How To Dehydrate Strawberries

Are you wondering how to dehydrate strawberries? If yes, then this post is for you. We will go through the meaning of dehydrating strawberries, the reasons why you should dehydrate fresh strawberries, the different methods to dry them, and what various tools you would need.

What does it mean to dehydrate strawberries?

As its name suggests, dehydrating strawberries is the process of removing the moisture in strawberries. According to experts, strawberries are 92% made of water. The goal of dehydrating strawberries is to get rid of the water as much as possible, leaving the strawberries all dried up.

Why should you dehydrate strawberries?

There are different reasons you should dehydrate strawberries. Here are some of them:

Preserving food

There’s no doubt that one of the earliest methods of preserving food is drying. Food can easily rot because of its moisture

When you dry food, you are also reducing the chance for bacteria to thrive and thus, prolonging their shelf life. Moisture is known to encourage bacterial growth. So, the less moisture, the longer the life of your food would be.

This is also true in strawberries. This fruit can easily rot because of its high moisture content. Through dehydration, your strawberries could last up to six to 12 months.

Saving food

Dehydrating is a great way to save food. During harvest time, strawberries can be abundantly available. You may have a surplus of them. This means that you have more strawberries than you can consume in a given time.

This is where dehydrating strawberry slices can be helpful. When you extend the life of your strawberries, you can save food. You avoid wasting strawberries. Instead of letting it rot, you are saving it for later consumption.

Availability 

Strawberries may not always be available. There are times that you just can’t go to the grocery store and buy fresh strawberries. When this happens, you’ll be happy to know that you have dried strawberries in your kitchen.

Since dehydrated strawberries are dry and small, you can easily store them in a container. You can bring it with you anywhere to serve as a snack. 

Enjoying food

Fresh strawberries are delicious, but did you know that dried strawberries can be as delicious as well? Thus, it’s not surprising that a lot of people want to know how to dehydrate strawberries so they don’t have to buy them in the grocery stores.

Drying strawberries gives you another way to enjoy eating strawberries anytime, anywhere. You can even share dried strawberries with friends, coworkers, and family.

Nutrition

Generally speaking, dried fruits are healthier compared to fresh fruits in terms of weight. What this means is that a pound of dried strawberries is healthier than a pint of fresh strawberries. The reason is that nutrients in dried fruits are more compact, concentrated, and condensed.

You can just imagine strawberries as a healthy snack. When you dehydrate a strawberry, you are getting rid of its moisture, leaving behind the nutrients and fiber. Ounce for ounce, dried strawberries are three times more nutritious than fresh strawberries.

Reducing food cost

Drying strawberries is inexpensive. So, if you’re looking for a way to preserve your food most cost-effectively, then dehydrating and drying is the way to go.

How to dehydrate strawberries

Dehydrating strawberries can be easy if you know what to do and you have the right tools. Depending on the method you use, dehydrating strawberries can take a few minutes to days.

Here are some of the most common methods of dehydrating strawberries:

• Sun drying
• Air drying
• Electric dehydrating
• Air frying
• Oven drying
• Microwave drying

Let’s see how these methods work.

Sun drying

Since time immemorial, the sun has been the main source of energy for living organisms. Every day, it showers the earth with the power that sustains life. Thankfully, the sun is also there to help us dry out strawberries.

How to dehydrate strawberries using the sun

So, how can you dry fresh strawberries using the sun? Here are the basic steps:

1. Slice the strawberries to ⅛ to ½ inch thick. The thicker the strawberry, the more time it takes to dehydrate them. 
2. Place the sliced strawberries on a tray or drying screen. To prevent strawberries from sticking on the tray, you can use a screened drying rack, mesh screens, or parchment paper.

1. Position the tray under the sun. You may use a fine screen to cover and protect your strawberries from insects and other dirt.
2. Wait for 3-6 days. You can turn the strawberries every other day for even drying.

As you can see, drying strawberries is easy. Of course, it can be difficult if the weather isn’t favorable or you live in a place where there’s no constant sunshine.

In this case, you need to consider other methods mentioned below.

Air drying

Air drying is as old as sun drying. The main difference is that in air drying, you don’t need direct sunlight. You simply need to let the strawberries dry outside or inside your home where there’s sufficient airflow.

