Dehydrating onions

[Gardening with Rabbits]

My Excalibur book says to dehydrate onions at 155 and my friend has a newer book I think than mine and it says 125. I look on line and I see people saying 155. I am sure I probably did dehydrate on 155 in the past, but it seems high. Did they change the temperature in a newer book?

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Well never mind. She got that temperature off the internet and not her book and her book says same as mine 155.

 

[Dirtmechanic]

I would start lower, not just because the internet said so but because the equipment varies and I would not wish to cook them. I would slice them thin and find a preservative method such as lemon water or citric acid for color and do a test run. I read 3 to 9 hours time frame on some instructions out there but a 300 percent variation in time is equal to saying you have no clue. Personally I freeze them. One might caramelize them and freeze, or pickle and freeze. Size matters on a dehydrator so my reference on onion would be to not have pieces wider than thick for consistence water loss. Aluminum mosquito screen makes a good mesh for tiny pieces. I might even test a run through a food processor if I were after a mince or powder. How do you use them? What do they look like dried with no preservative?

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I would start lower, not just because the internet said so but because the equipment varies and I would not wish to cook them. I would slice them thin and find a preservative method such as lemon water or citric acid for color and do a test run. I read 3 to 9 hours time frame on some instructions out there but a 300 percent variation in time is equal to saying you have no clue. Personally I freeze them. One might caramelize them and freeze, or pickle and freeze. Size matters on a dehydrator so my reference on onion would be to not have pieces wider than thick for consistence water loss. Aluminum mosquito screen makes a good mesh for tiny pieces. I might even test a run through a food processor if I were after a mince or powder. How do you use them? What do they look like dried with no preservative?

When I have done this before I let them get caramelized and I used a coffee grinder and turned some into onion powder and some I left in small pieces to add to dishes. They taste so good on salads and the powder is so strong and so good.. I used every drop. I am not sure how long they would last. I used them up in the first year. I saw somebody on the internet showing what they had left in a jar and they said it was 3 years old. I did garlic too, but I put the dehydrator outside for that. I probably should have put the onions outside, but it is not bothering me. I checked them a couple of hours ago and they were almost done. I also have froze onions and I was going to freeze these, but I need to start taking things out to dehydrate. The freezer is about full and I need room for meat. I am going to dehydrate tomatoes and turn some into powder and also zucchini that I have shredded. In my dehydrator book there is a recipe for zucchini bread using dehydrator zucchini powder. I am going to dehydrate most of my peppers too.