Living On Food Stamps: The purpose of This blog is to share ideas and to offer encouragement. In the comment section Please share your story and how you are managing during these tough economical times. I truly believe through friendships, encouragement, love, compassion and sharing we will get through this and perhaps even come out wiser and stronger.
Peace
Saturday, August 28, 2010
How To Dehydrate A Fresh Pumpkin and How To Bake a Pumpkin Pie From Dehydrated Pumpkin ~ Simply Amazing
I absolutely love this idea about dehydrating pumpkin, so much that I tried it myself. You didn't mention what you do about the pumpkin going through the mesh liner of the dehydrator tray. Now I did roll the pumpkin with the waxed paper over it like you said, lightly. It didn't seem to matter how lightly I rolled it, the pumpkin was going through to the other side. I did not dehydrate it because I was afraid I'd have trouble removing it from the tray with it dried out all the way through the mesh. How did this work for you? I hope you can answer soon as I have halted the process not knowing what to do short of just freezing my pumpkin, and I am trying to cut back on some expenses by not storing food in the freezer.
I'm going to try this again and just go ahead and dehydrate it even if it IS going through the mesh. Hopefully it will shrink enough that it will just break off. It's Friday and I need to get this finished. Thank you for your website. I just found it and think I'm gonna love it. I too live on SSI/foodstamps but still find ways to live like I'm not. This is going to help me a lot!
Hi Naomie, Thank you so much for reading my blog and for your comments. I have not yet tried to dehydrate pumpkin. It's on my 'to do' list for October when my local Farmer's Market will have pumpkins. I am not the producer of the 'How to dehydrate' videos. I just thought they we so awesome I put them on my blog, her website is: http://www.youtube.com/user/Dehydrate2store My son & daughter-in-law bought me a food dehydrator so I went surfing for ideas & I discovered her website: Here is another dehydrating website: http://www.canningpantry.com/dehydration-of-food.html
Well, I'm here to tell you, don't put pumpkin on your dehydrator tray until you get more info. I've just ruined 3 or 4 of my mesh liners. (Maybe you'll be giving away some of those in the future?) The mesh curled as the pumpkin dried, and when I tried to remove the deeply embedded food from the mesh some of the mesh tore. Now my mesh liners are flimsy and out of shape, not sturdy like they were before. I too am on food stamps and SSI, can't afford such losses. She specifically said not to place waxed paper under the pumpkin, so I sure am curious as to how she did this. Guess I'd better check it out with her. On the last couple of my trays, I did place the pumpkin on waxed paper and smoothed it out with another piece on top, then peeled off the top sheet of paper, flipped the whole thing upside down on the mesh, then peeled off the other sheet of waxed paper. This did work better but still went through the mesh a little. However, I didn't ruin the mesh this way. Actually, the first several trays were butternut squash, which doesn't have the same texture as pumpkin. It was drier and not stringy and went through the mesh very easily. The pumpkin on the other hand was more watery, but the flesh had a stringy texture which seemed to prevent so much seepage through the mesh. I really like the idea of getting the pumpkin/squash to a powder form, though. So efficient for storage.
Are you Jewish or Messianic or what? I am Torah-observant gentile messianic. We just had an awesome Yom Kippur and hope you did too.
Hi Naomi, I am so, so sorry to hear about your problem with dehydrating pumpkin. I wonder if maybe lining a wire mesh strainer with a coffee filter and allowing excess fluid to drain from the pumpkin pulp would keep the pulp from running through the mesh? I will buy a can of pumpkin on Wednesday and give that a try. I will take pictures and post the process and let you know how it works sometime Thursday so check back. Again, I am so sorry this cost you money. She has a different dehydrator than I have. Mine is a cheaper round one that has 4 stackable trays, and the plastic meshes are removable. It is so frustration to lose money when you're trying so hard to save money. BTW, I am in the process of converting to Judaism.
Hi Naomi, I felt so bad about your mesh being destroyed I did a little online research and found how to make a 2 new mesh from plastic needlepoint canvas that can be bough at Walmart for $1.39: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGo19fHoEEY
Oh, Patty, YOU ROCK! That should work perfectly! My dehydrator is an Excaliber and their mesh sheets are very expensive. I have contacted the lady at dehydrate2store about this to see how she deals with this issue. She also uses an Excaliber. I'll let you know if and how she replies. You are so sweet to check that out for me. I didn't even think to do that.
