Dehydrating Food

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by grecko

Really nice. I'm curious about your solar dehydrator project. Keep us posted and post some pics next time.

I’ll snap some pics later today. It’s almost finished.

[Mike OReilly]

Here’s a couple of pics. As you can see, my sewing skills are a work-in-progress, but it’s functional, and not too ugly (to my eye).

I used the plans from Sailing the Farm, but modified it somewhat. The black cover is made of sunbrella. I sewed in four opening screens. And I used a velcro seam so the whole cover can easily be removed.

I’ve still got a bit of sewing to do to finish the velcro seam, and to finish up the top. I also only built three shelves for now. But I left room to add two more.

[sparrowhawk1]

Update. I found a rack that has legs on it so I can keep the dryer low profile. That's important since it's been blowing 20 to 25 knots for about 2 weeks. And yes some of the mushrooms whent flying. I've also had success with stacking another rack on top. The best part of the system is I left it out in pouring windy rain and the food did not get wet. I really don't care if it takes two weeks to dry if I don't have to mess with it. Normally I slice the mushrooms up but for short-term storage it's fine to have them whole. they were on sale so I bought two racks worth, didn't have the room if they were sliced.
Between dehydrating and fermentation I have almost no food waste. Which is a huge improvement. half the time I would get bananas , bell peppers or cauliflower they would go bad and those are my favorites.

[sparrowhawk1]

Dehydrating is not just for people that want to get away from civilization for long periods of time. The craziness is that(except because of Hoarders) people aren't going to run out of food they're going to run out of money but still the shelves are empty. Being frugal is the main reason I started dehydrating, I got tired of throwing out so much food. Here's my latest and I think I found the Goldilocks. On deck covered with glass free flow air takes a long time but works. Solar oven cracked open is much faster but as you can see in the second photo my blackberries got cooked slightly because didn't vent it enough, that's why I moved them to the Pyrex. The Goldilocks: you still have some air flow but have enough air traped so that it heats up but doesn't cook. My boat happens to have these "Wells" next to the mast that ended up being the perfect enclosure for dehydrating. But a simple box could be easily made. In the first photo you can see to the right 4 almost dehydrated bell peppers that originally took up the whole sheet but after they shrunk I moved them over and added one more bell pepper.This way I'm always using the little space I have. In the second photo you see I'm repurposing a Pyrex pie dish. I will cut the parchment paper so that it's inside pie dish so that when it rains it stays dry. The beauty of this system is set it and forget it. it's rained for days with high winds without a problem.

[Chotu]

So how is everyone’s experience with REhydration?

Are you able to approach or exceed the quality of pressure canning?

Or do you try to develop a taste for dehydrated food?

[Mike OReilly]

Looks good Sparrow. I wish I could get to my boat to try my solar dehydrator. Of course, I also need a bit more warmth and solar too -- it's still too early up here .

The quality of dried food generally approaches that of fresh. This varies depending on what food it is, and how it was dried. But the taste is generally as good, and often even improved since you are concentrating the flavours. It's why 'sun-dried tomatoes' (which I doubt are generally "sun" dried in most commercial offerings) taste so vibrant. The flavours get concentrated.

What you can't easily restore in the rehydrating process is the vesicle structure, so you don't get back to that fresh crunch or firmness.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Looks good Sparrow. I wish I could get to my boat to try my solar dehydrator. Of course, I also need a bit more warmth and solar too -- it's still too early up here .

The quality of dried food generally approaches that of fresh. This varies depending on what food it is, and how it was dried. But the taste is generally as good, and often even improved since you are concentrating the flavours. It's why 'sun-dried tomatoes' (which I doubt are generally "sun" dried in most commercial offerings) taste so vibrant. The flavours get concentrated.

What you can't easily restore in the rehydrating process is the vesicle structure, so you don't get back to that fresh crunch or firmness.

Cool. So do you end up rehydrating and putting stuff into meals as ingredients, or do you, say... Pull out a dehydrated strawberry and just munch on it dry?

Specifically asking because we bought some obscenely expensive dehydrated strawberries last summer and I couldn't stand them out of the bag. Never used them at all. Couldn't get used to them.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Cool. So do you end up rehydrating and putting stuff into meals as ingredients, or do you, say... Pull out a dehydrated strawberry and just munch on it dry?

Specifically asking because we bought some obscenely expensive dehydrated strawberries last summer and I couldn't stand them out of the bag. Never used them at all. Couldn't get used to them.

Mostly I use the dehydrated veggies in meals, pretty much as I would fresh. Often I'll rehydrate ahead of time. Sometimes not. It depend on the meal (and whether I've forgotten to do it ahead of time or not ). Soups, stews, pasta, stir frys, casseroles ... pretty much anything you're cooking.

Oh, and use the dehydrating liquid if you can. If you can't use it in the meal, just drink it. It will be incredibly flavourful.

You can eat most dried food directly, without rehydrating or cooking. Depends on the food. I love dried apples and pears. Zucchini and tomato is good straight up. I even like dried ground beef as a snack (but that will depend on how it is seasoned).

