It is a balancing act and type of food as well as size of the pieces plays an important role. When possible it is best to do only 1 thing at a time rather than mixing vegetables. Or at least only a couple of similarly moist foods at the same time.

And a lot depends on what type of dehydrator you have as they all work very differently. And how dry you go also depends on how you plan to store them - shelf or freezer. Shelf storage needs to be a dry as possible.

But as a GENERAL rule, too long is better than too little. Moisture left in the food equals spoilage.

Dave

Thanks! That's good to know, I figured the dryer the better.
Also just for the record I'm using the Excaliber 2900 economy 9 tray. I thought what I had would fill it up, but there was still tons of space so I put a bunch of stuff in there just to experiment.

And I have a lot of humidity in my area, since I'm a short walk from the bay. The darn jalapenos that I just cut in half don't seem to want to shrink at all!

Welcome to dehydrating 'aubade'.

I have the same dehydrator and really like it with the exception that I dry at little lower temp but a little longer than recommended by the mfg. I do tomatoes and peppers a little lower than 125 degrees.

As far as how long- pieces of pepper (hot or sweet) about 1" square or rings about 1/2" thick usually don't take longer than 8 to 10 hours. Peppers CAN be dried too long- they can come out too dark and have a slightly burnt flavor.

Tomatoes: I cut both ends off then do in slices (globe or roma size) at 1/2 to 3/4" thick. Even a smidge thicker than that and they won't fit under the tray above. So I don't have to be so careful in the cutting, I cut mine 3/4" or even a little more, (they will still dry paper thin), but then put the trays in only every other slot, taking the extra trays out of the dehydrator. I think this makes for a better and more even drying and still gives me at least 4 trays to fill. I do that with any thick chunk of product.

Grape size tomatoes I cut in half (dry it with the cut side up). Cherry tomatoes I cut in halves or slice according to the tomato size.

My current favorite (I could well have gotten the recipe here- sorry I don't remember now)...is to wash, drain well, and cut or slice a bunch of grape, cherry or globe tomatoes and a bunch of sweet peppers all cut as above. I put them in a gallon size jar with lid, pour over top of them a cheap merlot or shiraz wine (want to try chianti), put on a lid or plastic wrap cover to keep the bugs out.

To keep the veggies under the wine I have a small corell plate that happens to fit my container to a tee- I put on top of all and stays on top or fills with wine and sinks a bit- either way, most of the toms and pepps stay under the plate. The idea is not to press them at all, just to keep them under the wine for maximum flavor in every piece.

My friend then puts it all on her counter but I put mine in in the fridge- I don't suppose it matters as long as it's not too warm. I just feel safer somehow to keep it cold,

I keep the tomato/pepper mix in the wine for 12 hours, but I often stretch that to 20 or so, but only if I keep them in the fridge. There are times the tomato was a bit TOO ripe and the extra soaking breaks down the tomato structure too much (perfectly edible but not as nice to dry neatly).

When they are done soaking, I scoop them out with a slotted spoon. I've tried dumping them in a colander but that's too hard on them and me. I have 2 trays out, each on a couple of paper towels - the wine will leak enough drops as I fill the trays, that I need to be aware of what's underneath. (This is red wine staining after all!)

I scoop out a spoonful, the wine drains back and I pick out the tomatoes and put on one sheet and any peppers in the spoonful on the other tray, until all is out of the wine. I put the wine back in the fridge to use twice more, and I throw it out after about a week whether I've soaked and dried any more in it or not.

When 2 trays are filled, I sprinkle a few grains of salt on each piece (except for the rings of pepper, not enough surface to hold anything). The salt will help the product to dry and I just like it. Then I put some Mrs. Dash's garlic & Herb seasoning mix in a bowl or my hand and I put a pinch on every piece but the rings.

I put the dehydrator on and I swear my hubby can smell it all over the farm... he comes running and asks what smells so Italian and good. I dry them as I said above- peppers about 8-10 hours more if the weather is humid.
You can't overdry tomatoes in my opinion, the timing varies wildly for me on tomatoes. Usually a full day and night, more if it's humid.

Every 4 to 6 hours I shut off the dehydrator and pull the trays out one at a time and turn the trays front to back.

After they are getting dry, I try to unstick them from the mesh trays to finish drying. Only experience and ruining a few nice slices of tomato will tell you when to do this. Lots of folks don't do this at all, and wait until it's dry and deal with any sticking then. That's fine too. Extra salt and spices that is on the product and trays will fly all over the place when removing trays (that's why I turn off the fan when I do anything with the trays- the fan will send some of it flying in your face- same as will happen with mostly dry pieces of pepper or small tomatoes, celery etc. It will happen with the door on too, but then the dryer bottom will catch most of it, not you or your kitchen floor.)

I eat these stupid things like candy. I don't even like the taste of green pepper much cooked, but soaked in wine then added to just about anything is great.

I've done the same soak with slices of small completely green and just getting ripe tomatoes- takes a little longer than ripe ones due to extra mass... but they have a wonderful flavor all their own.

I use all these whole or broken up in soups, stews, scrambled eggs, coleslaws & potato salads, over baked potatoes, in fresh garden salads, almost any cassarole, certainly any tomato sauce or salsa can use a fresh tomato, wine and garlic kick of flavor.

Back to your original question:
You can dry too long and suffer a poorer product, I think, with cabbage, garlic if it's cut too thin, broccoli, some greens, some wild mushrooms, green onions and smaller pieces of sweet peppers. I think all the rest of what I have dried was fine tho' I often left them far past the drying time. I'm afraid you'll have to try them all for yourself.

Have fun with it.

Rebecca

I have definately over-dried some tomatoes this year. No biggy, I will just save those for recipes that have a lot of liquid and cook long enough to soften them. Nothing like the sweetness of dried tomatoes.
Kay.