Dehydrating Papaya

[Bonsai]

Hello!

I am wanting to get some papaya to dehydrate (My dad is lending me his dehydrator, yay!) but I'm not sure how to go about doing so for bunny consumption. A lot of people make it into "chips" and make it thin but I'd like to dehydrate into chunks like the ones at Dr Foster and Smith (Linked here) so that Snickers may eat it more easily and the enzymes aren't lost due to high heat. I can't seem to find any instructions online (papaya does not seem to be the most often-dehydrated fruit LOL) but I don't want the get the Dr Foster and Smith ones because I've been told they're coated in sugar. Since Snickers will get 1~2 chunks a day as a treat, I don't really want to give him more sugar than is necessary.

Do any bun parents here have experience dehydrating papaya? Do you know of somewhere with good instructions?

 

[Watermelons]

Youre better off doing slices vs chunks so you know its fully dried. With doing it at home its a lot more likely to spoil if there is still moisture in the middle you've missed.
Follow the dehydrators guidelines for other fruits like strawberry or pineapple or banana.
A few bits of papaya honestly doesn't have enough of anything to make an actual different enzyme wise. Plus stomach acids kill most of the good stuff were expecting to be in there anyway.

 

[Bonsai]

Ah, okay! That does make sense. Thank you for your thorough explanation! My dad has only dried apple before so he didn't know anything about papaya. I'll definitely do it in slices instead of chunks, I wouldn't want it to ruin!

I saw a lot of people make a fuss about enzymes in dried papaya, I didn't realize most of those were lost to stomach acid. That's good to know, though! Now I won't worry so much about that part, I'll just treat it like any other treat for him. I mostly just wanted a way to expand his selection of foods.

 

[Watermelons]

I saw a lot of people make a fuss about enzymes in dried papaya, I didn't realize most of those were lost to stomach acid. That's good to know, though! Now I won't worry so much about that part, I'll just treat it like any other treat for him. I mostly just wanted a way to expand his selection of foods.

Enzymes in them are still a hugely debated topic. Some people claim it works miracles, others don't see any difference at all.. But we need to scientifically look at what the stomach is designed to do. Break stuff down with movement and acids so it can be processed by the intestines.

http://www.backpackingchef.com/dehydrating-fruit.html
Most fruit all run off the same specs for dehydrating. And you can almost guarantee what you do will look horrible compared to the dried fruit you see in store Bananas never look pretty when you're done.... all brown and wrinkly....
But because youre not adding preservatives what you do at home will need to feel a lot drier and crispy compared to fruits you see in store. Not all rabbits like the overly crispy texture of the fruit, so start will a small batch just to try