Drying Blueberries

What a pain that experiment was.  I put them in the dehydrator at 8 in the morning and last night at 11 I finally called it quits and shut it off.  Some were dry, some weren’t.  It was too hard to go through them picking out the dried from the juicy so they are laying in the freezer on trays and I will bag them all and store in the freezer.  According to my book you are to blanch your berries before you put them in the dehydrator to split the skins and get the waxy shine off of the berries which prevents them from drying well.   Because of that process the berries are too hot to handle very well for spreading out on the dryer racks.  I rinsed them in cold water but it didn’t help much.  The blanching makes them soft – hence harder to handle.  But drying did reduce the size of the berries and I will still use them, just that they will be a mixture – but putting them  in muffins and whatever I don’t think it will matter all that much.

this is about half of the berries in their dried/not so dried life -- some look like raisins and some don't next I will try apples - should be easier to handle!

the hydrangea bush that is producing several colors of flowers this year - really makes it interesting. Hard to see the colors on it in the photo but the flowers on the right side are the ones that have more lilac color in them - the lilies underneath will need to be moved as there being completely overshadowed by the bush now - it wasn't like that several years ago.

one the easiest Dear Jane blocks -- Row 13, Block 10. I am prepping block 11 this morning 3 left to make!