anyone dehydrated cantalope

“I had a craving this past week for some cantalope. I had heard you could dehydrate it but it takes a long time. Anyone ever tried it.”

“I've dehydrated watermellon beforea nd it was just like candy...yummy!”

“Eddy....just cut it as thin as possible and it'll work like a charm....”

“Dehydrated cantaloupe is yummy.”

“I dehydrated antelope once, but it was a bit gamey! :0”

“antelope jerky”

“I've never dried cantaloupe, but I'll bet it would be great. Expect huge shrinkage, as its probably 98% water. I'd slice it thin for quicker drying, and maybe but some PAM on the screen do reduce sticking. I used to work for a commercial food dehydrator, in the R and D dept.”

“anyone dehydrated cantalope

Yes, I'm dehydrated cantalope.”

“My mom and I dehydrated cantaloupe once along with some other fruits and berries and everyone ended up liking the cantaloupe best. It's excellent!”

“I have seen dehydrated cantalope in big bags at Costco. I'd love to try a sample sometime.”

“whodathunkit
this is the most amazing read, all that water in cantalope and watermelon, it doesn't seem scientifically possible”

“I can't elope.........


.....I'm still married!”

“Most fruits are 95% water.”

“I've dehydrated a lot over the years. Never occured to me to do cantalope. Great idea! Once and only once did I dehydrate onions.. inside the house... arghhhh.. The problem I have with dehydrating is that my finished product always weighs a lot more than the stuff you can buy. Mine always tastes better though..”

“I've sorta dehydrated cantalope in the fridge. Pretty icky, at least to look at. Pineapple lasts a lot longer.”

“i accidentally left a banana in the pocket of my down jacket one year... the next year, when I took it out to wear, i reached in and nearly fell over to see a mummified banana.... Kind of funny-- it must have had the right kind of air circulation, because it didn't show any signs of mold or anything.... Needless to say, I didn't save, it but threw it away....”

“I used to have a coworker (a nice lady around 58 with grandkids) who had a lovely collection of mummified citrus fruits on her desk.

WEIRD!”

“I do not understand how anyone could ever throw away a perfectly mummified banana from a coat pocket? I mean, come on. Who ARE you people?”

“I've got a mummified grape in the driver's side door map compartment of my car. I grabbed it by mistake while driving home from Alabama last weekend. It's actually pretty cool. It's hard as a marble and kinda fuzzy. I'm thinking of keeping it.
last edited: 1/21/05 12:08:34 PM”

“Pixie, did she call them pomanders? If you cover an orange or lemon with cloves, you can then use it as an air freshener. They dry out slowly, and look kind of funky cool after they dry.”

“I'm with Buck. As many of you know I am from a distant time and planet (I remember horse drawn ice carts).

My grandfather believed that a piece of potato could ward off arthritis (a family scourge) and carried a mummified piece of potato in his pocket (along with a tiny plush cat that he replaced as it wore out). It was hard and shiny as a piece of coal.

Coal! Every New Year's it was VERY bad luck FOR A WHOLE YEAR! to be the first to enter one's own home.

Preferably it was a dark haired man who brought in a piece of coal - I still have mine - (for warmth) and some coins. He could not leave until you had given him something to eat and to drink. It was called the 'First Foot'.”

“Stickmon had some dehydrated watermellon at the LBL trip.

It was thick and chewy but I thought it was good. I would think cantloupe would dehyrdrate the same way.”

“well, i do realize the h2o content backslacker, seems like it would take forever and a day to remove ALL that water from the fruit”

“its good, you need to cut the melon in wedges, then slice the wedges in 1/3 inch slices. If you do it slimmer, then the finished product is too thin and will become brittle. If you do it thicker it will take longer to dehydrate. The watermelon was good, very sticky. My favorite is banannas and pineapple. Strawberries are ok too, but pineapple is the BOMB!!! 1/3" slices and your good to go, I dont use pam either, once dried it comes off the tray easily enough and if not, use a plastic food processor scraper.

