Post by Jenny on Nov 29, 2006 19:07:54 GMT -5
Hi. Some of you were wondering about dehydrating vegetables. I've been doing this for years and have gradually transitioned from canning most vegetables to drying them. Since we have to fly everything out in charterd planes, which is very expensive, we didn't want to fly out any more than we had to. Zip-lock bags are much less expensive, weigh less and take up much less space in the plane and in the cache than jars. Now we can save the jars for meat, jellies, jams, catsup and pickles.
In another post, I mentioned a book that has good information on food storage. It's called "Making the Best of Basics: Family Preparedness Handbook" by James Talmage Stevens; ISBN 1-882723-25-2. Overall, I think this is a very good book, although not necessarily the best in the world. If I could only have one book other than the Bible, this wouldn't be it. But, it does have good information, and much of what I'll be telling you here is from that book, in addition to what I've picked up along the way from experience, other books and tips from friends.
Nutrition is another big plus for dehydrating vegetables instead of canning. The normal loss of nutrition from canning most vegetables is 60-80%. That leaves you with very little when you need all the nutrients you can get in the dead of winter. When you dry the vegetables yourself at home, there is only a 3-5% loss of nutrition.
First I'll talk about drying racks, then I'll get into more about how I dry things.
In a thread about canning, I mentioned a drying rack we purchased several years ago. It's called the Food PANtrie. Lehman's and several other places used to carry it, but I'm pretty sure they are no longer manufactured. You may still be able to find one, though. You could make something that would work just as well. I like this because it's so easy and lightweight, and folds up small for storage. Here's a link that has pictures of one so you can see what I'm talking about. The ad says they are out of stock, though. domehabitat.com/pantrie.htm It hangs, has 5 plastic shelves that are about a foot square and have lots of tiny holes for air circulation. It also has a screen covering all around with a long zipper on one side. I think you could make something similar out of heavy wire, wood, or even stringing together some cake cooling racks. You don't have to have the screen around it for indoor drying like we do. But, in the summer we do have lots of "fly-bugs" as my boys call anything that flies.
Before we bought these, Chuck made three large drying racks which we still use. He made a wood frame 2'x4' with a piece of wood in the middle to keep it from sagging. Then attached pieces of wire mesh (guess that's what it's called) to the bottoms. If we'd had any handy, I think I would have preferred to use something like nylon mesh, and then maybe done something with the edges --- even just duct tape would work. Then use push pins or something to attach to the frames. That way they would be washable. With the wire we use, I have to cover with cloth. I just use cut up game bags or cheesecloth.
Before we finished out the floor for the upstairs loft, we just spread the food to be dried on the frames, then placed the frames on the rafters. Now they are just strung together, one under the other, then hung up someplace sort of out of the way.
OK, that's what we do. We have some friends who have an oil stove for heat in their cabin. They string together several cooling racks, cover with paper towels and dry food on that. Just about anything will work.
More later about blanching, drying and re-hydrating.
Jenny
In another post, I mentioned a book that has good information on food storage. It's called "Making the Best of Basics: Family Preparedness Handbook" by James Talmage Stevens; ISBN 1-882723-25-2. Overall, I think this is a very good book, although not necessarily the best in the world. If I could only have one book other than the Bible, this wouldn't be it. But, it does have good information, and much of what I'll be telling you here is from that book, in addition to what I've picked up along the way from experience, other books and tips from friends.
Nutrition is another big plus for dehydrating vegetables instead of canning. The normal loss of nutrition from canning most vegetables is 60-80%. That leaves you with very little when you need all the nutrients you can get in the dead of winter. When you dry the vegetables yourself at home, there is only a 3-5% loss of nutrition.
First I'll talk about drying racks, then I'll get into more about how I dry things.
In a thread about canning, I mentioned a drying rack we purchased several years ago. It's called the Food PANtrie. Lehman's and several other places used to carry it, but I'm pretty sure they are no longer manufactured. You may still be able to find one, though. You could make something that would work just as well. I like this because it's so easy and lightweight, and folds up small for storage. Here's a link that has pictures of one so you can see what I'm talking about. The ad says they are out of stock, though. domehabitat.com/pantrie.htm It hangs, has 5 plastic shelves that are about a foot square and have lots of tiny holes for air circulation. It also has a screen covering all around with a long zipper on one side. I think you could make something similar out of heavy wire, wood, or even stringing together some cake cooling racks. You don't have to have the screen around it for indoor drying like we do. But, in the summer we do have lots of "fly-bugs" as my boys call anything that flies.
Before we bought these, Chuck made three large drying racks which we still use. He made a wood frame 2'x4' with a piece of wood in the middle to keep it from sagging. Then attached pieces of wire mesh (guess that's what it's called) to the bottoms. If we'd had any handy, I think I would have preferred to use something like nylon mesh, and then maybe done something with the edges --- even just duct tape would work. Then use push pins or something to attach to the frames. That way they would be washable. With the wire we use, I have to cover with cloth. I just use cut up game bags or cheesecloth.
Before we finished out the floor for the upstairs loft, we just spread the food to be dried on the frames, then placed the frames on the rafters. Now they are just strung together, one under the other, then hung up someplace sort of out of the way.
OK, that's what we do. We have some friends who have an oil stove for heat in their cabin. They string together several cooling racks, cover with paper towels and dry food on that. Just about anything will work.
More later about blanching, drying and re-hydrating.
Jenny