Last week, I tried my hand at dehydrating blackberries.
We have an overabundance of blackberries this year, and it’s impossible to eat them all, even with giving away many to family and neighbours. Freezing this amount takes up way too much room with all the other fruits and vegetables harvested, so I thought I’d make blackberry powder.
Before this summer, I had never heard of blackberry powder, but I discovered it’s considered a superfood that can be used in smoothies, teas, baking, yogurt, vinaigrettes, and more. Best of all, it takes up very little space in the cupboard.
Our Thermador oven has a dehydrator setting. I had dehydrated herbs before, so how difficult could this be?
I thought of it like marketing: You create a message to attract customers to your offer, watch it work, and then tweak it when you want to make a new offering. As a copywriter, I do that often—it’s called rinse and repeat.
I lined up my berries on parchment-lined baking sheets, turned on the oven, and waited. I kept checking every few hours and was getting discouraged when it was time to go to bed. Twelve hours had passed, and they were still filled with juice.
More than 36 hours later, they still weren’t dry enough for powder, but they were good to eat as dried blackberries, which the grandchildren loved!
As you would do in a marketing campaign that is not going as planned, you check, rework, and see what needs to be fixed. I discovered that the top element in my oven was burned out, so it was not heating properly. Ugh! And I think the type of pans I used was hindering the process.
After posting a comment about my experience on social, my sister-in-law offered my late brother’s dehydrator. I didn’t even know he had one, or I would have asked.
That’s a big thing in business as well…you don’t know what you don’t know…or what help to ask for.
With my handy countertop dehydrator, I started another batch. The manual said it would take 24 to 36 hours. I remained patient, and at about the 42-hour mark, most of the berries were ready.
My husband watched as my grandson worked to turn a sealed bag of dried berries into dust with a kitchen mallet, something I learned on a YouTube video. My husband suggested putting them in the Vitamix instead.
Whoa…why was that not shared on YouTube?
Within seconds, we had perfectly ground blackberry powder without the hammering, sifting, and wasted time, although I’m pretty sure our grandson was having a lot of fun with the mallet.
There were many lessons learned in this process, but my biggest point when doing something new – whether that’s in the kitchen or in business – is to share your experiences.
Open up and ask questions. You’ll be amazed at the new insights. You don’t always have to follow the instructions given—adjust to fit your needs. And be patient. Things may not happen according to your time schedule, but they will fall in place when ready.
When have you had to be patient to finally be successful? Or did you give up and go in a different direction?
