Canning, schmanning! Have you tried drying yet? WO

[jajbellsouthnet]

After years of canning, I finally tried my hand at drying. WOW! Would you believe six huge unions fit into ONE 1-quart Ball jar? That a full gallon of carrots fit into ONE Ball jar? Where to store canned veggies has always been an issue in our pantry. At some point in every year we reach the space-saturation point and anything that can't be eaten fresh goes to the livestock. My only problem now is lack of dryer space. A backyard solar dryer will solve that. Try drying instead of canning. My guess is that you will never go back. Well, maybe never. I don't think that you can dry orange marmalade.

[Pigzzilla]

Dehydrating, freezing and canning all have their place. And we should take full advantage of all three methods for storage.

I agree, dehydrated orange marmalade doesn't appeal to me either, frozen too! Canning is the way to go there.

Canned or dried for tomatoes. And frozen for sweet corn. Yeah, I know, you can dry or can corn, but we prefer frozen.

So all three methods are great.

[Shamrock1121]

I no longer do much canning because it's not always cost effective for just two of us. However, I dehydrate a lot of fruits, vegetables, and soaked pecans/almonds.

When I get a container of mushrooms for stir-fry, or other dishes, and there are some left, I just slice them and dehydrate. Dehydrating small amounts of veggies and fruit (those bananas I got on the "sale shelf" come to mind) that may go to waste before you can get it eaten, is a good way to preserve them. Making really ripe fruit into fruit roll-ups is a good project for the kids.

We like zucchini chips as a substitute for potato chips, and dried apples are a snack staple around our house. I dehydrate apples non-stop when the Jonathan apples are cheap and plentiful.

The best tools I can suggest to use with the dehydrator:

-One of those little gadgets that cuts apples into segments and removes the core. It's easy to slice the segments into slices for dehydrating.

-A cutting mandoline is also a great tool for quickly slicing things like zucchini into very thin slices. If you use a mandolin to cut apple slices - for a fun and different look, cut them from the stem down (a full slice of the apple without removing the core). Where the seeds are, the slices will show a "star", which kids love. The seeds easily fall out of these thin slices.

Don't forget you can dry roasted meat (as well as cured ham), not just jerky.

(Source: Making & Using Dried Foods - by Phyllis Hobson)
For Beef or Venison: Choose a tender cut with as little fat as possible and trim off any bits of fat. You can also steam, braise, or simmer raw cuts of lean meat in a small amount of water until tender, about 2 hours, or cook in a pressure cooker for 35 minutes. Remove from heat, drain cool. Cut into 1/2-inch cubes, keeping cubes as uniform in size as possible for even drying.

Spread cubes sparingly over trays. Dry at 140°F, stirring occasionally, for 6 hours. Reduce heat to 130°F and continue drying until cubes are hard and dried through. Test for dryness by cooling a cube and trying to cut through the center. Well-dried meat should be too hard to cut easily and should have NO moisture in the center.

To use: Pour 1 cup boiling water over 1 cup meat cubes. Soak for 3-4 hours, or until water is absorbed (I put them in a thermos with boiling water to re-hydrate them). Use in any recipe calling for cooked meat. Or pour boiling water over meat and simmer over low heat for 45-50 minutes.

-Karen

[alma]

I dried quite a few things a couple of years ago and have not used them.
Most things have turned dark. Are they ok, and how can i prepare them so as to retaqin their original color.
I'm planning to take advantage of a few sales soon and dry some more.
Thanks for the many great ideas oin this thread. love, alma
Modify: incidently, i dried some tomatoes and powdered them in blender, and used a few years ago, and also blended some beans to make bean flour for instant use.

[docjered]

Dark is no problem. As long as they are mold free and still relatively dry and hard, there is no problem other than esthetic. To avoid this, you can dip fruits and veggies into a bath of water and sodium bisulfite (brightest color, worst additive and unacceptable for anyone allergic to sulfa drugs), or a bath of water and ascorbic acid (vitamin C tabs crushed from the health food store) or water and lemon juice. This will solve the problem and will not impart a flavor of its own to the food.

I love my Excalibur dehydrator and would not trade it for a pot of gold (actually I would, then buy a couple of them).

