Shriveled Strawberries Revisited

A little while back we were sent a Pinstrosity concerning drying strawberries in the oven. We loved it and posted it. Since then we have had more emails showing the results people have gotten from following that exact same pin, and thought we'd do a repost.

The Original Pin

http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/recipes/dried-strawberries-ruscalleda/

Here's the results we've been sent in:

The Pinstrosities

How to fix this? With the original post, I was not able to test these out so I asked for input from all of you and we got some great responses (along with a lot of "This is what happened to me too!" comments).

From Anonymous:
"Next time...try a lower temperature...my oven has a "keep warm" setting which, according to my oven thermometer, is about 175*. Also, lift them off the baking tray. I find that wire cooling racks work well. If you don't have cooling racks, parchment paper will help, but the wire racks seemed to work best. I've never personally done strawberries, but I did peach slices last summer. Check them after 2-3 hours and see how they're doing. My peach slices took about 5 hours, but smaller fruits will probably take less time. Better luck next time!"

From Kori S:
"I would use parchment paper to help with the sticky-ness, but i found this website and in the comments it has peoples tips on drying fruit in the oven. Good Luck!

http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-dry-fruit-in-the-oven-92637"

And we checked that link, it's safe. 

From Keri:

"We've done this before, and it worked! Our old kitchen was too small for a dehydrator, so we dried everything in the oven. You have to make sure the heat is VERY LOW (like 200 degrees or lower, if your oven will get that low) and be prepared to sit around a while because it takes a long, long time. The one thing you really need is airflow, so we propped open our oven just a bit with the handle of a wooden spoon. This lowers the temp as well. Also, some parchment paper on the pan is a good idea, since all of that juice is coming out and evaporating. Don't try to rush it at all! I guarantee rushing will spoil anything that is dried."

"ALSO! (Sorry forgot to mention it!) You should definitely leave the strawberries WHOLE. Just take off the green part."

From Anonymous:

"Most dehydrators are set to only heat up to 100 degree so if you can get your oven that low your set.

I do happen to have access to a dehydrator (my dad owns one) and I can tell you, they do taste amazing and the best part is that they are so much healthier than the ones you buy in the store that are dipped in chemicals and such to keep them looking like the original pin. Even dehydrated they are not beautiful but they are definitively worth the time!"