# Drying vegetables and fruits

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drying-vegetables-and-fruits/821554>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [September 18, 2018, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drying-vegetables-and-fruits/821554 "2018-09-18T21:19:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drying-vegetables-and-fruits/821554/21 "2018-09-21T15:44:00Z")

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> [@Kimstu](#):
>
> I’m (air-)drying the hops I harvested today, does that count? It better, because I’m so excited about it I’m posting about it in every thread where it’s remotely relevant.
> 
> Seriously, anyone have any experience with air-drying hops? (Mine are on a raised window screen with a ceiling fan and box fan for air circulation, out of the sunlight.) About how long should it take?

ISTR that there’s a whole lot of info on the various homebrewing boards (I’ve always been partial to [homebrewtalk.com](http://homebrewtalk.com))

What variety did you grow? How did they do?

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**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drying-vegetables-and-fruits/821554/22 "2018-09-21T19:09:41Z")

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Hi **bump**! 🙂 I got a second-year bine of Cashmere hops which are a Cascade/Northern Brewer cross and although I put it in the ground kind of late it grew quite well for ten feet or so and set quite a lot of cones for a second-year bine and a hop-growing homebrewing colleague came over to give me some tips about picking and drying in exchange for some of the cones and maybe a bottle of IPA later and now they are definitely getting a lot drier and papery-er after just about 48 hours but I think they still have a ways to go because I read you’re supposed to be able to snap the cone in half and they’re still bendy?

Still very excited about this, if you didn’t notice! 🙂 AFAICT they’re drying fine although slowly (no heat, moderate fan), and should be done in the next 24 hours or so. I am trying to figure out what kind of deals I should make with my homebrewing friends for local organically-grown air-dried Cashmere hops, as I’m in this for the beer and not just the fun of drying stuff!

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**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2018, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drying-vegetables-and-fruits/821554/23 "2018-09-22T01:47:25Z")

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I tried growing some Cascade and Willamette hops about a dozen years ago, and they didn’t do well- I think it’s too hot here for them to really thrive without ridiculous amounts of water, plus the day length is wrong. Glad yours worked well! I suppose you’re going to use them for flavor and aroma since you don’t have a real good idea of the alpha acid levels?

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**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2018, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drying-vegetables-and-fruits/821554/24 "2018-09-22T19:57:12Z")

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I don’t brew myself, so I don’t really know what the eventual recipients of the dried hops will use them for. Hoping I get a few bottles of whatever it is!

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