How to Dehydrate Food--basic info

[enjoy the ride]

Thanks FC- I have several books on drying stuff but some of that info was news to me.
Can I ask your source?

 

[FarmerChick]

hey ETR

first post was this source

http://www.drystore.citymax.com/page/page/1346972.htm


will have to get the second post I copied and get back to ya.

 

[dacjohns]

I have been an influence (I don't know if good or bad). People are checking their spelling.


Some of the information looks like it came from a food dehydrating book I have.

 

[Woodland Woman]

Well you inspired me to dehydrate some pineapples. I got 3 of them for .99 each at Aldi this week. I have 2 dehydraters. On has a fan and does the job fast. I got this one at a garage sale for $4. The other one just has a heating element on the bottom. How long should I leave them in there?

 

[dacjohns]

Until they seem to be dry yet still pliable. If there are pockets of moisture in them they need to dry a little longer.

 

[newchickwi]

Another source of veggies for drying is frozen. When they go one sale you can pick up a bunch quite cheaply and they go into the dehydrator frozen. We did it this summer in our Master Food Preservers class (taught by the U of W food researcher noted in the earlier post!). We experimented with peas and carrots and they did turn out nicely.

I'm jealous about the pineapples! Ours went on sale here for $3.99 each.

Vikki

 

[enjoy the ride]

newchickwi- I never tried it- I wonder where I could get more info on that ides. I think that, as the cellular structure is disrupted in freezing, they might dry faster. But I wonder if they might also mold more easily. Interesting.

 

[newchickwi]

I do not have the original reference for the materials we were given--just the handout. In that handout it tells you to blanche most veg before drying--very similar times to freezing veg. Perhaps since the veg is prepped already by being frozen, the cell structure alteration is similar to blanching raw then drying? The ones we did 6 months ago are in great shape, no mold or other deterioration.

Two food preservation groups that I belong to are: FPDC&M http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FoodPreservationDryingCanningAndMore/

and home_canning http://groups.yahoo.com/group/home_canning/


Both have their own personalities , but are great for food preservation along USDA lines and have HUGE archives and files with great ideas and recipes.

Vikki