| While you can preserve many different types of food, fresh produce remains one of the most popular, because once it’s picked, it tends to be highly perishable. While I talk a lot about canning food, canning isn’t the only way to preserve fresh fruits and vegetables. Dehydrating (i.e., drying the food to remove moisture and make it shelf-stable) is another common method. Dehydrated food also takes up less space in storage and makes quick, easy snacks to take along on outings. Throw them in a plastic baggie and you are good to go. Want to get started with dehydrating? You can find tips for dehydrating fruit here. That’s not all though! While not commonly used as snacks, you can also dehydrate vegetables. I like putting my dehydrated vegetables in dishes likes soups, but there are lots of different uses. Find tips for dehydrating vegetables here. Finally, there’s one dehydrating recipe that deserves its own mention: homemade fruit leather! This fruit leather recipe isn’t hard to make, but my family loves eating it…and I love knowing that we’re avoiding excess sugars and dyes from store-bought fruit rollups! | 
