Holiday Gift Ideas Using Your Food Dehydrator

Food dehydrators have become a vital part of today's kitchens. Many cooks use their dehydrators to preserve meats, fruits and vegetables, and to dry herbs for seasonings. This holiday season, why not use your dehydrator to make homemade holiday gifts? Here are a few gift suggestions.

Homemade Trail Mix - First you'll need to dry the ingredients for your trail mix. Some ideas for a winter mix include apples, apricots, cranberries, pears, oranges, tangerines or tangelos. Once dry, mix the dried fruit with dry roasted nuts, walnuts, sunflower seeds and/or m&m candies. Put the trail mix in festive holiday tin cans or decorative jars to present as a gift.

Meat Jerky - You can use turkey or other meats such as deer, beef or even fish. There are numerous recipes for making jerky on-line although most dehydrators come with their own jerky recipes. Once you've made your jerky, put them in individual gift bags. You can even make your own package labels using your computer. Tie with a nice ribbon. Make several different kinds of jerky to make a jerky gift basket.

Ornaments - Use your dehydrator to make your own personal Christmas tree ornaments. You can do this using either a salt or cinnamon dough (you will find several basic recipes on-line). If you use salt dough, make multiple colors of the dough using food coloring. Make three dimensional ornaments by using different colors of dough to make noses, tree ornaments, buttons, etc. If you use cinnamon dough, you can decorate the ornament after drying by using craft paints. Depending upon the thickness, your ornament should take 3 or 4 hours to dry. Before drying, be sure to make a whole in the top of the ornament with a small piece of straw. This will give you a way to hang the ornament using colorful ribbon or yarn. You can also use glitter glue, lace, and pom poms for further decorating.

Dried Herbs/Spices - Combine dried herbs and vegetables to make your own spice seasonings. Some ideas include homemade chili powder, dried basil, thyme, parsley or rosemary. Once the items are dried, use your blender to grind them into flakes or a powder. Make several different seasonings/spices and put in spice or little mason jars for gifts. These make great stocking stuffers for someone who loves to cook.

Other gift possibilities include fruit roll ups, granola/crunches and salad dressings.