Drying Fruit and Veg

DON’T WASTE FRUIT, VEGETABLE AND HERB GLUTS – DRY THEM!

By Clodagh and Dick Handscombe

There are few households who do not buy dried fruits, crisps and other dried snack biscuits, dried soup mixes and dried herbs at various times of the year. But do you realise that you can now dry them yourself 365 day’s a year whether it is raining or not?

When rising early this morning to write this article the bathroom was wonderfully warm and scented with the stimulating aroma of raspberries, alpine strawberries and tomatoes that had been drying overnight on our Dorrex tray dryer* that we purchased three years ago and now use several nights a week to process seasonal gluts from the garden for later use.

*The photograph shows the process for producing delicious mandarin slices/crisps on our three tray Dorrex Dryer for use as tapas, for flavouring casseroles and drinks and mixed with other dried produce our lunch when out walking or fishing. The dryer is available in Spain from Conasi. For convenience they now have an dedicated English Language email address for enquiries and orders This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

A few weeks ago we were drying apricots, garlic, leeks and herbs. Shortly it will be courgette crisps and peppers and in August figs and grapes. During the winter months our drying programme includes wild mushrooms grown in the garage and mandarins, lemons and grapefruits plus bananas and pineapples that we don’t grow ourselves. And remember if you don’t have your own trees there are often inexpensive gluts of fruit that can be purchased in local markets.

Why use a dryer and not the sun?

You may well ask as dried vegetables, fruit and fish are ancient artisan products of Spain. Some years ago we did dry some tomatoes, figs and apricots in the sun but it was not totally successful because on the Catalunian Costas and inland we don’t have the regular over forty degree summer temperatures and low overnight humidity that successful drying without insect and mould problems requires. Such conditions are only found consistently in Andulucia and Almeria and then only for a few months a year.

So we tried using our electric cooking oven on a low heat but found that the temperature control on our Spanish oven was not accurate or sensitive enough and we lost almost the whole of ones years peanut crop.

The Dorrex dryer we have now is fool proof and the instructions indicate typical drying times and temperatures. The latter range from 30 to 70 degrees centigrade depending on what you are drying – herbs being the quickest and tomatoes the longest. Naturally overnight drying removes the 70 or 80 percent of water content of whatever one is drying so it needs to be done in the naya or in the bathroom with the window open to avoid condensation.

So in conclusion drying is a useful gardening related process which can make a fantastic difference to ones year round diet as no more do you need to purchase expensive dried fruit and vegetables with unnatural colorants, preservatives and sweeteners.

What better than putting your dryer on while cleaning, watching tennis, sleeping or putting around the golf course to have a fresh healthy snack available for tomorrows round!