option, however, I'm sure many of you would agree that option #3 is the best!

Learn how to dehydrate fruit at home to save money and build up your food storage. This simple tip will cut hours off your dehydrating time. Grab this now to preserve the summer berry and fruit harvest.

How to Dehydrate Berries

  1. After you've prepared your berries by checking them, spread them out on your dehydrating trays. (For sticky berries or fruit, I highly recommend the dehydrator mats for easy clean-up.) You want the berries or fruit to be evenly spaced so they dehydrate at the same rate.
  2. With our blueberries, we have several different varieties, which means different sizes of berries. I recommend putting the smaller berries on one tray and the larger ones on another. I didn't the first time and had to manually separate them as the smaller ones were done before the bigger ones. So save yourself some time here.
  3. Turn on your dehydrator and let it do its thing. The fruit setting on mine is 135 degrees.
  4. Even with “checking”, berries take quite a while to dehydrate fully. My cherries took 28  hours. My small blueberries were done at about 24 hours, whereas the larger ones took 36 hours.
  5. Rotate your berries or fruit after 12-hour mark for even drying. My top tray dehydrates a tad faster than the bottom one, especially when I've got all four stacked.
Dehydrated cherries in a jar with a woman's hand pointing to them.

How to Know When Fruit is Dehydrated?

If you're unsure if your fruit is fully dehydrated, you can sample a few. If you feel liquid, then put them back in. Some of my smaller berries got hard, so I knew they were fully done. You want chewy berries but not overly sticky or wet. Otherwise, they start to mold.

Another way to check them is to place a handful of still-warm fruit (it's important they're still warm) into a jar or plastic bag and seal tight. If you notice any condensation forming on the jar or bag the fruit isn't fully dehydrated.

A jar of dehydrated cherries and fruit vinegar on a wooden countertop.

How to Store Dehydrated Fruit

Store dehydrated fruit in an air-tight container in a dark, cool place for optimal shelf life.

Unlike freeze-dried fruit, dehydrated fruit is best when eaten within a year. This is why I like to plan how many fruit and berry bushes we need for our family for a year's worth of fruit.

Learn how to dehydrate fruit at home to save money and build up your food storage. This simple tip will cut hours off your dehydrating time. Grab this now to preserve the summer berry and fruit harvest.

How to Use Dehydrated Fruit

Use your dehydrated fruit in homemade breads, muffins, granola, candy, or just by the handful! Be warned, they're kind of addicting.

There you have it, my favorite way to dehydrate fruit and my time-saving tips when dehydrating blueberries, cherries, and grapes! Have you tried this method or other home food preservation methods before?

More Posts You May Enjoy

A bonus to dehydrating cherries is that you have to pit them first. Don't toss the pits! Save them to make an infused cherry pit vinegar. (shared from my new book, Everything Worth Preserving).

Cherry Pit Vinegar

Move over apple scrap vinegar, you’re not the only fruit that can be used twice for delicious things.

Ingredients

1 cup cherry pits* 

2 cups vinegar (any vinegar of your choice)

  1. Place the pits (leave all the bits of cherry fruit on them you can, this helps with the flavor) in a clean glass jar. Cover with vinegar and place out of direct sunlight. White vinegar takes on some color if using red cherries whereas apple cider vinegar won’t change as much in color, but both work equally as well. 
  2. Allow to steep for two to three weeks. Strain, place back in a glass bottle, and enjoy your cherry pit flavored vinegar!

*Only use uncracked pits. As long as you don't try to smash them with a hammer, they’re not cracked. Cherry pits (most stone fruit pits) do contain small amounts of cyanide. This is only exposed when they’re cracked, smashed, or ground up.

You may also be interested in my fruit preserving course!

  • Homemade Fruit Vinegar
  • How to Grow Fruit Trees in Pots
  • Planting a Fruit Tree Guild
  • Historical Dried Fruit and Nut Candy
  • How to Plant Raspberries
  • How to Plant & Grow Strawberries
A bowl of dehydrated cherries on a wooden counter.

