The joys of dehydrating your own garden vegetables, I just built a solar dryer I explain it here and why I dehydrate foods.

  I have a problem with wasting things, especially food, in particular, the vegetables I grow in the garden. I grow peaches, apples, cherries, peppers, and most common vegetables, my wife cans some tomatoes, we use it for everything tomato sauce is used for. I typically air dry Jalapeno's, then I grind them in a blender and make chili powder, I use it for several things.

Jalapeno's, very versatile pepper, very easy to dry and grow.

Of course for seasoning, but I also use it to keep little furry mammals away from my trees. (Squirrels mainly) In the past, I dried in the "open air", we are fortunate to live in a semi-desert region, the ambient is normally in the 70-100 degree range. (More on how to dehydrate at home, Link) More important than that however is the low humidity, the dry air aids in absorbing the moisture from the drying commodities. The problem with air drying is there is no protection from bugs, animals, dust, wind, and rain when on a tray in the sun it's exposed to all of it. I worked at a facility where part of the business was drying "grape pomace", the part of the grape left over after the "crush". We had a 5-acre asphalt pad, that's a lot of area, the trucks would dump the pomace, it would then be pushed into a gigantic pile, covering the 5-acre slab 25 feet high. There was another asphalt slab approximately the same size, we would "windrow" the material and turn it over every other day. We would then after 3 days of drying, this facility was in the actual desert, gather it up and process it further. The pomace would then be loaded into a drying system where the remaining moisture would be removed and the product would then be ground into a flour consistency. The pomace was being processed for use as cattle feed, the biggest problem with it was it cost more to produce than we could sell it for. This was a large scale drying operation, we also dried chicken "scat", tomatoes, potatoes, onions and many other commodities. Most had major processing problems due to having to be done in a large quantity. Tomatoes are almost all water, we would add a truckload to the system and get a trash can of dried material. Onions, nothing eats onions, potatoes ended up as hard as baseballs, and the chicken scat would compress in the transfer conveyors and completely destroy them.

  I have also dried grapes to make raisins, it's a good process, I've done it two ways, one in the open air and one process was on a dryer conveyor. For sanitary reasons most raisins are now dried in dryer facilities, they historically have been dried on the ground atop paper or wood trays. The trays would be placed between the rows of grapevines then the bunches of grapes would be placed on the trays and let to dry. All of the problems with laying something on the ground in a rural area were present in that environment, The dryer I worked on consisted of a Teflon conveyor belt, 100 feet long and 10 feet wide, a series of gas burners provided the heat source. That system was capable of drying a few tons of grapes a day, the system washed the raisins as well.

Grapes sun drying to become raisins.

  I have been involved with drying commodities for a long time, about 15 years off and on. I have wanted to step up my drying at home for quite a while, air drying is ok for peppers, but for some of the juicier fruits and vegetables protection from the adverse conditions warrants attention. So I have finally constructed a solar drying table, it is now in my garden waiting to be filled with vegetables and fruits. However, that is not the only use I have in mind to use the table for, the first item I placed in it is worm castings. In order to keep the castings from getting moldy, it must be dried. It doesn't have to be dried prior to brewing it into tea, but it certainly makes weight measurements easier, and it makes volume measurement more consistent from batch to batch.
  My other intention to use the solar dryer is starting my plants, I have up until now done some, not very many, in my garage under a light, it had a "kind of" problem, it kind of worked. I will be able to use planter cups I have been saving to start all of the nightshades, green beans and cucumbers saving me a few dollars a year.
  I salvaged two sheets of plexiglass from a neighbor, one was a full 4x8 foot sheet, the other a large portion of a corner was broken off, with a large crack starting at the edge and extending to the center. I cut a 6x3 foot piece for the lid, and the solar receiver, there are some holes that were drilled in it, they will serve to release the moisture-laden air. We (one of my grandsons helped me) built a frame around the plexiglass to ensure it would not crack from the lifting and lowering of the lid. I scavenged the box from another neighbor, it was used in a boat, I don't know what its function was but the thing is built like a tank. It is 6-foot x 3-foot, fiberglass over wood, and it is watertight, so we drilled three 1 inch holes on the deck to aid in cleaning.