Air drying can be more time-consuming. However, air drying is ideal if you want to preserve the delicate appearance of your strawberries.

Combining air and sun to dry strawberries

In some cases, you can combine air drying and sun drying. You simply need to put your strawberries in a drying screen, elevate it so their air can flow both above and beneath the screen, and place it under the sun.

This method can be much faster.

If you wish to effectively air dry your strawberries, be sure to use one of HYDGOOHO’s drying rack net dryers.

Electric dehydrating

Now, let’s go to a more modern way of drying strawberries — electric dehydrating. 

In this case, you would need a food dehydrator.

What is a food dehydrator?

A food dehydrator is a box-like appliance where food is dried using a built-in big fan (or several smaller fans) inside it. 

The food dehydrator produces warm air, which the fan would circulate and evenly distribute throughout the food that’s being dehydrated.

COSORI Premium Dehydrator

To give you a better understanding, let us give you an example. One excellent food dehydrator is the COSORI Premium Dehydrator. 

The COSORI dehydrator is truly versatile. It can prepare more than 50 recipes, from food jerky to dog treats, from herbs to meat, you name it and the COSORI dehydrator can handle it.

COSORI dehydrator features

Here are some quick features of this product:

• Comes with six stainless steel dehydrator trays
• ETL listed
• The body is made of stainless steel
• Glass front door
• Easy to use and clean
• No noisy sound
• BPA-free

With reliable, safe, and powerful features, the COSORI dehydrator is the perfect home appliance you can use not just for drying strawberries, but also other fruits, food, meat, herbs, flowers, and more.

Buy it now on Amazon

How to dry strawberries using a food dehydrator

Dehydrating strawberry chips using a food dehydrator is super easy. All you need to do is slice your strawberries to ¼ inch. Lay them down on the steel tray and don’t let them overlap each other.

From there, put the trays of strawberries inside the dehydrator and adjust the temperature to 135 degrees Fahrenheit. Wait for about six to eight hours.

Food dehydrators are a perfect tool in drying strawberries because it is not harsh to your food. It gently removes moisture and that explains why you need to wait for a few hours.

When dehydrating your strawberries, be sure to check them every once in a while, especially during the final hours. Thankfully, food dehydrators have transparent doors, making it easy for you to visually inspect the condition of your strawberries.

Final checking

Check the strawberries and wait until it develops the desired texture. Once you’re satisfied with the dryness of your strawberries, you can then remove the tray from the dehydrator.

You can now enjoy eating strawberries. You can add them to your next snack cuisine or keep them in a container for later consumption.

Air frying

Another modern technique for drying strawberries would be the use of an air fryer. 

Recently, air fryers have become popular and thus, you might even have one in your home right now.

If ever you wonder if you can air fry your strawberries, then that’s definitely something you can do.

What is an air fryer?

An air fryer has two sections; the top section and the bottom section. The top section has a heating mechanism and fan.

When you turn on the air fryer, it creates hot air, which rushes down to the food located inside the bottom section. The rapid gush of hot air fries the food in the same way as you deep fry food. The only difference is that you don’t use oil.

COSORI Air Fryer

A good example of an air fryer is the COSORI Air Fryer. It is highly rated and has received a lot of positive reviews from thousands of its customers.

COSORI Air fryer features

Here are some of the best features of the COSORI air fryer:

• 25 liters capacity
• VeSync app allows cooking with the touch of a button
• Works with Amazon Alexa and Google Home
• 12 cooking functions 
• Cookbook included
• Customized cooking methods

As you can see, there are a lot of things to love about the COSORI air fryer. It has a lot of functionalities that can quickly dehydrate strawberries and other types of fruits.

Buy it now on Amazon

How to dry strawberries using air fryers

Because you are going to use a device that is specifically for dehydrating strawberries, you can expect that the process is straightforward.

Here are the basic steps to take when air frying strawberries:

1. Slice strawberries into small to medium slices
2. Place the strawberries on your air fryer’s tray.
3. Add stevia for sweetening. Of course, this is optional.
4. Place the tray inside the air fryer. 
5. Air fry for five hours at around 55 degrees Celcius/130 degrees Fahrenheit.
6. After five hours, you can then check your strawberries for texture and consistency.
7. Let the strawberries cool down before putting them inside a container.

