Dehydrating foodstuffs with the Anova Precision Oven (APO)

[ElsieD]

@Senior Sea Kayaker Thank you, that is helpful.  The Anova oven has a dehydrating setting and I just tried setting it to 105F and that was fine.  Do you have any idea how long they would take? 

 

Any info on re-hydrating them, say to make a peach crumble?

[TdeV]

@Senior Sea Kayaker, the reason for leaving the APO door open is to provide moisture a faster exit than with the door closed, IIRC.

 

I would check them earlier, @ElsieD, in case you'd like them in a semi-dehydrated state (which I've come to think is the best method). In my notes, I've taken some peaches out as early as 3.5 hours. This dries the immediate moisture of a cut peach* (makes a cake less soggy) but the peaches will need to be kept in the freezer (since they aren't fully dehydrated). I generally don't reconstitute them at all.

 

* including the acidified water.

[ElsieD]

3 minutes ago, TdeV said:

@Senior Sea Kayaker, the reason for leaving the APO door open is to provide moisture a faster exit than with the door closed, IIRC.

 

I would check them earlier, @ElsieD, in case you'd like them in a semi-dehydrated state (which I've come to think is the best method). In my notes, I've taken some peaches out as early as 3.5 hours. This dries the immediate moisture of a cut peach* (makes a cake less soggy) but the peaches will need to be kept in the freezer (since they aren't fully dehydrated). I generally don't reconstitute them at all.

 

* including the acidified water.

 

Thank you!  After 3 1/2 hours, how much will they have shrunk?  I do plan on freezing them, initially on a tray to keep them separate then vac packing them.   Interesting that @Senior Sea Kayaker suggests dehydrating at 105F and you use a temperature of  126F.  Does the higher temperature speed dehydration?  Sister is bringing me a 12 quart basket.

[TdeV]

@ElsieD, yes the higher temp speeds dehydration. One day I did some peaches at 145ºF because I needed them in a hurry for something.

 

To be sure, though, a higher temperature will do more cell destruction. I didn't know anything about dehydration when I started this project, so I started with the temp for dehydrating on the then only-recipe-for-dehydrating-fruit on Anova's website. Today, I would start with 105ºF as @Senior Sea Kayaker recommends.

 

Dehydrating at a lower temperature will take longer.

[TdeV]

17 hours ago, ElsieD said:

Can I use the perforated pan that came with the oven?

 

Yes.

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

@ElsieD

The reason for the lower temp. of 105 is, as noted by @TdeV , is for better texture in the finished product and more uniform dehydration.

Saying that my experience dehydrating fruit such as peaches, apples.... was to have a summer temperature stable product for extended backcountry and canoe trips so uniform drying was a necessity. If you're going to freeze them that isn't a concern.

With respect to rehydration our standard practice was to start rehydrating when we stopped for lunch and turn into a crisp or grunt for the evening meal. The result was pretty indistinguishable from doing the same at home from frozen fruit.

 

[ElsieD]

Thanks to your excellent feedback, I'll do this:

 

Cut peaches into eighths, drop into aciduated water, no need to dry, but when I take them out of the water I will put them on a towel to mop up excess moisture.  Place on silpats and perforated pan, leaving a bit of space in between them.  Dehydrate at 105F (fan on) for maybe 3 1/2 hours.  Freeze on trays then vac pack.  

 

Questions:

Is cutting them into quarters instead of eighths a bad idea?  If okay, does this double the dehydration time?  Or even longer?

Do I still need to have the oven door open a crack?  Wouldn't that significantly hinder the dehydrating process?

 

I'm really excited to try this.

Edited August 26 by ElsieD
Added "fan on" (log)

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

@ElsieD Stick with your original plan if the portions are too thick it will form a 'skin' on the 

slices and inhibit further dehydration.

As advised leave the oven door open. A dedicated dehydrator allows moisture to escape as part of it's design.

Have fun.

 

Edited August 26 by Senior Sea Kayaker (log)

[TdeV]

Actually, @ElsieD, check them at 3 1/2 hours. You might decide they need more time dehydrating.

 

Also, with the peaches I did last year, I did not freeze on trays. I took the peaches off the tray, put them into a vacuum sealer bag, jiggled them a bit to get mostly the same thickness of items in the bag, sealed them, then put them in the freezer.

 

 

Edited August 26 by TdeV
Always more to say (log)

[ElsieD]

I won't be doing this until at least Friday when my sister and husband leave to go home but I'll let you know how it works out.  She's getting the peaches at the farm stand where they grow them so they should be nice.  The peach brand is Loring, a Freestone peach.

[ElsieD]

My sister brought me a half bushel of peaches, or 48 quarts.  I started to dehydrate 1/3 of them in the APO and that did not seem to work.  I took them out and put them on trays and froze that particular lot.  I decided to spring for a dehydrator and thanks to Amazon, my Cosori came the next day.  I ended up peeling and slicing another 1/3 (not very evenly, I'm afraid)  6 trays worth, which equated to about 1/3 of the peaches.  Everything I've read said to condition the peaches for a week, shaking them a couple of times per day.  However, there appears to be moisture on some of the peaches, probably due to the uneven cutting and I'm worried about mold.  I don't want to lose them.   Is it okay to freeze them without conditioning?    I've attached a picture of the dehydrated peaches.

 

The last 1/3 of the peaches I pureed and reduced by half.  One thing I made using regular puree was peach caramel, inspired by @Pete Fred.  I also used  double strength puree to make ice cream.  The peach caramel was delicious on today's  pancakes and we haven't tried the ice cream yet.

 

Now that I have a dehydrator and not using the Anova for that, I'll post my experiments in the appropriate topic, assuming I can find it.  No luck finding it so far.

 

 

 

 

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

@ElsieD

You can certainly go ahead and freeze your peaches.

The 'conditioning' is if you were planning to store them at room temperature.

 

[ElsieD]

18 hours ago, Senior Sea Kayaker said:

@ElsieD

You can certainly go ahead and freeze your peaches.

The 'conditioning' is if you were planning to store them at room temperature.

 

 

Thank you for that.  I have gone ahead and frozen them.