Just thought I'd update you about the pumpkin/mesh issue. I tried something different that seems to be working fine. Here is what I did today:
I laid out on my table in layers, if you will, a pizza peel (just happened to have one from a goodwill store), a cotton square (to contain any liquid that might get squished out, which didn't happen), a length of plastic wrap large enough to hold the pumpkin that will go on one dehydrator tray, spread it around in a kind of circle shape, then lay a piece of waxed paper over that, use the rolling pin to smooth the top of the pumpkin a little to get it to an even thickness for drying; now peel off the waxed paper and keep it to use for the rest of the pumpkin on more trays (dehydrate2store uses a fresh sheet each time she rolls, which seems wasteful to me when one sheet will work until it gets so soggy it begins to rip); then lay the mesh screen over the pumpkin lining it up so that it's centered on the tray; then set the dehydrating tray (that holds the mesh screen) over the mesh. Now... grab the handle of the pizza peel which is on the very bottom of everything, place your other hand on top of everything, and just flip the whole thing over, so that now you have the pumpkin right on the screen, and you remove the peel, the cloth, and the plastic wrap (which can also be used again until your job is finished), and pop the tray into the dehydrator.
I know this sounds awfully complicated, but it really isn't, and it is worth it to be able to get the pumpkin dried and ground into powder. Once I figured everything out it went very smoothly. The pumpkin is now drying and I saw very little coming through the mesh. Now the pumpkin I'm using has a fibrous texture so that may be partly preventing seepage through the mesh. But at least I'm not doing the rolling pin bit with the food directly on the mesh, pressing it further into the mesh.
I've noticed there are no other commenters on this blog so you and I may be the only ones to see this procedure, but I can encourage you now to go ahead and try this. Of course, if you have one of those round dehydrators this procedure may not work for you; I used to have one and mine did not come with separate mesh screens to lay onto the trays, it was all one piece, in which case we'd have to think of another way.
By the way, I sent dehydrate2store a message regarding this about a week ago, but she has not responded. I was hoping she would share about how she dealt with the problem. Oh well . . .
To dehydrate pumpkin slices to use in pies and breads later: seed, scrape, peel, and cut in slices 1 inch wide, and 1/4 inch thick. Blanch for 2 or 3 minutes, and drain; they will be slightly soft. Place in the dehydrator at 125 degrees until brittle.
Once you have pumkin chips - grind. Voila powder. I am going to keep mine in whole chips and grind on a need to basis. If no grinder - use a mortar and pestle.
Hi I am new here,find the dehydrated pumpkin and sweet potato such a good idea. Bought a dehydrator about 2 yrs ago and am still learning, regards from Australia
I absolutely love this idea about dehydrating pumpkin, so much that I tried it myself. You didn't mention what you do about the pumpkin going through the mesh liner of the dehydrator tray. Now I did roll the pumpkin with the waxed paper over it like you said, lightly. It didn't seem to matter how lightly I rolled it, the pumpkin was going through to the other side. I did not dehydrate it because I was afraid I'd have trouble removing it from the tray with it dried out all the way through the mesh. How did this work for you? I hope you can answer soon as I have halted the process not knowing what to do short of just freezing my pumpkin, and I am trying to cut back on some expenses by not storing food in the freezer.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to try this again and just go ahead and dehydrate it even if it IS going through the mesh. Hopefully it will shrink enough that it will just break off. It's Friday and I need to get this finished. Thank you for your website. I just found it and think I'm gonna love it. I too live on SSI/foodstamps but still find ways to live like I'm not. This is going to help me a lot!
ReplyDeleteShalom,
Naomi
Hi Naomie,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for reading my blog and for your comments. I have not yet tried to dehydrate pumpkin. It's on my 'to do' list for October when my local Farmer's Market will have pumpkins. I am not the producer of the 'How to dehydrate' videos. I just thought they we so awesome I put them on my blog, her website is: http://www.youtube.com/user/Dehydrate2store
My son & daughter-in-law bought me a food dehydrator so I went surfing for ideas & I discovered her website: Here is another dehydrating website: http://www.canningpantry.com/dehydration-of-food.html
Shalom,
Patty
Well, I'm here to tell you, don't put pumpkin on your dehydrator tray until you get more info. I've just ruined 3 or 4 of my mesh liners. (Maybe you'll be giving away some of those in the future?) The mesh curled as the pumpkin dried, and when I tried to remove the deeply embedded food from the mesh some of the mesh tore. Now my mesh liners are flimsy and out of shape, not sturdy like they were before. I too am on food stamps and SSI, can't afford such losses. She specifically said not to place waxed paper under the pumpkin, so I sure am curious as to how she did this. Guess I'd better check it out with her. On the last couple of my trays, I did place the pumpkin on waxed paper and smoothed it out with another piece on top, then peeled off the top sheet of paper, flipped the whole thing upside down on the mesh, then peeled off the other sheet of waxed paper. This did work better but still went through the mesh a little. However, I didn't ruin the mesh this way. Actually, the first several trays were butternut squash, which doesn't have the same texture as pumpkin. It was drier and not stringy and went through the mesh very easily. The pumpkin on the other hand was more watery, but the flesh had a stringy texture which seemed to prevent so much seepage through the mesh. I really like the idea of getting the pumpkin/squash to a powder form, though. So efficient for storage.
