How to dehydrate and make apple and banana chips plus homemade raisins

Welcome back to Suzie Homemakers helpful tips and ideas. Hope you liked your homemade fruit roll-ups. Today I would like to continue on with more dehydrating ideas. Like I said my dehydrator gets used at least once a week. Another thing I like to make with my dehydrator is apple and banana and pear chips plus homemade raisins. My children don’t like to eat fresh bananas but when I make banana chips it’s like candy to them. I like to watch when the grocery stores have bananas getting too ripe and I buy several pounds at a time. Most grocery stores will sell these bananas at a discounted price. Watch for pears and apples to be on sale too so you can dehydrate these also. I like to buy the purple grapes to dehydrate for homemade raisins. There are so many different kinds of fruits you can dehydrate. If you ever priced dry fruit out in the store it is very expensive. Dehydrating your own saves a lot of money.I like to make my own trail mix this way and it’s much cheaper than buying it in the store. Dehydrating fresh fruit cut into pieces is another great way to save money. You can sprinkles then on your favorite cereal in the morning. Just remember that dehydrating fruit will take you most of the day. The raisins and bananas took over 10 hours to dehydrate. The apples took a little less time.
    In my short video, I will show you step by step how to make banana and apple chips, plus homemade raisins with the dehydrator. It’s easy and fun to do plus it saves you money. The whole family will love them.
Have more fun dehydrating from Suzie Homemaker

Dehydrators and Dehydrating

Welcome back to another Suzie Homemaker’s helpful ideas and tips. Today, I would like to talk to you about Dehydrators.

Dehydrators are a fun and easy way to make many different types of foods. Dehydrating is one of the healthiest ways to preserve food. There great for dehydrating fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices. Instead of buying dehydrated foods in the store, which are very expensive, try dehydrating them yourself. In my short video, I will be showing you some of the things that I dehydrate. Watch the video on how I make my own homemade fruit roll-ups using apples and strawberries.

There are many different kinds of dehydrators starting from under $100 to over $200. I use a Nesco American Harvest Dehydrator. I’ve had this dehydrator for over 20 years. I had to replace a few trays and add a couple extra over the years. My dehydrator gets used at least once a week.

 Most dehydrators come with plastic stackable trays that can hold up to 12 trays. Make sure you check your owner’s manual. My dehydrator has different temperature settings for different fruit, vegetables, herbs and spices. Depending on the type of dehydrator you pick, the motor can either be on the top or bottom. The dehydrator I use has the motor on the top. Just remember that the food closest to the heat source will be done sooner. I recommend that you switch around the trays as you are dehydrating to evenly dehydrate your food.

I bought my dehydrator from Walmart. There are many places you can go to find dehydrators including online at http://www.nesco.com/products/Dehydrators/Dehydrators/. Go to www.greendehydrators.com to read reviews on different dehydrators. In future posts, I will show you how I dehydrate different fruits and how to make homemade beef jerky.

Have fun dehydrating from Suzie Homemaker!

Different Types of Canners

Pressure Cookers and Water Bath Canners

               

Hi, and welcome back to Suzie Homemakers helpful tips on canning. Today I would like to talk about different types of canners and when to use them. Canning is a fun and easy way to have fresh fruits and vegetables year round. I received my first canner from my mother, which was from my grandmother, and I still use it today. I was taught from a young age how to can and I still enjoy doing it today. Now, with the fruits and vegetables ready to pick soon, I would like to give you some of my helpful tips. In later blog posts I will be showing step by step how I can different fruits and vegetables.

Canning Jars

                

There are many kinds of canning jars you can buy or find at garage sales fairly reasonable. Some people like the wide mouth jars and some prefer the regular mouth jars.  If you buy them at a garage sale make sure you check the jars for chips or cracks, these you can’t use because they will not seal. I prefer the regular mouth jars because the lids are much cheaper.  Wide mouth jars are great for fruit. Depending on your preference you can use either pint of quart jars. I tend to use the pints for vegetable and the quarts for fruit.

Pressure Cookers

               

Use pressure cookers for nonacid foods- for processing meats and vegetables ,except for tomatoes which are acidy. There are many types of pressure canners to pick from it all depends on how much you want to spend. I have two Mirro Pressure Canners one for pints and one for quarts. Pressure canners can range from 50 to over 200 hundred dollars. Check your local Walmart or hardware store for cheaper models or go online to (http://www.pressurecooker-outlet.com/)

Water Bath Canners

               

Water bath canners are used for canning fruits and tomatoes. Check your local thrift shops of garage sales for these, just make sure they have a jar rack or pan for the jars to sit in. If you want a new water bath canner check Walmart, your local hardware store or go online to (http://www.freshpreservingstore.com/ball-freshtech-electric-water-bath-canner-and-multi-cooker-21-qt/shop/633895/)

Have fun canning and preserving your food.  Enjoy your fresh fruits and vegetables year round.

Happy Canning from Suzie Homemaker!