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How long does it take to dry cactus?
- Thread starter behindthelight
- Start date
get a box fan
dont star cut, instead filet the outter SKINLESS 4-5mm of green flesh
rig the fan to be elevated and the flow going down, place the filets on the back and turn after 8 hours
at 16 hours they should be mostly dry, leave on for another few to ensure total dehydration
this method costs 20 bux and a day, it wont endanger your yield with heat damage and its not the fastest, but it is certainly the cheapest n quickest combo if you dont have a dehydrator available
dont star cut, instead filet the outter SKINLESS 4-5mm of green flesh
rig the fan to be elevated and the flow going down, place the filets on the back and turn after 8 hours
at 16 hours they should be mostly dry, leave on for another few to ensure total dehydration
this method costs 20 bux and a day, it wont endanger your yield with heat damage and its not the fastest, but it is certainly the cheapest n quickest combo if you dont have a dehydrator available
just don't throw out the material between the core and the green flesh or you may be discarding the majority of the alkaloid!mew said:
since the white portion is so much greater in mass than the outer green layer then the majority of the alkaloids are there, even if the outer green skin is 10X strongermew said:
it is very simple math, the outer skin is likely to have only about 1/3 of the total alkaloids
as pointed out in the post above, there is easily more than 7 times as much white portion as there is outer green tissue, so if the white contained 1% and the outer green skin contained 7%, the majority (>50%) of the alkaloids in a specimen would be in the white layer
I realise this is an old thread but just a quick tip to share.
Recently I chopped into small pieces, dried for a few hours in a dehydrator, and then chopped them in a food processor and finished drying in an oven. It took only about an hour to finish off, versus probably many more hours if i'd left it in the dehydrator.
I believe the blending step speeds things up very much because 1) drying chunks creates a leathery skin which eventually limits further evaporation and causes the final stages of drying to drag out for hours and hours. Blending disperses this material; and 2) it exposes a much greater surface area. You just have to make sure it's dried for long enough initially that you don't just end up with pureed snot. Whether or not you have the skin on will also make a difference with that.
My reason for switching to an oven is just that the little pieces produced would have fallen through the trays of the dehydrator. If I had more of those 'fruit leather' trays I would have used them instead.
Oh and P.S. I bought my dehydrator for making jerky, not for processing plants and fungi
. If you haven't tried homemade jerky, you should. It's fantastic!
Recently I chopped into small pieces, dried for a few hours in a dehydrator, and then chopped them in a food processor and finished drying in an oven. It took only about an hour to finish off, versus probably many more hours if i'd left it in the dehydrator.
I believe the blending step speeds things up very much because 1) drying chunks creates a leathery skin which eventually limits further evaporation and causes the final stages of drying to drag out for hours and hours. Blending disperses this material; and 2) it exposes a much greater surface area. You just have to make sure it's dried for long enough initially that you don't just end up with pureed snot. Whether or not you have the skin on will also make a difference with that.
My reason for switching to an oven is just that the little pieces produced would have fallen through the trays of the dehydrator. If I had more of those 'fruit leather' trays I would have used them instead.
Oh and P.S. I bought my dehydrator for making jerky, not for processing plants and fungi
. If you haven't tried homemade jerky, you should. It's fantastic!
The Day Tripper
Rennasauce Man
dg said:
I can fit ~2 3/4 feet in mine, cutting stars @ 1/4". 4 trays, and it drys just about all the way running @135f for 8hrs. 50g of dry flesh a run.
Could prob cut that time down significantly if you only dried for 3 hours then stuck them in the oven @240f for 2 hours.
You could prob get ~200g of dry chips spending a weekend committed to the process. Reasonable enough to me.
every 8 hours i can get 100 grams dried flesh, i have a 40 dollar dehydrator
i let mine overlap, and also add slits to the filets, a couple hours later i rearrange them and add more cacti as they shrink offering even more room to dehydrate more
i let mine overlap, and also add slits to the filets, a couple hours later i rearrange them and add more cacti as they shrink offering even more room to dehydrate more
mew said:
Agreed! These inexpensive dehydrators are the way to go. Doesn't hurt to rotate filets every 8 hours if they are too moist. Those closest to heating element will dry much faster. When completely dry, and zero moisture remains, they are like green potato chips, and can be powederized easily. Moreover, the taste becomes much more palatable, and can be eaten plain (wash down with favorite beverage) without too much trouble....try THAT with fresh!
i dont know about palletable, i find that the fresh cactus smoothie is easier to get down as it slides down instead of absorbing the moisture in your mouth, making it stick to your throat.
with the "green chips" i powder them and mash the powder into resin made from evaporating tea from the core or just adding a bit of water and rolling into globs, those go down easy!
with the "green chips" i powder them and mash the powder into resin made from evaporating tea from the core or just adding a bit of water and rolling into globs, those go down easy!