ReplyDeleteAre you Jewish or Messianic or what? I am Torah-observant gentile messianic. We just had an awesome Yom Kippur and hope you did too.
Shalom and shavuah tov!
Naomi
Hi Naomi, I am so, so sorry to hear about your problem with dehydrating pumpkin. I wonder if maybe lining a wire mesh strainer with a coffee filter and allowing excess fluid to drain from the pumpkin pulp would keep the pulp from running through the mesh? I will buy a can of pumpkin on Wednesday and give that a try. I will take pictures and post the process and let you know how it works sometime Thursday so check back. Again, I am so sorry this cost you money. She has a different dehydrator than I have. Mine is a cheaper round one that has 4 stackable trays, and the plastic meshes are removable. It is so frustration to lose money when you're trying so hard to save money. BTW, I am in the process of converting to Judaism.
ReplyDeleteHi Naomi, I felt so bad about your mesh being destroyed I did a little online research and found how to make a 2 new mesh from plastic needlepoint canvas that can be bough at Walmart for $1.39: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGo19fHoEEY
ReplyDeleteOh, Patty, YOU ROCK! That should work perfectly! My dehydrator is an Excaliber and their mesh sheets are very expensive. I have contacted the lady at dehydrate2store about this to see how she deals with this issue. She also uses an Excaliber. I'll let you know if and how she replies. You are so sweet to check that out for me. I didn't even think to do that.
ReplyDeleteShalom!
Hi Patty!
ReplyDeleteJust thought I'd update you about the pumpkin/mesh issue. I tried something different that seems to be working fine. Here is what I did today:
I laid out on my table in layers, if you will, a pizza peel (just happened to have one from a goodwill store), a cotton square (to contain any liquid that might get squished out, which didn't happen), a length of plastic wrap large enough to hold the pumpkin that will go on one dehydrator tray, spread it around in a kind of circle shape, then lay a piece of waxed paper over that, use the rolling pin to smooth the top of the pumpkin a little to get it to an even thickness for drying; now peel off the waxed paper and keep it to use for the rest of the pumpkin on more trays (dehydrate2store uses a fresh sheet each time she rolls, which seems wasteful to me when one sheet will work until it gets so soggy it begins to rip); then lay the mesh screen over the pumpkin lining it up so that it's centered on the tray; then set the dehydrating tray (that holds the mesh screen) over the mesh. Now... grab the handle of the pizza peel which is on the very bottom of everything, place your other hand on top of everything, and just flip the whole thing over, so that now you have the pumpkin right on the screen, and you remove the peel, the cloth, and the plastic wrap (which can also be used again until your job is finished), and pop the tray into the dehydrator.
I know this sounds awfully complicated, but it really isn't, and it is worth it to be able to get the pumpkin dried and ground into powder. Once I figured everything out it went very smoothly. The pumpkin is now drying and I saw very little coming through the mesh. Now the pumpkin I'm using has a fibrous texture so that may be partly preventing seepage through the mesh. But at least I'm not doing the rolling pin bit with the food directly on the mesh, pressing it further into the mesh.
I've noticed there are no other commenters on this blog so you and I may be the only ones to see this procedure, but I can encourage you now to go ahead and try this. Of course, if you have one of those round dehydrators this procedure may not work for you; I used to have one and mine did not come with separate mesh screens to lay onto the trays, it was all one piece, in which case we'd have to think of another way.
By the way, I sent dehydrate2store a message regarding this about a week ago, but she has not responded. I was hoping she would share about how she dealt with the problem. Oh well . . .
Shalom and happy Sukkot!
Naomi
To dehydrate pumpkin slices to use in pies and breads later: seed, scrape, peel, and cut in slices 1 inch wide, and 1/4 inch thick. Blanch for 2 or 3 minutes, and drain; they will be slightly soft. Place in the dehydrator at 125 degrees until brittle.
ReplyDeleteOnce you have pumkin chips - grind. Voila powder. I am going to keep mine in whole chips and grind on a need to basis. If no grinder - use a mortar and pestle.
Hi I am new here,find the dehydrated pumpkin and sweet potato such a good idea. Bought a dehydrator about 2 yrs ago and am still learning, regards from Australia
ReplyDelete