Pam would introduce a non-natural substance to the finished product. My bananas and pineapple go for months in a ziplock with the air sucked out.

More questions...send $5.00 to me, and I'll answer your questions about dehydrating...I've tried to dehydrate most everything...even mashed pototoes once. Easier to just buy the storebought, they rehydrate the same and tasted the same too.

Chinese food is great to dehydrate. My favorite is baked beans and fried rice. too.

I love my dehydrators...I eat like a king on the trail.”

“I bought a great cookbook, "Easy Dehydrated Gourmet Meals" at a gift shop last year. It's got some awesome dehydrated recipes and tips. I wanted to buy another for a friend but haven't been able to locate the book anywhere. Anyone have this cookbook? Know where to get it?”

“I found the book you mention at northernoutpost.com. and ordered a copy of it for myself because you said it is great. Can't wait.”

“Hot Dang. I ordered one too. PayPal, no less!”

“Hay Ewker or anybody else,
Did you every dehydrate cantelope and did it turn out okay?

I got a big stinking cantelope just waiting to be dehydrated and need to know before I fully commit.
last edited: 7/16/07 11:20:57 AM”

“I tasted some Stikmon dried.....it was wonderful.....

oh..I'm not Ewker...but I have to put my $.02 in

:)”

“I fixed that divinity.

I asked Ewker specifically because he started this thread two years ago. I wonder why he was wanting to know about dehydrating cantalopes in January.
last edited: 7/16/07 11:24:07 AM”

“lol....ok....”

“Wait...a penny for your thoughts but you end up putting your 2 cents worth in...shouldn't you get a penny in change?”

“Yah. It's good stuff!”

“I tried the dehydrated watermelon stickmon brought to LBL a few years ago. It was great.”

“they deydrated cantelope in stores is mostly sugar coating.”

“I guess the question now is: Have you dehydrated cantalope yourself, how did you do it and how did it turn out? I've gathered that it is good.

Thanks all”

“BS, yes I did dehydrate some. It takes a while just like watermelon does. Mine turned out good.”

“Spear it. Slice the spears into 1/4" thick slices and lay on the tray”

“Right on the trays... cool.

You'll need to send some to Dicentra.”

“I speared it, but then i just had a cateloupe with a big whole thru it? How's that sposed to help it dry?”

“RoamAround, first you spear it, then you gut it, then you cut it into strips.”

“ha-ha... Like pickle 'spears'.”

“Found it Tilt! :p

Yah! Send some my way! I love dehydrated cantalope! Not the sugary stuff you get in the store either!

Watermelon is good too. ;)”

“cant-aloupe.... in reference to the night of the meteor shower.... < VBG >”

“oy vey. What a stretch!! lol.”

“Been there done that...now.

I speared, gutted and skinned a cantalope over the weekend and cut it into strips and dehydrated it. Boy is it good. I can put a whole cantalope in a pint zip-lock bag. It taste just like a cantalope without the pungent smell.

I also dried some canned mandrin oranges. Very good. Taste like candy.”

“I also dried some canned mandrin oranges. Very good. Taste like candy.”
BS
8:18:45 AM

That sounds good! My fine motor skills are not up to cutting up anything large.”

“when I tried to do mandarin oranges they shrank down to nothingness and got stuck on the trays. Damn tasty though!”

“With the mandrin oranges, you have to dry them an extra long time, like 24 hours plus at 130°. They do shrink down to nothing. You do have to peal them off the rack or use a fruit roll up tray. After that, I pack them in snack size zip-lock bags. Then they usually get squashed into a mass (usually in my pack.) To eat them, I just bite off a chaw (chew, for those outside of the tobacco spiting south.) I've thought about trying to compress them into squares or round candies, but I'm too lazy to take the time to do that.

StoveStomper, placing each orange slice on the trays would be a good fine-motor-skill exercise.”

“That's pretty much what I did, BS :) Next time I'll just puree them and dry them on the fruit roll trays.”