good morning y'all!!! I sure hope you're doing well this morning. we're in for another rainy day here in my neck of the woods. we're about rained out, expecting to get between 6 and 8 inches over the next several hours. can't say that I look forward to it, but it will be what it will be. we went on our walk this morning and it was 20 degrees!!!! yes, I said 20 degrees. that's pretty chilly but we both dressed for success and we made it. yay!!! I hope and pray that if any of y'all are in harms way with the weather, that you stay safe. if you need to leave, do so before you're trapped in a bad situation. just praying that we will all be safe and stay out of harms way.
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y'all know I do a lot dehydrating. I started dehydrating probably 30 plus years ago. I started out with a single temp dehydrator. I used it for years and had no complaints. I didn't know what I didn't know. the temp of the dehydrator was 165*. everything that came out of the dehydrator was dark. you couldn't tell what was what. but, I used it all because it was food that I had preserved. I'm not wasteful and never have been, so it was used, and I didn't know that my dehydrated food had to like that. that was all I knew and I didn't know anyone else that dehydrated food. as time went by, we moved from one house to where we have been for the last 25 years, and my dehydrator got put back and I almost forgot about it. I was cleaning out the cabinet and seen the dehydrator and got it out and started using it again. and still, I ended up with all dark produce, and still thinking that was the norm. I started looking and trying to learn more about dehydrating and trying to find more info. I found some people on youtube that was sharing their skill about their dehydrator and I seen that their food was dark just like mine was. so it was good, right.
the kicker is this, they had the latest and greatest and was still getting dark food. even with the latest and greatest adjustable temp dehydrators. I got to looking on line at all the different brands and all the different temp setting for this and that. I just couldn't get it out of my head that something isn't right with adjustable temps and seeing people still having dark produce, so that MUST be the way it is, right. my mind was reeling and I just couldn't make heads or tails out of what I was seeing and what I was reading.
I finally started talking to my husband and he doesn't know anything about dehydrating but he does know about machines and how they work and the like. his design engineering kicks in with every thing we talk about. hahaha so we talked about it for a while and what he is talking about is over my head and what I'm talking about is over his head. hahaha but we kept on kicking what little info we had around every once in a while and I finally asked my husband if he would agree to me getting a new dehydrator. he was all for it. so I got a weston dehydrator with my built up credit card points and it didn't cost any money outright. and it was less than 70 dollars if I had bought it with money. we always saved any built up credit card points for me to get small kitchen appliances with. that's how I got my very first cuisinart electric pressure cooker about 20 years ago.
anyway, after I got it, I got it all cleaned up and ready to use. I just about memorized the little instruction manual that came with it. so I got my first batch of onions on the weston and dehydrated it at the recommended temp, I think it was 135 degrees. I really wish I would have documented the process I done, but I didn't. I don't think I even had a cellphone that took pics at the time. when the onions were done, they were a very nice "dark" chocolate color. not what I was wanting, but what I got. I finally decided I would just do one half of an onion at a time, instead of doing a whole 6 trays full of onions.
I lowered the temp to 130 degrees and dried the half onion. still dark. next half, I lowered it to 125 degrees, still dark. next onions I lowered it to 120 degrees and it was still dark. you guessed it, next time I lowered it to 115 degrees, and now we're getting somewhere!!!! the color is starting to look like I want it to look. so the next onions I dehydrated at 110 degrees!!!! folks, we're talking pure perfection!!!!!
yes, it takes longer to dehydrate at 110 degrees!! it does, it's not for the faint of heart. but, I can tell you this, my dehydrated produce no longer tastes burned after it's dehydrated. it no longer looks like it's covered in coal soot after it's dehydrated. I can look at any jar I have and know what's in the jar by the beautiful color alone. I still see people showing their dehydrated goods and using higher temps than necessary and I wonder why they never think about it.
