Reference for Drying Leaves in the Oven
Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2016 3:17 pm
I discovered a way to dry leaves in the oven (without burning my house down) for my crabs to enjoy all winter, so I decided to take note of it and share it with everyone else. I haven’t found any other place that tells you how to do this (while pertaining to leaves), so I hope it helps.
The best way to approach this would be to start off with your leaves (make sure they’re safe!), aluminum foil, a cookie sheet (or more if you want to double the speed), and your oven. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees fahrenheit, and you may wish to rinse off your leaves and pat them dry with a towel. Spread the aluminum foil over your cookie sheet, and place the leaves on it and do not let any overlap. This will dry all the leaves evenly. Once the oven is ready, put the leaves in, and set a timer for 30 minutes. Leave the oven door cracked. The circulation of the air will help dry them, closing the door would just bake them and probably set them on fire. Depending on how fresh your leaves are, they may be done at this point. You should be able to touch them and they crunch and/or crumble. If they aren’t dry at this point, leave them in for 15 minute intervals, checking when each 15 minutes is up. The benefits to drying the leaves are long term storage (I’m sort of stocking for the winter), and this method would also kill any pests. People have reported that their crabs like it when the leaves are crunchy, so in the end it all depends on what the crabs themselves like.
The best way to approach this would be to start off with your leaves (make sure they’re safe!), aluminum foil, a cookie sheet (or more if you want to double the speed), and your oven. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees fahrenheit, and you may wish to rinse off your leaves and pat them dry with a towel. Spread the aluminum foil over your cookie sheet, and place the leaves on it and do not let any overlap. This will dry all the leaves evenly. Once the oven is ready, put the leaves in, and set a timer for 30 minutes. Leave the oven door cracked. The circulation of the air will help dry them, closing the door would just bake them and probably set them on fire. Depending on how fresh your leaves are, they may be done at this point. You should be able to touch them and they crunch and/or crumble. If they aren’t dry at this point, leave them in for 15 minute intervals, checking when each 15 minutes is up. The benefits to drying the leaves are long term storage (I’m sort of stocking for the winter), and this method would also kill any pests. People have reported that their crabs like it when the leaves are crunchy, so in the end it all depends on what the crabs themselves like.
