Dehydrating: A quantum leap for my inner kitchen goddess

It is not such a long time ago that I lay awake, tossing and turning, confused and bewildered, trying to find answers to questions that I never dreamed I would confront in my lifetime.  It is ever such a long time ago that I lay awake planning, checking, mentally preparing, patting myself on the back:  and a much, much longer time since I actually got up to go and admire something that I produced.


Last night was the latter for me.  I barely slept.  I had been active all day, and the hamster wheel in my head has been re-activated.  You might ask why?  Here is why:

Roll-ups, yoghurt, dried parsley, tomatoes, kiwi fruit and bananas

And just in case you don't like the side view, here is one from the top :):

The piccies are not great - certainly not Project 365 material.  I stumbled through after an all but sleepless night, dragging my camera with me, and took these when the light was shining in from the lounge window.  I didn't want to dredge up the green pepper and apricots which have already been sealed into their storage containers.  The roll-ups have now been cut up into smaller pieces and individually wrapped and the kiwi and banana have been put into bags and sealed into a plastic container.  The kiwi fruit look exceptionally pretty.  They are a definite repeat, as are the bananas.  And the roll-ups?  Absolutely.  I think of everything that I have tried so far, they have turned up trumps.

I suspect that I have found a hobby for myself which might grow into one of the small income projects that I keep dreaming about.  I thoroughly enjoy it, and seem to have a knack for it.

Busy dehydrating at the moment are small amounts of:

   The most wonderful cookies in the world;

   Some celery;

   Some cucumber;  

   Some apple;

   Some lemon;

   Some broccoli;

   Some salad corn;

   The rest of the peppers.

I am trying small amounts of lots of things to see how they turn out and how long they take.  Confession time says that I slightly over-dried the apricots.  This isn't a major problem as the role of these apricots is to become ingredients in healthy snack bars, so actually slightly crispy works quite well.  It does mean that I learnt quite a bit about not over-drying.

I have just spent a very gooey hour in the kitchen slicing up mangoes to put into the dehydrator overnight.  Then I think, if I can tear myself away from experimenting, that I will give it a rest for a while.  The kitchen is oozing bottles and jars and tupperwares and boxes and spices which need to be sorted out and packed away before I embark on the next round of chaos.  Simmering in a pot are the pips.  If the resulting puree is thick enough, they might become an experimental roll-up.  Otherwise the pips will be discarded and the puree will go into the worm bin.

A really nice side effect of all of this is that I have incredibly happy worms.  They are still alive after the onslaught of peelings, particularly fruit, into their bin.  However, they do seem to be somewhat sated.  Usually when I lift the partition above theirs, they take a bit of time and then slide under the soil into darker regions.  Now, they wriggle a little bit and go back to lying sleepily.  I have prodded a few, and they do seem to be ok.  Maybe they are doing the equivalent of a spa day.

And my compost heap is no longer looking dry and dusty.  It is covered with the citrus leftovers and the peppers that I discarded as not being up to scratch.  Which means, of course, the after a very long sleep, I'm going to have to dig out the fork and turn it a bit - sigh.

What was really spectacular is that I breakfasted on bran, fresh yoghurt, and some of the cherries that I bottled last week - all preservative free, with only the cherries containing sugar.  I mean, I dreamed of learning to live abundantly.  I think I've arrived :).