Dehydration for preservation

As smallholders we are always looking to how best to preserve our produce for future consumption and to avoid waste. This time of the year is a particularly busy time in this respect as we try to manage the abundance granted to us, not with a little effort, from the vegetable and fruit plots. 

One gap in our range of preservation techniques was the use of dehydration. This was a shame because we bought a hardly used, good quality dehydrator at a bargain price a little while back.

The Grow Your Own Group of which I am member, and which meets regularly, has helped put this omission right. One of our smallholding friends has accumulated considerable experience of using a dehydrator for all sorts of things and she gave a very practical demonstration of what can be achieved using this method, accompanied by many samples of the end products to try out.

This was just the inspiration needed to get started. I've begun with plums and this first attempt has produced very satisfactory results. I'm sure I will return to this topic in the future as I discover more about dehydration for preservation.