This holiday season or any time of the year, it’s easy to make homemade gifts with your food dehydrator. Homemade treats show that you have invested time and thought about the gift you are giving yourself. Make some personal gifts for the hard-to-buy for people in your life.
1) Fruit Snack Stocking Fillers – Fruit roll ups can be made in your dehydrator by pureing fruit and placing them on solid plastic tray liners or plastic wrap lined trays. Dry the fruit until it is leathery. Cut the leather into strips or shapes and store it in airtight bags or containers. Make a variety of flavors of fruit roll-ups or choose a person’s favorite. Get creative and try new flavor combinations or add some textures like shredded coconut or chopped nuts. Try adding small amounts of yogurt for creamy flavors.
2) Homemade Nuts Gift Packs – By buying raw nuts like almonds, peanuts, or walnuts and soaking them in salt water overnight and then dehydrating them, you can make healthy nutty snacks. To make a variety of flavors, you can coat the nuts in a sweet mixture of things like honey, cinnamon, or coconut or top them with spicy flavors like hot sauce, chili powder, or wasabi. After the nuts have been coated, put them in the dehydrator until the coating has dried. Pack in snack-size bags and label with the different flavors.
3) Dried Fruit Assortments: Buy a variety of fruits such as apples, pears, grapes, peaches, and pineapple. Wash the fruit and core and peel as needed, then cut into halves, wedges, or decorative rings. You can sprinkle with spices or colored sugars to add more flavor and color. Dry until the fruit has a leathery consistency. Store in airtight bags or containers.
4) Jerky Treats – Whether you’re a hunter or not, making homemade jerky is easy. Choose the type of meat the person would prefer, or try a variety. Favorite meats are beef, venison, turkey, chicken, or fish. The meat should be lean but can be thinly sliced or ground. Select from prepackaged jerky seasonings or try your favorite combination of spices. If using liquid flavors like teriyaki, marinate the meat overnight in the refrigerator to help the flavors penetrate the meat. Place the separated meat on the trays and dry until the meat is brittle. Store in airtight bags or containers.
5) Potpourri Garnishes – Nature provides us with a variety of scents to choose from, from flowers to fruit to herbs to spices. Some popular scents are dried sliced apple rings with cinnamon sprinkled over them or small pumpkin slices sprinkled with pumpkin pie spice. Both can be decorated with nails before drying. Use a decorative ribbon as a hanger and to attach some rings together for a wider decoration or a longer hanging decoration.
Get creative and let your food dehydrator help you make personal and easy gifts for the special people in your life, for the holidays or any special occasion.