Contact Me

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Bananas Everywhere

seven dehydrator trays of bananas

Food World (Belle Foods) will close for good on Saturday night. Today, employees were packaging bananas and tagging them at $0.20/lb. I bought 15 lbs. (4 tray packs) and have slaved over them in order to dehydrate them before they go bad. Seven out of nine trays have been filled. Since I put them on the tray one plate of sliced bananas at a time, the top bananas have started turning brown and shrinking a bit.
 
All the bananas were very firm and a bit under-ripe tasting. They sweeten as they dehydrate. Only one banana had any sort of blemish in the center. I cut out that huge bruise. Out of 15 lbs. of bananas, I only had about 1/4 cup of flesh trimmed. These bananas had not developed those nasty strings that I hate to eat. Only a half-dozen had strings. Some had the little black, hard places on the blossom ends. The hens get those. I ate the point on the stem end.
 

 
This is the last package, but Blogger decided it should be here.
 
Notice the stems have been cut right off. The produce people cut the stems so the banana fits on the black, Styrofoam tray and can be shrink-wrapped with cellophane. No stems=more savings. Since they are sold by the pound, I am in favor of getting rid of excess weight.
 

 
There is one more tray that was not pictured.
 
Bananas not quite ripe are best when dehydrated. Somehow, they get sweeter. Maybe it is the heat. As you can see, I fortified myself with candy corn from a Harvest Mix. The bag of peels will go to the hens in the morning when they get dry oats. I have to drive 39 miles for a mystery shopper gig, so they will be inside with something to peck at.
 
I have so much produce to dehydrate!
 
UPDATE:
To answer a question, I do not treat with lemon juice or anything else. The first bananas I ever dehydrated, I treated half with lemon juice and half I treated with nothing. I could see no difference in the color of the final products. Treating with lemon juice is supposed to keep the banana sliceds white. It does not.
 
Your turn
There are many sales around town this week. Found anything outstanding? What are you canning or dehydrating?


21 comments:

  1. Oh no. What have you done? As if there's not enough I don't do. Now I don't dehydrate bananas!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yummy yum yum and what a deal! That is a serious dehydrator. I want one so much. I will keep checking our [new to us] local thrift to see when one comes in.

    I didn't have your email, but I got your lovely comment and wanted to tell you I am sure the ham would work great in the soup. Won't be as *smoky* tasting as with kielbasa, but ham rocks. If you would like the recipe just let me know.

    Thanks for visiting. I have to catch up on your blog - I just KNOW you have a bazillion money saving tips for me - and you have chickens! I am hoping we can get a few next year at our new home. I learn a lot from reading blogs, but I know there is so much more I need to know.

    Take care and have a great week!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Now that you see my email, please do send me the recipe. I have hams frozen. However, I like navy beans and cabbage, so I sounds like a dish I would like.

      Yes, it was top of the line back when I had a bit of money. Any dehydrator will do but won't be as good as this one. Other people may disagree. Ask on Freecycle.

      Lots of my posts have no keywords. Sorry. I am trying to remedy that.

      Delete
  3. PS - um, just noticed your email in the top left corner of your blog. Derrrrr. giggle

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I suppose I need to put it in multiple places because some people just cannot find it.

      Delete
  4. I love my bananas under-ripe! The dog will eat them anyway. What a deal, I would have grabbed as many as I could too! You could also peel and freeze them to use in smoothies. Right now I am busy "processing" pears!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I also dehydrated bananas yesterday. Do you treat them with anything to retard the browning? I have been using lemon ... well actually lime on mine. It makes them a little tangy but in a good way!

    This afternoon I began drying some pineapples. One of our local markets had them priced at $1 each. They aren't very large but they are super sweet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Janet,
      The first time I dehydrated bananas, I treaated half with lemon and left half untreated. I could tell no difference at all in the color of the bananas. It was sloppy and sticky with lemon, stickier than the plain ones, even after I drained them. So, never again. I slice and place on racks each time I get a plate full of sliced bananas.

      Delete
  6. A dehydraytor is on my list of things I have been looking for at thrift shops and flea markets. Hopefully I will find one before the year is out

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Judy S,
      You will love a dehydrator. The cheaper, round kind are a good introduction. You will soon want one of the expensive ones...lol.

      Delete
  7. Well, Linda. Once again you have taught me something. I freeze my bananas for smoothies when they get to ripe. Even though I have a dehydrator I just didn't think of doing the bananas that way.

    .20 a pound is an amazing price!!

    When ever I serve little people a banana I also give them my egg slicer. They LOVE putting big chunks of banana into the egg slicer, closing it and making bite-sized pieces of fruit to eat. I just realized that would work for slicing to dehydrate too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sue,
      I am going to try rehydrating these for smoothies. I froze bananas for years. Now, there is no room for bananas in the refrig/freezer.

      I thought of using an egg slicer, but I don't have one. Maybe some day...

      Glad you learned something.

      Delete
  8. No doubt these would help my wee bun reach 33 lbs! hee hee Nice work!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Izzy,
      No doubt they would. I cannot get my computer to 150% so I can see decimal points.

      Delete
  9. What a I NOT canning? Green beans all pressure canned, several batches of zucchini relish canned, 8 pints of salsa done Sunday with another 50 pounds of tomatoes to be picked and turned to home canned tomato soup. (Pressur canned.) Thenthere are my dozen apple trees..7 quarts of applesauce in the pantry, and I have about 5 more batches to deal with. Plus, my friends and I will go to a local orchard for a 900 lb case of apples to split. ($100. How can we say no?) I do not use my dehtdrator...I find I get better/faster results in a low temp oven. Plus, my family only cares for dehydrated strawberries. Oh....and blackberries too...ours are just a bit past prime. Tomorrow they get picked and frozen until I have the time to make and can blackberry syrup. WHEW!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Meg,
      Whew! is right. That's a lot of canning! I could never hold up to that much work, but once I could. Your family will enjoy all the bounty later on this winter. I have never tried the oven. It is so humid here. The oven would warm my overly hot kitchen too much, I think.

      I go to the farm for sweet potatoes and buy cases. One day, I will dehydrate those.

      Thanks for the comment. I like to hear what people are doing.

      Delete
  10. Oh....onions....I DO use my dehydrator for those. I have to set it on the patio, though, else my house smells of onions for a good while. NOTHING compares to homegrown, home dried onions in cooking. Sweet potatoes? I will have to try that! Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Meg B,
      I dehydrate Vidalia onions in the house. It is vaguely sweet in here for several days, nothing offensive.

      Delete

Okay, hoping the annoyances have gone away.