Updated October 2026

How to Dehydrate Fruit, Vegetables and Herbs in Australia

60°C for fruit and vegetables, much cooler for herbs, a 10 minute dip for cut fruit, and a week of conditioning before the jar goes in the cupboard.

Dry fruit and vegetables at 60°C in a dehydrator, or in an oven that can hold 60°C with the door propped open. Dip cut fruit in an acid solution for 10 minutes first, blanch most vegetables, and dry herbs at 35 to 46°C. Before storing dried fruit, condition it in loosely filled jars for 4 to 10 days. These are the temperatures and steps tested by US university extension services; no Australian agency publishes its own.

What can I dehydrate?

Pick a food for its preparation, temperature, rough drying time and how to tell when it is done.

Times come from extension testing and vary with your dehydrator, the humidity and the size of the pieces. Test the food, not the clock.

Dehydrator, oven or sun

Dehydrator. The most reliable choice: a fan and a thermostat hold 60°C evenly across every tray. One with an adjustable thermostat lets you drop the heat for herbs.

Oven. Only if it holds 60°C. Prop the door 5 to 15 cm open so moisture escapes, and expect about twice the dehydrator time. An oven that runs hotter cooks the outside and traps moisture inside, which is how dried food goes mouldy.

Sun. Needs several days of at least 30°C and humidity below 60%, so it suits an inland summer around Mildura, the Riverland or Alice Springs and not a humid Brisbane or Darwin wet season. Use stainless steel or food-safe plastic mesh, never galvanised wire, and freeze the dried food for 48 hours afterwards to kill insect eggs.

Before you dry

• Fruit: cut it straight into an ascorbic acid solution, a citric acid solution (about 5 g per litre of water) or half lemon juice and half water, soak 10 minutes and drain. Colorado State University research found these dips reduce E. coli, Salmonella and Listeria during drying, as well as stopping browning.
• Vegetables: most need a short blanch to stop the enzymes that spoil colour and flavour in storage: carrots 3½ minutes, green beans and peas 2, silverbeet and spinach 1½. Capsicum, chilli, onion, corn kernels and mushrooms go on the trays raw.
• Grapes and figs with tough skins: 30 seconds in boiling water cracks the skin so moisture can escape.

Is it dry?

Let a few pieces cool first, since warm food feels softer than it is. Fruit should be leathery and pliable: squeeze a handful and it should leave no moisture and spring apart. Vegetables should be brittle or tough. Herbs crumble and their stems snap.

Then condition the fruit: fill jars about two thirds, cover lightly and keep them somewhere warm and dry for 4 to 10 days, shaking daily. Beads of moisture on the glass mean back to the dehydrator.

Storing it

A cupboard in a Queensland or Top End summer can sit near 27°C, so the fridge or freezer is the better place for vegetables you want to keep for a year. Vacuum sealing helps quality but is not a preservation method on its own.

Dried tomatoes in oil

CSIRO notes that properly dried tomatoes become acidic enough to keep in oil. Semi-dried tomatoes are not, so keep them in the fridge and use them within 10 days, as the Food Safety Information Council advises for vegetables in oil, or freeze them. Raw garlic and fresh herbs must never go into the oil unless acidified first.

Fruit leather

Puree ripe fruit, adding 2 teaspoons of lemon juice for every 2 cups of pale fruit to stop it darkening. Spread it thin on a lined tray, dry at 60°C until there is no dent when you touch the centre, then roll it while warm.

Meat jerky is a different process: the meat must reach 71°C inside before or after drying, so follow a tested jerky method.

When the gluts arrive depends on your region: southern tomatoes and chillies peak from late summer into autumn, while Darwin's come in the dry season. See our preserving hub for the other ways to keep a harvest.

Sources we checked (October 2026): Montana State University Extension, Drying Vegetables (MontGuide, 2017); Colorado State University Extension, Drying Fruits; National Center for Home Food Preservation: Herbs, Fruit Leathers, Sun Drying, Jerky; CSIRO, Preservation of vegetables and herbs in oil; Food Safety Information Council, Home bottling and canning.

Common questions