I mentioned that dried food concentrates the flavours. Mostly this is good, but depending on your tastes, sometimes not so much. Strawberries are actually one fruit I don't like straight up. But it's nice sprinkled into salads, or even in some pasta dishes.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Mostly I use the dehydrated veggies in meals, pretty much as I would fresh. Often I'll rehydrate ahead of time. Sometimes not. It depend on the meal (and whether I've forgotten to do it ahead of time or not ). Soups, stews, pasta, stir frys, casseroles ... pretty much anything you're cooking.

Oh, and use the dehydrating liquid if you can. If you can't use it in the meal, just drink it. It will be incredibly flavourful.

You can eat most dried food directly, without rehydrating or cooking. Depends on the food. I love dried apples and pears. Zucchini and tomato is good straight up. I even like dried ground beef as a snack (but that will depend on how it is seasoned).

I mentioned that dried food concentrates the flavours. Mostly this is good, but depending on your tastes, sometimes not so much. Strawberries are actually one fruit I don't like straight up. But it's nice sprinkled into salads, or even in some pasta dishes.

Thank you. Very interesting experiences you've had with this. I've canned for years but dehydrated foods are the next level of sophistication in my opinion. I've always wanted to try but have been reluctant because I thought I'd get it wrong or dislike the results (since I don't like dried fruit). Dried meat however.. yum!!

[zeehag]

DRY MANGOS!!!!!!!!! with and without chile...awesome..coconut
pears apples herbs--cilantro oregano basil.....you got it youcan dry it
momma made liva snap substitutes for her siberian huskies.....
jerkies. is a good storage method

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Thank you. Very interesting experiences you've had with this. I've canned for years but dehydrated foods are the next level of sophistication in my opinion. I've always wanted to try but have been reluctant because I thought I'd get it wrong or dislike the results (since I don't like dried fruit). Dried meat however.. yum!!

Funny... to me canning is 'the next level.' I've never done it. My perception is that it requires more skill than I have.

[sparrowhawk1]

Thanks for the compliment Mike. I really can't wait to hear the results of your sailing the farm dehydrator. I felt the same way about baking bread as you do about canning but they're both really simple, really. now with bread baking there so many different ingredients and styles of cooking so you can keep getting better. But canning is much more simple, some basic rules but they're really easy to follow.

[sparrowhawk1]

Originally Posted by Chotu

So how is everyone’s experience with REhydration?

Are you able to approach or exceed the quality of pressure canning?

Or do you try to develop a taste for dehydrated food?

So there are basically three different ways of measuring the quality. Taste texture and nutrition. When you can most vegetables they lose almost all their nutrition. If you dehydrate fruits and vegetables under 120 Fahrenheit they're supposed to keep 80 to 90% of nutrition. Texture will never be the same as far as I'm concerned, sometimes better sometimes worse but always better than not having vegetables. I recommend everyone at least try dehydrating bananas, to me they're so much better than fresh. Even if they're years old. And I mentioned that having high airflow on the tray slows down the dehydrating process but this can be a good thing because a lot of things taste best partially dehydrated. mushrooms are my favorite, sauteed or eaten straight, partially dehydrated previously cooked potatoes turned into home fries are awesome(extra crispy). A lot of other vegetables like broccoli, green beans and bell peppers I'll just cook with rice adding a little extra water. They won't taste the same as fresh vegetables and the texture will be very different (chewy), but sometimes you just don't have fresh and sometimes it's just so much more convenient. The best way I can put it is some people like raisins some people like grapes some people like both.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Funny... to me canning is 'the next level.' I've never done it. My perception is that it requires more skill than I have.

Ha! We really ought to get our knowledge together. I feel like I don't have drying skills. Lol

I feel like it'll mold or I won't dry it enough and will get food borne illness or something.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by sparrowhawk1

So there are basically three different ways of measuring the quality. Taste texture and nutrition. When you can most vegetables they lose almost all their nutrition. If you dehydrate fruits and vegetables under 120 Fahrenheit they're supposed to keep 80 to 90% of nutrition. Texture will never be the same as far as I'm concerned, sometimes better sometimes worse but always better than not having vegetables. I recommend everyone at least try dehydrating bananas, to me they're so much better than fresh. Even if they're years old. And I mentioned that having high airflow on the tray slows down the dehydrating process but this can be a good thing because a lot of things taste best partially dehydrated. mushrooms are my favorite, sauteed or eaten straight, partially dehydrated previously cooked potatoes turned into home fries are awesome(extra crispy). A lot of other vegetables like broccoli, green beans and bell peppers I'll just cook with rice adding a little extra water. They won't taste the same as fresh vegetables and the texture will be very different (chewy), but sometimes you just don't have fresh and sometimes it's just so much more convenient. The best way I can put it is some people like raisins some people like grapes some people like both.

Raisins and grapes!!! Brilliant! I understand completely now!!