Using your food dehydrator to dry flowers
It's common knowledge that fresh flowers will only last so long. Once they start to turn brown or wilt, it's often the end of the road. However, there are several techniques today that allow us to preserve the beauty of almost any bouquet! Drying flowers is one of the most popular ways of doig so and it need not be as complicated or time consuming as some might think. There are a number of flower drying techniques to choose from. One of which being with the help of your food dehydrator.
First, you will need to select you flowers carefully. Make sure that the flowers you choose are indeed suitable for drying. Some flowers are great for drying while others are so fragile that they tend to fall apart. Make sure that the flowers you choose have not yet exceeded their prime. In other words, don't wait for them to wilt. You can dry them at any point of their life cycle but you should avoid leaving it to the last minute.
When you have your selected flowers in hand, check them for any damage, deterioration, and ensure that there aren't any bugs hiding between the petals. Take the time to gently mist the flowers with fresh, clean water and allow the water to evaporate before you continue. This helps clear the flower of any remaining pesticides used during the growing process.
When arranging your flowers in the dehydrator, make sure that you spread them out a bit and don't let them overlap or touch one another. This helps ensure even drying. Now, it's also a good idea to split your flowers up into groups based on their type. Some flowers require a longer amount of time to dry out while others only take a couple of hours. Adjust the thermostat on your dehydrator to somewhere in the range of 100 - 120F. Drying takes about 2 - 5 hours and you should check your flowers periodically but not too often to measure their progress.
Once you have dried your flowers, you can put them on display or you can store them for later use. If you choose to store them, make sure that they aren't all squashed into a single box or container. Split them up and make sure that you keep them in an airtight container located in a dark, dry place. When displaying your flowers, you should keep them out of the direct sun and away from anything that could cause damage like heaters, fireplaces, air conditioners, fans, and so on.
