Now, first of all, it needs to be said that unless you use oil and bake or fry the bananas or add extra chemicals, banana chips will not turn out crisp and crunchy like they do in storebought trail mixes. I think if I had dehydrated them longer, they could have gotten MORE crisp, because the outsides of these are nice and crunchy, but the inside is chewy, like a fruit gummy. I love them this way. And, more importantly, they are healthier this way. And, just as importantly, they are still beautiful.
Next week, I'm going to try dehydrating them a little longer and see if I can get them crispier. I may also try one of the MANY oven recipes out there (which require a little cooking spray and being baked in the oven at low temperatures for several hours) and see how those turn out. But for now, and for all of you who are just beginning to learn how to dry fruit like I am, here are some tips I learned to make this batch turn out so well:
1. Banana chips actually turn out best if the bananas are still a little green. Drying fruit seems to bring out the natural sugars. Also, the firmer they are, the less likely they'll turn brown quickly and the easier they are to cut.
2. A really cool trick I learned is that you can cut the bananas into thirds or fourths and use an egg slicer to get them that perfect 1/4" thickness consistently. I love that! It's really important in a dehydrator to have everything at the same thickness, because otherwise you can burn some and not fully dehydrate others (which prevents them from storing well). And I'm not so good at that. So I went so far as to go to Walmart and buy an egg slicer just for this purpose (Paul's allergic to eggs, so there was no reason to have them before!).
3. To keep the bananas from getting brown, bathe them in a shallow bowl of lemon juice for about 5 minutes. You can't taste the lemon once they dry, I promise! I also put a little honey in the bowl, but I don't think you can taste that, either. So it's not important. Another blogger I found actually puts lemon juice in a spray bottle and sprays all her fruits with it before drying, which I thought was clever.
4. Lay your slices on the tray, close but not touching. Make sure, also, that from tray to tray your pieces aren't "overlapping" or stacked right on top of each other or that will slow down the drying time, too. So stagger them. FYI, I used rather medium bananas, and I could fit 3 bananas on each tray. Just an estimate. :)
5. Dehydrate! Fruits in general should be dehydrated around 135 degrees--I put mine up to 140--and bananas should be dried until they are firm but pliable. You should flip the fruits at least once during the drying time (I did after 4 hours), and rotate the trays. A good test for the doneness of ANY fruit is to pick up a piece of fruit and rip it in half--if there are any beads of moisture, it's not done. In my dehydrator, I was done after about 8 hours. I probably could have gone longer, but it's getting late and I wanted them to cool. Which brings me to:
6. COOL THEM DOWN IN THE DEHYDRATOR! Unplug everything and let them cool down in the dehydrator, slowly at room temperature is best. If you try to put them in your airtight container warm, they will let off steam and heat which will just mean more moisture inside the container, which will spoil them faster. Well-dried and cooled fruit can be stored in an airtight plastic container (even just a baggie) for MONTHS, even up to year--longer if you put them in a freezer.
7. ENJOY! These are so yummy. You can rehydrate them if you want for recipes and stuff later--just google that. Our two trays worth (I only dried a single bunch) won't last beyond tomorrow, I am sure of it. :)
Like I said, next week I will be buying some more bananas and trying out a few other methods, just to see what I like best. But for a healthy, potassium-rich natural snack, these bananas are amazingly simple and SOOOOOOOO yummy! Hope you make some and enjoy them as much as we have!
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