along comes freeze dryers. ok, so if they had come out when I was young woman, I would have definitely had one, but it's not feasible at my age to get one, especially with a tight budget. if money was no problem, I'd probably have one anyway. but I don't. so let me say this right out of the gate, I'm not against freeze dryers, because I would have one under the right circumstances. if a company offered me one, I'd take it in a heart beat, but we can't afford to purchase one.
what does bother me about freeze dryers is not necessarily the freeze dryers, but the owners. as soon as they get a freeze dryer, they start talking about the quality of their freeze dried goods over the quality of the dehydrated goods. well, I'm here to tell you that when you do that, you're comparing apples to fish. you can NOT compare the 2 ways of preservation because they are totally different.
the owners will always say that their freeze dried goods are far superior to dehydrated goods. in their minds, maybe. the 2 processes are completely different. you can safely freeze dry a lot of goods that are not safe to dehydrate because of the temp for the duration of the process being in the danger level. a lot of people will still dehydrate foods that they shouldn't and they'll get someone killed some of these days. yes, I would love to have a freeze dryer for the preservation of a lot of things that I can't preserve now. but I don't have one. I'm not knocking them at all. I just don't like for the owners of freeze dryers to kick dehydrating either. it's like they have forgotten where they came from.
and I'll put my dehydrated goods up against anyone else's dehydrated goods any day of the week if we're comparing nutrients or loss there of. over lots of time and studying the process, I have learned that what makes the produce turn dark at high temps is the natural sugars and starches in the produce. the sweeter the produce or the starchier the produce, the darker it will turn at high temperatures. in my process of learning what I now do, I found that keeping my temps no higher than 115 degrees, and preferably 110 degrees or lower will preserve the natural color, the long term flavor and I'm 100 % convinced that more of the nutrients are also preserved.
will my dehydrated goods have more nutrients preserved than freeze dried goods? I absolutely do not know. that's comparing apples to fish. but I'll compare my dehydrated apples to anyone else's dehydrated apples any day. I do not fear that comparison at all. and if you have learned to dehydrate what I call, "low and slow", you have nothing to fear either. knowing what I know about food and what I have learned about dehydrated goods in general over the last few years, I'd say that my dehydrated goods have retained much more nutrients than most other peoples dehydrated goods.
dehydrating at the recommended high temperatures for produce just sets us up for poor quality and poor color. do the manufacturers know that? I doubt that anyone working in any of the companies have ever used a dehydrator. if they did, they would the temps are too high!!! I'm convinced that poor color can and does lead to poor quality and less nutrients. do I have proof? no, I don't. I don't have any more proof than the people with freeze dryers saying that their product is much better than dehydrated products. I say prove it. they can't and they don't. again, I'd love to have one, but I can't afford it and I'm not buying something like that on credit. so, I'm not trying to beat anyone up. all I'm saying, is don't lord it over those that don't have a freeze dryer, that your products is MUCH better than dehydrated products, because it's not. at best, it's just different.
years ago when I was looking at machine embroidery sewing machines I went to every sewing machine place in 3 counties looking at all the available machines. the first thing that would happen when I went in, they would start talking about what a different brand would NOT do. they had more to say about their competition than they had to say about their own product. after the first five minutes of listening the spiel, I stopped the person talking and asked if I could say something. I just told him that I wasn't interested in learning about any other brand than what you sell here. I'll look at all the other brands when I'm ready to. but for now, I want to learn about this brand. he was really dumbfounded and couldn't even tell me about his product because he had his spiel down pat on what the others wouldn't do. I finally told him thank you and left. I never knew what his machine was capable of because he didn't know.
after about 30 years of working with and dealing with my dehydrators, I know what they'll do and I know what to expect every time. I've learned that low and slow gives me what I want. it gives me beautiful produce. it takes up much less valuable space. and I'm convinced that it gives me quality, nutrient dense food.
so, for now, I dehydrate a lot more than any other way of preservation. a one gallon jar will hold about 15 to 20 lbs of diced and dehydrated onions. that same jar will hold a ton of diced bell peppers. that same jar will hold many many lbs of dehydrated mushrooms and I could go on and on. so in a small space, I can store a LOT of food. and, if I put it in the proper jars with proper lids and make sure everything is bone dry, cracker crisp, and rock hard, my produce will last me a good 5 years or longer. I can't complain about that one little bit. and I'll not let anyone make me feel bad or cut the process of dehydrating down by bad mouthing it. I'll not do it. and if you have your process worked out and you're getting beautiful healthy produce, you don't have to let anyone make you feel bad about dehydrating either.
