Drying fruits?

[Spring]

Hi! I was wondering if anyone dehydrates (is it same as dried?)fruit for their rabbits? My girls LOVE dried papaya and dried apple, but it gets expensive. I have a few questions.

1. Can you do it in the oven?
2. How long/ what temp for fruit (Or does itvary on the kind)
3. How long does it keep (Or does it vary)
4. Is dried and dehydrated the same thing?

Thanks!

:dutch:carrot

 

[Hollie]

Check out this website, it has a recipe for drying pears and apples;

http://www.fruitfromwashington.com/Recipes/drying_fruit.htm

This one is also useful;

http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/HGIC3084.htm

 

[Spring]

Thanks! I wonder how you can do it so it's rabbit friendly? These all said to treat it before so it doesn't brown. hmm.. I also wonder how I could sun dry it?Put it in the sun for an hour or two? Sorry, but I'm 100% clueless.. LOL.

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

It would take far too long to sun dry fruits. I have a dehydrator and I know it does not get very hot because otherwise the fruit burns. The bad thing -- it takes 10 days to dry grapes, 3 to dry pineapple, and 2 daysfor apple and strawberries.

I'm not sure if you can do it in the oven without burning it unless you plan to tie up the oven for a few days.

 

[Spring]

Oh shucks. I guess the 3 dollar bag of dried papaya is pretty small compared to the hassle it sounds like to getyour own dried stuff. Just curious, how much does a food dehydrator cost? Where do you get them?

 

[Bassetluv]

A couple of years ago I attempted to dehydrate some fruits in my oven (as I was on an all-raw diet for a while), and it just didn't work out well for me. I didn't have the money to invest in a dehydrator, so using my oven, it took hours to do, and the end result wasn't impressive. I recall that the oven had to be set at 150 deg. F., and it was recommended to use Pyrex dishes. However, I'm not the greatest cook to begin with, so perhaps dehydrating using an oven would work better for someone else.

Spring, do you chop the dried fruit into little pieces for your rabbits? I had some dried apple I'd bought from the store once, and wanted to share it with Raph, so I gave him a piece...maybe an inch long or so...and he sat and chewed it for a good seven or eight minutes, like he was chewing on a wad of gum. I was beginning to fear I'd have to take it out of his mouth if he couldn't chew it up enough to swallow, but finally he did. I've never given him any since then, though.

***Here's a link for comparison costs of food dehydrators; if you click on the price of each, it will give you a list of stores that sell each brand...

http://www.bizrate.com/fooddehydrators/

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

Really? I dry apple for them and they devour it like nothing! And I tend to really dry them out since the bunnies love it crunchy.

We've had our dehydrator for as long as I can remember but this looks basically just like a newer model of it:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4127214

I'm not sure the average price but you could look around some stores and find out.

 

[Spring]

The apple comes in little wedges from Kaytee (They are soft and I can pinch it with my nail to cut it in half- very soft). They papaya treats (probably 1cmx1cm cubes), and they are actually for birds but the girls LOVE them (although they hate fresh papaya).

I looked at Wal-Mart, Canadian Tire, Home depot, andSears and neither one had a dehydrator.:?

I guess I'll have to look around, but for now I guess I'll just buy the stuff from the petstore.

 

[Bassetluv]

Spring, here's a link for one (Nesco brand...see bottom of the page) at Sears:

http://www.sears.ca/gp/browse.html/...72006_ps_csrt_gogl_appliances_food_dehydrator

(It's a long link; I hope it works)

You might have to order one in if the stores in your area don't carry them. Good luck on your search, and if you do get one, I'd love to know how well it works..


MyBabyBunnies, the dried apple I gave to Raph was kinda chewy, so I guess to him it was like eating a wad of gum. I also have to have his back teeth checked out, as I have noticed that the underside of his bottom jaw is wet quite a lot. So he might be experiencing difficulty with his back teeth. He doesn't seem to have any problems eating though; pellets, tree branches, oat groats, hay, etc....he eats them all with no difficulty. It was just the dried apple that seemed to give him a problem. (Raph does seem to be an enigma tho...he has so many different things going on in his poor little body that it wouldn't surprise me if his back teeth aren't quite normal either...:?)

 

[Spring]

Thanks! I didn't see that in Sears :shock:. I'll keep looking to see if I can finda good deal somewhere. I love dried fruits, so it will be good for the buns and me!