Dehydrating and Freeze Drying Celery for Powdering 

Oh goodness--thank you. We really appreciate all your kind words and are so glad you found us!

Thank you so much! Next to within the walls of my own home, I think I do my favorite and best work in a classroom--I love to teach. My field is science, so it stretches across many disciplines. Dehydrated food keeps a good year or two and I have even opened some that was four years old and it was still good. Thanks for your comments.

Yay! Thank you! That video is scheduled for later in July--if we can stick to our schedule!

Me too!

Thank you so much. That video is currently on our schedule to be released later this month, if we stick to our schedule! LOL

@@RoseRedHomestead I am eager too because so far all I use the powders for is adding to food I am preparing.

That is fabulous! Jim's Ph.D. discipline was also Adult Education with a Master's in Psychology.

Trish: Thank you! Jim

Thank you so much!!

LilBit: Thanks for the information. Jim

When we do publish our video on how to use veggie powders, be sure to share some of the ways you use celery and other powders. I hope we get lots of ideas from lots of people!

Sure… I’m about to do a RU-vid video on my vegetable powders in my pantry for my channel. I love celery powder in chicken dishes especially chicken salad. You can make a rue, add celery powder for cream of celery soup then add that to a dish that calls for it.

@@MennoniteFarmhouse That sounds fabulous. I will check out your video when you post it! I am excited to see what you do with the powders.

Thank you! Another of our viewers shared this with us and I mentioned it in another video because I thought it was so great!

Sounds great! Thanks for sharing.

I do love the dry canister. It is still getting scarred, but it works very well. Thanks for your comments.

Thank you, Lyn. That means a lot to us.

Thanks! They are so fun and I can't wait to share. Plus, I can't wait to see what others will share about how they use powders as well.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Coming soon! It is scheduled for later this month if we can manage to stick to our schedule!

@@RoseRedHomestead I hear ya! 💕

Yes, it sounds interesting.

Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you.

You are so welcome! That video is scheduled for later this month--if we stick to the schedule!

Wow, thank you! I appreciate that!

Nancy: It was interesting. Jim

Thanks for the sub! So glad to have you along on our adventures!

There are some good ones on the market now that are very reasonable. Lots of people here reported the Ninja is really good.

You are so welcome! Thank you for your comments.

Wow--thank you!

Thanks for sharing your ideas. Nice!

People sometimes make a big fuss about what the "right" temperature is when dehydrating food. I am not so fussy. Most of my dehydrating is done at about 150F.

@@RoseRedHomestead That was exactly the answer I was hoping for, not that I always get what I hope for :-). Thank you very much for your quick reply. Love your videos, but that is something you are accustomed to hearing :-). M

Sharon: Thank you from both of us. Jim

Wonderful! Coming up soon!--by the end of July if we stay on our video schedule!

Be safe during that coming storm. I hope your celery turned out OK.

@@RoseRedHomestead Storm was very mild, we get stronger summer thunderstorms with more rainfall. Mostly media hype. I did bring the celery inside the next morning and it was done in 4ish hours. Only a few large pieces didn't dry. My dogs enjoyed them.

@@suesmargiassi4195 That is great news about the storm! Thanks for letting me know.

Thank ytou!

Yes, thank you. I am now showing that tip on some more recent videos. It works like a charm!

Thank you so much. I dehydrate lemon slices and once in awhile when I make a batch of soup to pressure can, I slip a lemon slice into the outside edge of the jar for esthetics. That is our chicken soup, and we hav a video on that.

Yes, another one of our viewers shared that tip as well and I shared it in our last video on powdered vegetables. You are right--it works like a charm!

I did mine at 150! So yes, 105 would also work.

Michelle: Absolutely!! Jim

You are welcome. I hope you can get one if that is what you prefer!

@@RoseRedHomestead yes Ma'am, as soon as we move to the country. We will be starting their lay away plan. I figure it's the fastest way to afford to get one. If we time it just right, we get our 1st harvest after we payoff our freeze dryer. At least that's my plan. 🤞🙏

@@jennifersinclair6044 Sounds like a great plan!

@@RoseRedHomestead thank you! Fingers crossed it works.

@@jennifersinclair6044 Yes, fingers crossed!

Yes you can! Jim

My dehydrator does take less time, but uses MUCH more electricity - depends on which D.H. you have. Also, much more nutrition is lost in the D.H. The freeze dryer keeps the nutrition. My health is fragile and I can't afford to give up any nutrition - as you age, you are not able to extract as much nutrition out of your food. Also the color of my F.D. celery is beautiful and looks like celery. When I D. H. it looks dark and pitiful. That said, I prefer some things dehydrated! Not putting onions in the f.d. in the house - so out on the porch in the D.H. and to my taste buds -- I much prefer d.h. cinnamon apple slices. And, it is great for frozen hash browns and peas and carrots. Have to tell you that the f.d. is worth every dime - if you want to talk to them about money saving,(it is HUGE) over buying it - you can see it is worth every dime and I even paid the extra for the oil less pump because I am disabled and changing the oil was difficult for me. ALSO: the f.d. food properly packaged is good for 25+ years - D.H. a few years depending on what it is. Email me if you want to know anything else gmcl66@twlakes.net

Lots have people have done power comparisons and the freeze dryer generally consts less than $2.00 per batch, so it isn't too bad. Actually, we don't care about that because more important to us is to get a good supply of food preserved and stored--we are aiming for a year's supply.