Using air fryers

Please note that some air fryers may not be as straightforward as they should be when drying fruits. Be sure to press “fruit” if available. Adjust the cooking time and temperature accordingly to ensure you don’t overcook or undercook your strawberries.

Oven drying

One of the most delicious ways to enjoy eating strawberries is to turn them into oven-dried strawberries. If you have been eating strawberries fresh all your life, then you should try eating them dry. 

Overview

Oven-dried strawberries perfectly go with trail mix, salads, and finger snacks. All you need would be your handy oven and some patience as it could take a few hours to dry strawberries. However, as a bonus, cooking strawberries will leave your kitchen smelling fresh and fruity.

How to dehydrate strawberries using an oven

Here’s a quick look at how you can use your oven to dry strawberries:

1. To start drying your strawberries in the oven, you would need to slice the fruits evenly. If they are not of the same size, some strawberries might be completely dried while others are not.
2. While you’re slicing the strawberries, you can already preheat the oven to 90 degrees Celsius or 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. To prevent the strawberries from sticking to the pan or tray, you need to line them with a baking sheet like parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
4. Once sliced, put the strawberries on the tray. As much as possible, don’t let them overlap or touch each other.
5. Place the tray inside the oven. Bake at the same temperature that you use to preheat the oven. Wait for about two hours. By this time, the strawberries should be dry on top.
6. Take out the strawberries, flip them over, and then put them back in the oven. 
7. Wait for another 30 minutes. Check the strawberries. If they are not fully dry, wait for another 30 minutes.

When you see that the strawberries are fully dry, you can then remove them from the oven. Allow to cool and store in an airtight container.

Microwave drying

Most houses today have microwaves. So, if you already have one, you can also use that to dry strawberries.

However, you need to remember that drying strawberries using the microwave can take a long time. You probably have been used to using your microwave for just a few minutes. However, drying can take up to 45 minutes.

What you need

The steps to baking strawberries are almost the same as other methods mentioned here. You need to thinly cut your strawberries. Here are a few things you might need:

• Mandoline slicer – for even cutting
• microwave-safe silicone mat
• Microwave plate

How to dehydrate strawberries using the microwave

Once you have all things set up, it’s time to put your strawberries inside the microwave.

Here’s an important thing you need to do. Be sure that you use the “defrost” function of your microwave. If you don’t, your strawberries would get burnt instead of dried. Again, only use the defrost setting.

When the strawberries are in the oven, turn on the oven and wait for 30 minutes. Take it out and see if the top is already dry. If it is still moist, give it another five minutes. Be careful, the oven will be hot at this time.

Determining the right consistency

If you see it is already dry, take it out and flip it over. This way, the bottom part would be exposed and evenly dried. You can then place the dried strawberries on a cool rack. Let it sit for a while until it’s cool to touch.

You can eat them right away or store them in a container.

Important tips to remember

While it is true that drying strawberries can be easy, there are a few things you need to take note of to ensure you’ll have delicious food.

• The ideal thickness of strawberry slices is ⅛ to ¼ inch thick slices. This is thick enough so you can still peel it off from the tray without breaking. It is also thin enough to ensure quick drying. Take note that the thicker the sliced strawberries are, the longer they will dry.
• Avoid using wax paper to line your tray. Strawberries are known to stick to wax paper and you will have a hard time peeling them off when you need to flip them over or remove them from your tray.
• When using a microwave and you still can’t seem to dry your strawberries, don’t hesitate to use an oven as a way to supplement the drying effect of the microwave.
• Choose fully ripened strawberries when dehydrating. The strawberries should not be overripe or else, you’ll have a hard time keeping them intact throughout the dehydration process.
• If you wish to keep the appealing color of your strawberries, you can soak them in an acidic solution. The solution can be made of lime, pineapple, or lemon juice.

Start dehydrating strawberries

Now that you know how to dehydrate strawberries, you can now go ahead and have your first homemade dehydrated strawberries. With the right ingredients, tools, and knowledge, you can have the perfect dried fruit.