In an earlier post I described my not very successful attempts at drying herbs in a dehydrator. I decided to give it another go, this time with citrus, after being inspired by some delicious dried lemon served as an edible garnish on a dessert at a function I went to.
According to the instructions in the manual, you scrub whole fruit under warm water and then cut into 5mm slices. Well actually that was the instruction for lemons. For oranges, the instruction was to cut them into 0.5mm slices (good luck with that!). Then you layer the slices in the dehydrator trays and dry them for 8 hours on Setting 2 (55C).
After my previous experience, I knew that it would take considerably longer than that. After 30 hours drying time I decided that they were dry enough. I put the lemon slices in an airtight food storage container and they are still looking dry and mould-free a month later. I intended to use the orange slices in craft-making so vacuum-sealed them into bags to make extra sure. They are also delicious dipped in chocolate.
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