You all seem to be such proficient chefs. Well here is a place to share some of that cooking knowledge. Or do you have a cooking problem? Ask away. Jams and chutneys go here too.
Well spurred on by you lot, I had my first attempt at drying something over the weekend. It was only a very large plum from my organic box which I sliced and then dried the slices. They were delicious.
I made the dryer from an old Quality Street tin (the octagonal ones). I pierced holes in the sides and put a cloth over the top. Then I stood it on a radiator. It took about 2 days but the results were perfect. They were supposed to go in my meusli but didn't quite make it that far.
The radiator works fine and in the summer I am going to try putting it in the conservatory. That is one huge solar oven in the summer (solar freezer in the winter )
I think the trick is to make sure there is good air circulation. If it's damp that's when you get mould growing. Hence the holes in the side.
When I first tried it, I put the lid on. That created a lot of condensation. So I took the lid off and covered with a dish cloth instead.
Also it was quite cold outside, plus it was the weekend so the heating was on a bit more than normal. That meant that they dried quickly - again slicing them helped speed it up.
I remember my mother keeping a glass jar on the radiator. When we had finished a loaf of bread she would tip the left over the crumbs into the jar. If she needed breadcrumbs for a recipe she always had a jar full.
They never went mouldy because they were kept dry. The did get a bit dusty though which was why I used the dish cloth.
Yep. i'm going to leave the avatar til all the moving stuff's finished. Don't want to confuzzle the system by re-uploading.
Might take this opportunity to get a new one actually...i'm sure there's a fairy out there. I need fairy and toadstool (got a real thing about toadstools at the moment!!).
Thomzo wrote:I remember my mother keeping a glass jar on the radiator. When we had finished a loaf of bread she would tip the left over the crumbs into the jar. If she needed breadcrumbs for a recipe she always had a jar full.
They never went mouldy because they were kept dry. The did get a bit dusty though which was why I used the dish cloth.
Thanks for the tips - I'm particularly keen on this one as I often try and save breadcrumbs and frequently fail because of mould. I'll try a glass jar in a warm place with a cloth over the top.
Thomzo wrote:Well spurred on by you lot, I had my first attempt at drying something over the weekend. It was only a very large plum from my organic box which I sliced and then dried the slices. They were delicious.
I made the dryer from an old Quality Street tin (the octagonal ones). I pierced holes in the sides and put a cloth over the top. Then I stood it on a radiator. It took about 2 days but the results were perfect. They were supposed to go in my meusli but didn't quite make it that far.
The radiator works fine and in the summer I am going to try putting it in the conservatory. That is one huge solar oven in the summer (solar freezer in the winter )
Zoe
Hmm - we generally don't have radiators here in Aotearoa (well, least not up here in warm sunny north), so wondering if I could dry stuff by slicing and sticking it in something and sticking it outside in a sheltered spot? I get the afternoon sun, lots of it so sunny is not a problem unless it's cloudy. It is windy where I am though.
To build my solar drier, I took the side panels off an old bedside table and replaced them with flyscreen material, and made a few shelves that slotted in in the same way. It worked for a while, before the wife nicked it for drying cheese in.
This summer, a new high speed solar dryer will make an appearance, based on the design at:
Thomzo wrote:I remember my mother keeping a glass jar on the radiator. When we had finished a loaf of bread she would tip the left over the crumbs into the jar. If she needed breadcrumbs for a recipe she always had a jar full.
They never went mouldy because they were kept dry. The did get a bit dusty though which was why I used the dish cloth.
Thanks for the tips - I'm particularly keen on this one as I often try and save breadcrumbs and frequently fail because of mould. I'll try a glass jar in a warm place with a cloth over the top.
Cheers.
Wulf
I must admit that I find it easier to keep a pot in the freezer and save my breadcrumbs in there (Useful if you don't have central heating). You can use them straight from the freezer and larger bits crumble easily when frozen.
Zoe
Last edited by Thomzo on Tue Mar 27, 2007 11:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
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