Pin 38

Original Pin:

http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/recipes/dried-strawberries-ruscalleda/

Another pinner said these dried strawberries tasted like candy! Yay!

My friend commented on my pin that he had tried it and couldn't get them to dehydrate all the way and that the time and/or temperature needed adjustment.

I had some strawberries that were going to go bad if they didn't get gobbled up soon so I thought this would be a perfect time to try this one out.

My results were like neither the pinner before nor my friends. I followed the directions closely. I actually tossed a few blackberries on the baking sheet just to see what might happen to those. The directions said to halve or quarter depending on the strawberry size. Mine were medium-ish sized and since my friend had trouble getting them to dehydrate I opted to quarter them.

Heading into the oven with a couple blackberry friends

 Within minutes they started to smell delicious and my whole house smelled like strawberries!! The recipe called for a baking time of three hours. At two hours I pulled them out and they looked like this sad mess.

 And some close-ups of the destruction:


What is the funky black-purplish color in the center/

These LOOKED HORRIBLE! Totally unappetizing. They were mostly dehydrated. The bits that weren't had turned to this awful goo-like substance. The outsides were dry and nearly crunchy and the flesh had turned purplish-black. If you attempt this recipe let me give you one piece of advice: For the love of all that is precious--line your baking sheet(and maybe spray some non-stick stuff)!! Some of these were practically cemented to the baking sheet! My husband and I both were brave enough to taste them and they weren't awful. Not like candy, quite, but not awful. Sort of just like a concentrated strawberry. But, gee, they were ugly. Then, good sport that he is, my husband went about the task of cleaning up the carnage and soaking/scraping them from the baking tray, along the way suggesting that we just buy new.

Total cost: It was about 1/2 pint of strawberries so lets say probably around $2

Total time: Prep-5 minutes, cook time 2 hours

Final verdict: Nope. Not even attempting this one again. There is nothing better than a good kitchen gadget unless it a quality tool for the job at hand. In this case, if I want dried strawberries I'll just have to buy a food dehydrator.