How to Dehydrate Fruit (Blueberries, Cherries, Grapes, Raspberries & Blackberries)

Melissa Norris
Learn how to dehydrate fruit at home. This method will save you hours of time when dehydrating fruit.
5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 mins
Cook Time 1 d 2 hrs
Total Time 1 d 2 hrs 5 mins
Course fruit, Snack
Cuisine American

Equipment

  • Dehydrator

Ingredients
  

  • Fruit
  • Water for rinsing

Instructions
 

  • Rinse berries and remove any twigs, leaves, etc.
  • Check berries by either freezing for a few hours, poking each berry with a pin, needle or paperclip, or quickly blanching in hot water.
  • After you've checked your berries, spread them out on your dehydrating trays. Try to put berries of similar size on the same trays.
  • Turn on your dehydrator to 135 degrees Fahrenheit or the fruit setting if it has one.
  • Check on your berries or fruit after 12 hours and rotate your trays.
  • Your fruit is done when it's shriveled and slightly tacky/sticky. Do the "dry test" mentioned in the notes section below.
  • Store dehydrated berries in an airtight container in a dark cool place for optimal shelf life.

Notes

  • For sticky berries or fruit, I highly recommend the non-stick mats for easy clean-up. You want to the berries or fruit to be evenly spaced so they dehydrate at the same rate.
  • Even with “checking”, fruit takes quite a while to fully dehydrate. My cherries took 28 hours. My small blueberries were done at about 24 hours, whereas the larger berries took 36 hours. This is still better than three days though!
  • Dry Test – To know if berries are dry, do the “dry test”. Place a handful of still-warm berries into an airtight container (sealed Mason jar or sealed plastic baggie). Let them sit for 10-20 minutes and check the sides of the container. If you see any moisture or condensation on the jar or bag, the fruit isn't dry and needs to continue dehydrating.
Keyword Dehydrated fruit
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Filed Under: Dehydrating, Food Preservation Tagged With: dehydrating, preparedness, preserving, preserving the harvest, survival

5 Reasons Dehydrated Food is a Preparedness Must & 5 Tips for Dehydrating at Home

September 20, 2015 by Melissa Norris 14 Comments

Want to be prepared with food storage that is portable and doesn't take up much space? Learn how to dehydrate food at home (awesome free guide that covers dehydrating everything, did you know you could dehydrate liquid at home?) Grab this now!

Dehydrating food is an excellent way to preserve your food, build your own pantry, cut down on your food bill, and up your preparedness level. In fact, dehydrating could be called the prepper and survivalists' top food preservation mode.

Benefits of Dehydrated Food for Storage

Removing the moisture from food allows it to store indefinitely in proper conditions, making it a preferable choice for the preparedness-minded individual. Smoking is another form of dehydrating food and creates delicious meats and cheeses, as well as preserving them. Learn how to smoke cheese at home here.

Dehydrating allows you to harvest your food in season and preserve it for year-round eating. From foraging to harvesting from your garden, or even purchasing food in season, dehydrating lets you build your own food supply for year-round use. Note: Dehydrating or freezing is the only safe way to preserve wild mushrooms as canning is not recommended for wild mushrooms.

One of the beauties of dehydrating food is its portability and ease of storage. When all of the moisture is removed from the food, it shrinks up considerably. This is done either through salt or the movement of cold or hot air through the food. Because organisms that cause food spoilage need moisture to grow, dehydrating them makes the food a perfect candidate for long-term food storage. Plus, unlike a freezer, dehydrated food requires no electricity to maintain its stability.

Check out this, when dehydrated, one pound of fresh apples becomes just two ounces. Each food will vary on how much it shrinks down, but you can see why dehydrated food quickly becomes essential when you’re on the go or for bug-out bags. Some dehydrated foods need water for reconstitution, but many items can be eaten as is, which is ideal in emergency situations.

Fruit leather, strawberries, grapes, blueberries, apples, peaches, pears, bananas, pineapple, and zucchini chips are all easily eaten without reconstitution or the need to soak in water. Plus, they’re quite delicious and packed with nutrients.

While I love home canned food for many reasons, you can’t beat dehydrated food for the ease of carrying or storage. From meals on the go, to hiking and camping, in your emergency bag or extended times in the wilderness, you can pack much more dehydrated food than any other form. Dehydrated food requires no refrigeration and very little storage space. It can easily fit in backpacks, purses, or pockets.