The box was ragged prior to painting it black.

We built the frame from the huge amount of reclaimed lumber I got 5 years ago, I am at the end of it after building my garden boxes, entry stoop and many other useful objects around the house. We painted the box only, I was thinking of using white, however, after looking through the shed I had white in one hand and saw a can of black we had bought for a project years ago. I decided to paint the box black, it will absorb the heat making it more efficient, however, I will have to watch it closely to make sure it does not overheat during the summer, in the 100-degree sunshine I'm not sure how hot it will get. I will use a thermometer to monitor the temperature, I am expecting a learning curve, and I'm confident I will figure it all out. The only purchase I had to make was $7.00 for a set of hinges, and I complained about that.
  Why dehydrate food, are there any benefits? There are several benefits from my perspective are few are:
* Save some money, I have had to discard a large amount of usable fruit and vegetables from the garden wasting my time as well as the food.
* Create a healthier supply of year around food, herbs, peppers, and vegetables all usable in food preparation
* Make your own lightweight backpacking food supplies

Completed and sitting in the garden.

* You will know that the food you are eating in the middle of the winter is healthy and preservative free.
  Anything that contains water can be successfully dehydrated, it includes making your own jerky from beef, or turkey, without the, loss of valuable nutrients. Although the higher the drying temperature the more nutrients that will be lost, but the time spent drying will be reduced. When drying at home you will know the temperature is not turned up to increase production/profits.
  Dried foods have a one-year shelf life when stored properly, store small amounts, one or two servings, in a brown paper bag inside an airtight ziplock bag, maximum 10% moisture should be maintained. If the product is too wet mold will set in and spoil whatever amount is stored in the bag, (that is the reason to store small, not large amounts in one bag) we must be on the lookout for mold. Certain commodities can be powdered, some make more sense than others such as herbs, onions, peppers, and garlic. I use a blender when I grind the products, safety concerns should be addressed when processing them, especially peppers. I learned the hard way, of course, that's how I've always learned. 
  The first attempt at making ground peppers was an eye opener, the jalapenos dried successfully so I plopped them into the blender, put the lid on it and ground them up to a coarse consistency. I removed the lid, to my surprise the light dusty seasoning poofed into the air, not all of it, just enough to dust everything in the kitchen, as well as my daughter and I. We both ran out of the house gagging and coughing, blinded with burning eyes. That's when I got the idea to use it as pepper spray, but I never have, however it did lead me to another brilliant conclusion. That conclusion was to observe safety precautions, so I bought a 3M gas mask, goggles, and rubber gloves, did I mention when I rubbed my eyes after being blinded by the explosion of pepper? Well I did, and the results were not the least bit enjoyable, my daughter and I wore our gas mask, rubber gloves, and goggles as we cleaned the kitchen. That dust was everywhere, much like when I did the same thing while making pancake batter, that's another story completely.
  You don't have to build a dehydrator, I do this kind of stuff because I enjoy it, bottom line, I think I'm crafty to build things out of nothing. There are a lot of pre-made dehydrators available on the market, I have no recommendations, nor do I sell them on my website. Determine what you want to do with it, research and ask questions until you are completely satisfied that 80% of your needs will be met, 100% would be nice but is most likely unattainable. Units suitable for the kitchen are available, I think those are the coolest ones, de-hydrate foods right where you use them, in fact, foods that have been cooked are candidates for dehydration as well.

The lid is open, notice the tray of worm castings
in the green tray drying.

  There are procedures for preparing the foods to dehydrate, I will write another blog around June 2018 when the produce begins to ripen, there is not a lot to it but I want to use my own photos. (Here is a Link to instructions on how to prepare foods to dry.)
 Thanks for reading and sharing, I hope this inspires you to add another skill set to your self-reliant toolkit, it is a worthwhile activity, especially for your excess garden vegetables. Dehydrating is easy to compliment any lifestyle, I enjoy dried fruit in my oatmeal in the morning, and it's virtually free.
jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com