I just read a study that compared the various food preservation methods and the amount of nutrition that is lost. Freeze drying does preserve the most, but dehydrating is not far behind. Regular freezing and heat-based canning are lower. However, I like a variety of ways to do things, and some food value is better than no food value!

@@RoseRedHomestead I use a variety too - mostly based on ease and taste that I like :-)

Where do you determine the difference between freezer dehydration

Sounds great.

I don't mind at all! I did not blanch it, but you certainly could. You would be surprised to learn that most people think everyone but themselves know things, when the reality is that lots of people don't know it at all. In addition, there are often several ways to do things. I know some people blanch celery and some don't. I blanch a lot of veggies, but I don't with celery and I can't even tell you why--just the way I've always done it!

I was wondering that too. Some veggies are yes and some are no and I have not cracked the code yet. When freeze dried carrots for powder would we blanch or cook to tender?

@@grandmatuesday1184 I processed mine raw without blanching at all and they turned out fine. However, they were whitish on the outside. I will try blanching them next time before freeze drying in hopes of better color.

@@RoseRedHomestead thank you for responding. I cant wait to try the soup powders. Potatoes are in the freeze dryer now and picking up broccoli and carrots tomorrow after work for the next batch. I am super excited about trying the broccoli cheese and the tomato celery. My tomatoes are not turning red yet but it should be ready soon. I also think i am going to add chucks of broccoli withe the broccoli cheddar just to get away from the baby food/soup crossover so its clearly soup. Thank you again for the response and please know you are helping people.

@@grandmatuesday1184 Yes I agree about adding chunks. Any of those recipes would benefit from that.

Probably a good idea! Thanks.

There are several good ones out there. We have a Magic Mill. Excalibur is also a good brand.

More like cornmeal. I rarely get fine powdering like flour.

Your reply helped me so much with this question. Thank you.

If you check the ingredients on most powdered veggies, they add extra preservatives, etc., so the cost to me is not the most important consideration. Our dehydrator isn't too noisy, thankfully, but I know that some of them are. And I agree about the color of the FD ones.

Thankfully we got the oil free pump!

They are vacuum sealed and I do reseal them after every use. Great question! Thanks.

It is an attachment made by Food Saver and I rigged it to work on my NutriChef vacuum sealer.

Yikes! I sometimes move my dehydrator out to the back patio--if I ever do habaneros, I will most surely do that thanks to you.

@@RoseRedHomestead your teaching a lot of people what to do in these crazy times. You are very much appreciated. I’m even considering a freeze dryer now after watching your videos. Thank you for caring so much for the rest of us to spend your time doing these videos. In future I am for sure making the powders outside lol

73Kfoot: Yes, in water with a little baking soda so it holds it's color. Jim

Some people do but I don't with those to vegetables.

I know lots of people are concerned with that, but frankly, we don't care. For us, it is worth every penny to have an additional option for preserving food, and one that preserves most of the food value. I have watched others who have calculated the cost at around $2-$3 per load and most loads run over 24 hours, so I don't think that is too bad.

Thanks for making the soup and liked it. We appreciate your comments.

off2adventure: We have not freeze dried garlic. You could possibly use a baking soda solution. Jim

If you mean why is it that the dehydrated celery looks so much less voluminous than the freeze dried it's because of the processing. When something is dehydrated the the cells more or less collapse or shrink as the water evaporates, but in freeze drying the water is sublimated (the water goes from its solid state, ice, directly to its gaseous state, vapor) which leaves the cell structure in tact. If the ice had to melt into water before it could be burned off as vapor then the cells would collapse similarly to dehydrating. I hope that helps.

@@jamieharkar915 That wasn't my question. My observation is that, regardless of the way in which the water was removed from the celery, what is left behind should be the same weight.

Your thinking is right on! If you recorded the mass (in grams) of both batches before and after then calculated the percent reduction for each batch, the percentages would be pretty close to each other. We strive to remove a minimum of 90% of the water. The FD may remove just a bit more. I will have to try this sometime!

I store most of our dehydrated veggies in pint jars. They are more convenient for us.

There is only one brand that I am aware of and that is Harvest Right.

@@RoseRedHomestead thanks for the info. I don’t think the vevor is the same thing at all. Love your videos. I’m learning so much as not got my mum to ask about these things anymore.

@@marionbolwell9276 I bought a Harvest Right freeze dryer in the States. It had an extra £562 duties added to it plus transport, in total $3638=£2628+ duties. A lot of money but worth it. I took the standard medium

If it develops too much chlorophyll it can turn bitter. It should be a whitish green rather than a dark green.

Douglas: I think that is an individual decision and what recipes you plan to use them. Jim

Thank you.

It is a really versatile one!

I don't blanch celery at all. Maybe I should. Next time I will try that to see if it makes a difference. It all came out fine.

@@RoseRedHomestead I thought you did in your dehydrating celery video. I will have to check, it may have been someone else. Not blanching would be a lot easier, especially since the celery will be powdered. Thanks for another great video.

@@suesmargiassi4195 I have never blanched celery - not on the blanch list.

I know what you mean!

KR: Yes, it reduces the process by several hours. Jim

@@RoseRedHomestead thank you.

You can check them out on the Harvest Right web site.

From Harvest Right in Salt Lake City.