Resources for Dehydrating Food at Home

Drying food is one of the old traditional methods of food preservation known to man. In hot climates, food can be dehydrated simply by laying it out in the sun on a screen or rack. A solar Sun Oven (which I'm so grateful Sun Oven sent to me in exchange for my review, because I was skeptical of it working in the Pacific Northwest where sun isn't something we have a lot of, but it has quickly become my new favorite toy) is also an off-grid dehydrator!

Off-grid dehydrator–> Solar Sun Oven and Preparedness Accessories 

Frugal dehydrator–> Nesco Dehydrator It's 42% off at the time of this posting!! I purchased this dehydrator two years ago when my garage sale one bit the dust and have been very happy with it.

I'm never buying another dehydrator again–> Excalibur Dehydrator

5 Tips for How to Dehydrate Food at Home

For optimal long-term storage, dehydrated foods should be stored in a dark cool area in an airtight or vacuum-sealed container. Pantry shelves or cupboards work well, but under beds or anywhere out of direct light is fine.

The foods you can dehydrate are limitless, from fresh fruit, vegetables, herbs, to meat, and even liquid. You can make your own soup mixes, fruit leather, jerky, beans, onion and garlic powders, powdered cultures, to powdered eggs.

Canning tomatoes? Save the skins you'd normally discard and dehydrate them, then grind up into a tomato powder for use later in sauces and soups.

There are many options for dehydrating your food from hanging meat on racks next to a warm outdoor fire for smoking, to racks indoors next to your wood stove, and in your oven if it goes down to 150 degrees. You can dry herbs by hanging them upside down in bunches in a dry warm area for about a week.

When dehydrating your food, the biggest tip is to chop or slice all of your food as close to the same size as possible. The more uniform, the more they’ll dry at the same rate. An easy way to do this is to use a mandolin. Another option is a food chopper for items that need to be chopped or minced instead of sliced.

Want to be prepared with food storage that is portable and doesn't take up much space? Learn how to dehydrate food at home (awesome free guide that covers dehydrating everything, did you know you could dehydrate liquid at home?) Grab this now!

Think about how you want to use the food before drying. If you’re drying apples, do you want apple rings to eat as snacks, or wedges to use in pies and desserts, or chunks to add to oatmeal? You might decide to dry some in all forms, but thinking it out ahead of time will be key.

Place your food on the dehydrator trays. Make sure none of the food is touching one another. You want the air to be able to circulate all the way around each piece. Fruits don’t put off much odor, so you can dry different fruits at the same time.

Strong odor items like onions and garlic should be dried by themselves or you’ll have onion flavored strawberries. Some folks will put their dehydrator outside or in the garage when drying onions and garlic if the smell is too strong.

Select the appropriate setting on your dehydrator. Be sure to check on the food periodically throughout the drying time. You’ll want to rotate trays, especially if one tray is drying faster than the others.

Use the manual times as a guideline as the time it takes to dry your food will vary upon your climate, how thick you cut the food, and how much water it had in it, to begin with. For storage purposes, you can’t over-dry your food. The drier, the longer it will store. Some people prefer their fruit to be dry but still flexible, while others prefer it on the crisper side.

Once your food is dried to your liking, you’ll want to package it. You can place them in Mason jars and use a vacuum sealer attachment to make them air-tight. You can use mylar or vacuum sealer bags. Another option is to double bag Ziploc bags and squeeze as much air out as possible. Be sure to always mark your containers with the date for proper food rotation in your pantry.

Learn how to dehydrate fruit at home to save money and build up your food storage. This simple tip will cut hours off your dehydrating time. Grab this now to preserve the summer berry and fruit harvest.

To reconstitute vegetables, soak them for 10 minutes to 2 hours, but no longer, as they can start to spoil if soaked too long. They’ll return to an almost fresh state and cook as you would regularly.

Want to save hours and days of drying time when dehydrating berries? Here's our complete tutorial on How to Dehydrate Berries the Easy Way. 

Filed Under: Dehydrating, Food Preservation, Homestead-Life, Preparedness/Survival Tagged With: dehydrating, Home food preservation, preparedness, prepper, survival

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