Jered

[CarolAnn]

I used to dry apples in the wood stove oven with a tiny fire. It kept the house warm on crisp autumn days, and smells great!

Funny, though - dried fruit is VERY easy to over-consume, and apples can act just like prunes if you eat too many. My sis had a wood cook stove in her basement and a bumper crop of apples one year, so I showed her how to make Apple Schnitz. We didn't realize her teenage son was scarfing so many until he took up a two-day residence in the bathroom! ::)

Food doesn't take up any room at all if you store it in a teenager!

[Sunny]

A confession here. I needed some backpacking food for the boys, so I took some home canned chicken, home canned beef, home canned salsa, home canned spaghetti sauce, home canned applesauce, and home canned stew and dried them all. Oh, just the thought of the work of canning and then drying! :'( But, by adding some pasta and instant rice, they made cheap and healthy back packing food.

[seekeroftruth]

Ok Sunny I give. I admit im not very knowledgeable when it comes to the food stuff.

How did you dry soup and sauce?.. That intrigues me to no end.

My sister and I are just starting to Can and dry alot of things.. and "Put things by" for the coming rainy days.

Ive always been intrigued by the freeze dried soups and things for camping. Never knew how to do it.

Please tell me. *smiles*

Thanks in advance.
B

[calliel]

I have a great dehydrator, only I don't like things that have been dried. They seem to have an off flavor to me. I once thought I might not be drying them enough and they mold. Could that be? I can do the onions. Potatoes were fun and not too bad of an experience. I can do fruit leather - I made it with applesauce and it was great. Jerky - fine. But the veggies and fruits - not so good.

I would like to do more, but just don't enjoy the taste. Any tips in reconstituting items to make them taste better?

[Shamrock1121]

calliel - Here are some pointers that might make a difference for you... -Karen

1. It's important to dry certain foods at certain temperatures. If you dry things using a high temperature, you "cook" the outside of the food, and the inside will fail to dehydrate properly. This leads to mold.

2. It's important to properly prepare foods for dehydrating. For instance, cherries need to be cut in half. Currants need to be dropped into boiling water for 30 seconds to split the skins, as do cranberries.

Carrots are best if you use young, tender ones. Scrub them with a stainless steel scrub pad or a vegetable brush to remove the skin. Cut into 1/8-inch slices and steam blanch for 3-4 minutes, or water blanch for 2-3 minutes. This kills enzymes that tend to change the flavor in vegetables.

There are several pretreatment methods used in dehydrating:

- blanching (boiling water or steam)
- salt water dip
- ascorbic acid dip
- pectin dip
- fruit juice dips
- honey dips
- commercial dips
- sulfuring

3. There is a process where you partially dehydrate foods, this keeps them tastier than fully dehydrated - but these foods need to be kept in the freezer to prevent them from molding.

4. Use a mandoline for slicing foods into thin slices. It's important to have foods as close to the same size and thickness as possible for proper drying, and a mandoline is perfect for this. You can adjust the thickness. I like to dehydrate small zucchini cut about 1/8-inch thick and use them for snacking like potato chips. When I make potato slices, I cut them into 1/4-inch slices, blanch in boiling water for 5 minutes, soak in 1/2 c. lemon juice and 2 quarts of water for 45 minutes, then dry them by spinning them in a lettuce spinner, then dehydrate. Apples sliced thin get crispy when dehydrated, and are great for snacking. Apples cut thicker are rubbery and best used rehydrated in pies and for applesauce.

4. Once foods are dry, allow them to quickly cool to room temperature, and then store immediately in air-tight containers - best storage is when vacuum sealed. If you leave foods out to cool in a humid area for a long period of time, they will rehydrate, which can cause mold. Do not package them while they are still warm. I use canning jars and vacuum seal them with a FoodSaver for long storage. Check them periodically for mold and toss them if there is any mold on them. Potatoes, if improperly dehydrated, tend to get moldy easily.

5. Get a copy of the book, "Making & Using Dried Foods" by Phyllis Hobson (check your local library for a copy, or have them get it through inter-library loan). It not only gives the how-tos of dehydrating, but there are always recipes for how to use the dried food.