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This is an important part of Survivalism and Homesteading.
TODO ∞
- Dry my own garlic?
- Fruit leather
You lose vitamin A and vitamin C.
- Parchment paper
- Silicone pads
- Coffee grinder if you want to make powder
- Mandolin slicer
- Tomato slicer
- Vacuum sealer
- Pre-heat your dehydrator
- Be very clean
- The more sugar the less dehydration necessary
-
Might need to turn or shift trays around
https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/nutrition-food-safety-health/drying-vegetables-9-308/
- Vegetables can be brittle
-
Fruit can be bendy
Put fruit 2/3 in a jar, close it, shake daily and check for moisture. Dehydrate if any appears on the lid.
Fruit ∞
For canned fruit, consider rinsing them off. If they are in sweet syrup you will can adjust the flavor profile to your liking.
Three kinds:
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Whole fruit which must be sliced
- e.g. strawberries
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Fruit which turns brown and must be treated
- e.g. apples, bananas
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Fruit with a skin which must be cracked
- e.g. blueberries
Strawberries ∞
Use a tomato slicer and cut them in your hand.
Treating - (Apples, ...) ∞
(Apples)
Use a combination peeler-coring-slicing device.
- Spray with lemon juice, or soak it water with lemon juice for 5-10 minutes.
- Ascorbic acid
-
Or "Fruit fresh"
Or don't bother if you don't care if it's brown.
Cracking - (e.g. blueberries) ∞
Blueberries, cranberries, grapes
- Boiling water and strainer resting into it.
- Pour berries into the strainer and let them boil for 30 seconds.
- Pull them out and immerse the strainer into cold water until they get cold.
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This is a blanching method also used for vegetables.
- Maybe this is also for tomatoes too.
- Drop them on a paper towel to get liquid off of them.
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Put them on a so they don't bleed through down your dehydrator.
- Maybe just use aluminum foil.
Frozen fruit ∞
Raspberries would need to be frozen if you want them to keep their shape. If you don't care (e.g. to powder them) then it doesn't matter.
No need to do anything special from frozen, just even them out.
Potatoes ∞
--
- Various kinds
- Can be frozen
- Sliced
- Diced
- Shredded (french fry-like, but flatter)
-
Blanch them to help maintain their appearance.
In a good vacuum-packed jar in a dark/cool place, with a silica gel thing.. ~5 year shelf life.
Remember that these are still raw potatoes and will never be potato chips/fries/crisps unless re-hydrated and then baked/fried.
TODO - Eggs ∞
(Eggs, 🥚)
Bacon ∞
See Bacon
TODO - Cheese ∞
Storing once you've dehydrated ∞
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Canning techniques, in mason jars.
- Silica Gel (moisture absorber) recommended.
-
Vacuum packing (vacuum bag)
- e.g. a "food saver" vacuum packer.
- Silica Gel (moisture absorber) recommended.
- In a bucket (or fridge/freezer) to keep rodents out.
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Mylar bag with Silica Gel (moisture absorber)
- Loosely-packed.
- In bags which are ziplock-sealed. You can also use an iron (with no moisture) to seal them. If doing so, you can also have them hanging off and bent over the edge of a table to create a super-crisp line.
- Consider a hair straightener to seal.
- In a bucket (or fridge/freezer) to keep rodents out.
If any of the above are in a transparent containers, put them in an opaque bucket (or fridge/freezer).
How long does dehydrated food last? ∞
It depends on how well you dry, how well you seal and the ambient temperature [ 1 ] of how they're stored.
Some say five years!
Silica Gel (moisture absorber) ∞
Sometimes mistakenly called an "oxygen absorber".
They are reusable if you dry them out. (120°F for 20m)
You can buy it in bulk and put them in your own drawstring teabags.
There are color-changing capsules (orange-to-green) which indicate if they are still good.
Making your own silica gel ∞
You can buy kitty litter which is one ingredient: Silica gel, though often treated so it changes color when it absorbs water.
With a coffee filter.
A teaspoon, fold it up, then shake it to one side and staple it, and repeat in another direction.
An alternate to the filter is to use empty tea bags.
Re-hydration / Reconstitution ∞
- Sometimes boiling water
-
Regular water - 30 minutes on the counter at most, but the rest in the fridge
Resources ∞
- How To Dehydrate -- Everything you need to know to safely dehydrate fruit and vegetables, by Prepper Potpourri
Last updated 2023-08-10 at 08:00:28
Footnotes
- aim for under 70°F [ ↩ ]
Organized and cleaned up a little better.
added dehydrating bacon
moved bacon dehydration into that page