nutrient preservation: dehydrating vs. freezing

[naturemama1]

I can a ton of stuff every summer and fall, but I'd like to branch out into other methods of preservation. Will you teach me about dehydrating?

How do things like tomatoes and peppers dehydrate? Or rather, how do they re-hydrate? Do they go all weird? I'm planning on freezing a bunch of our smoothie fruit, but freezer space is always at a premium. The idea of storing dehydrated foods in mason jars on the shelves is pretty appealing. Favorite things to dehydrate? I always thought the staples were things like fruit leathers and beef jerkey, but then I saw people mentioning sweet potatoes and hot peppers. Now that sounds interesting!

Does anyone know about the nutrient preservation differences between dehydrating and freezing? I know they're both better than canning, because of the heat. Is flash-freezing better, because there's no heat at all? AIUI, fermenting is best, since it actually adds nutrition, and I do a fair bit of that, but I'm wondering how the whole dehydration/rehydration process fits into the nutrient loss spectrum.

I'm used to freezing things like raw apple pie filling -- has anyone compared frozen filling to pies made with reconstituted dried apples? I have this "tough chewy" mental block about dried fruits, you know what I mean? I'm especially interested in things like hot peppers and other veggies. How do you use dehydrated veggies in your cooking? Tell me what you love about your dried stuff!

I'm using an oven, if that makes a difference. Our stove is gas and operates with pilot lights, so the inside of the oven is a constant 85-90 degrees. It's perfect for yogurt and bread, and I've had excellent results with sprouted grains, so I'd like to take advantage of the environment and start experimenting with dehydrating as well.

Show me the way! :

[mamadelbosque]

Last year I dehydrated zucchini - it rehydrated wonderfully for zucchini bread, though I didn't try it in anything else. I also dehydrated some green beans for soups, and lots of peppers to throw in stir fries and such - they worked out peachy fine for that. I also dehydrated cherry tomatoes (cut in half), and they were very, very yummy!!

As for fruit, I dehydrated a ton of peaches last year (cut them in half then in slices about a cm thick), and they were/are fantastic - my DS LOVES them. I also remember my mom dehydrating apples and them being really good too, though I didn't do any.