I also put a lot of produce in the freezer and I can. I just don't have a lot of space to store canned goods. so I opt for dehydrating. and from what I have been able to see from others sharing their freeze dried goods, their goods don't shrink at all and they take up as much space as does canning. I guess they can store their bags of goods in boxes and that may take up less room. but for now, until someone gives me a freeze dryer, I'll still be very happy with my 2 dehydrators. 😂😂😂 you be happy with what you've got too. sounds like a plan to me. now, off my rant box. but I do plan on revisiting this in the near future.
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it's time for our "giggle for the day":
what did the horse say after it tripped?
help, I've fallen and I can't giddy-up!
🤣🤣🤣
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we're picking up with Ezra Chapter 1 today.
the book of Ezra shows us that God kept His word, the temple is important to God as well as proper worship. it also shows us that when we remain faithful to God, He will continue to bless us. we are living in a time when we need to remain faithful to God, more now than ever. our times are perilous, almost to the point of biblical proportions and we need to draw close to God and stay there, that's where we will find safety.
one of the things we see in this book is the struggle to restore the temple and the need for spiritual reformation. God kept His word and it shows us that when we stay faithful to God He will continue to bless us. we also see that Ezra studied the law of God and he put into practice what he learned and he also taught the law of God. these are 3 very good practices that we should be doing today. study, learn, teach, repeat. each one teach one is a message that I used to hear.
we need to keep seeking Gods heart and let Him stir ours to action. when we seek the heart of God, He can and will give a bold faith to do what we could not do on our own. when we seek the heart of God, He can and will stir us to true repentance. these are some of the lasting lessons to be learned from this book. because Ezra listened to God, he is seen as one who played a huge part in restoring the value of scriptures and the need for God in their lives after the captivity.
Jesus is seen in every book of the Old Testament and this book is no different. Jesus is seen here as being the perfect priest that leads us to freedom. that's where our freedom comes from, Christ. Ezra prayed on behalf of Gods people and Jesus pleads on my behalf.
Ezra also speaks against marrying people who are not believers. Ezra called them foreigners. most of the time, foreigners worshiped other gods and Gods people had been marrying these unbelievers and worshipers of foreign gods. have you ever stopped and thought about that, I have. I can't imagine being married to someone who doesn't know and love Christ. I don't know how a man could love his wife if he doesn't know and love Jesus and I don't know how a wife could love her husband if she doesn't know and love Jesus. marriage, at best is hard, but take God out of it, and I can't imagine being married.
Ezra took courage because the hand of God was on him and if the hand of God is on us, we can be courageous too. when he read the word of God to the people, they wept, because the law revealed their sin. the main message in this whole book is that God kept His word. we can count on God always keeping His word. read Psalm 119, some say that Ezra wrote it and more than likely he did. a beautiful testimony of God keeping His word.
years ago a very dedicated man of God preached a sermon telling why it's not safe to come near the cross. one of those reasons is because our sin is exposed when we come near the cross. and that is so true. nothing can bare our souls like getting in the presence of the Lord and Savior. but that is the only place we'll ever find saving grace.
next time we'll start in Nehemiah.
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well, I guess that about wraps it up today. stay tuned to find out how much rain we get. stay in the word and keep seeking the heart of God. God will never turn His back on someone who is looking for Him. blessings on each of us and our day today. may we all find a way to serve the Lord in all we do. hugs and love, patty
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