Dehydrating Food at Home: How to Get Started

It’s straightforward to see why meals preservation would have been important to our ancestors’ survival. Being capable of retailer meals to eat later meant they had been protected in opposition to unsuccessful hunts and less-than-fruitful gathering. Moreover, they might migrate into areas the place entry to contemporary meals assorted by season.

Drying was in all probability one of many earliest strategies of meals preservation paleolithic people found, little question fairly accidentally. There’s proof that our ancestors had been drying meals to protect it as early as 10,000 to 12,000 BCE. Along the best way, in addition they discovered methods to ferment, smoke, and use ash, salt, fats, and even peat bogs to maintain meals from spoiling. Each of those strategies works in its personal manner by discouraging the expansion of microorganisms that trigger meals to go unhealthy. In the case of dehydrating, microbes require water to proliferate. No water, no rotting.

As meals preservation strategies go, drying, or dehydrating, has a number of benefits. Dehydrated meals is shelf-stable and light-weight, making it a space-efficient and energy-efficient possibility—no refrigeration required. It’s excellent for homesteaders, dad and mom, hikers, and backpackers who need to make transportable, wholesome snacks and meals to reconstitute later.

For DIYers, dehydrating is a good way to get began with home-preserving. It’s less complicated than canning or fermenting (though these are straightforward to be taught, too, so don’t be intimidated). Here are the fundamentals that will help you get began.

Methods of Dehydrating Food

By far, probably the most foolproof approach to dry meals is with a countertop dehydrator. Dehydrators work by utilizing a mixture of low warmth and air circulation to take away moisture. An cheap dehydrator solely prices about 40 {dollars} (USD), however you may spend ten occasions that or extra on a top-tier mannequin.

If you don’t need to put money into yet one more kitchen equipment, nonetheless, you will have choices:

1. Sun is nature’s meals dehydrator. This is what our ancestors used, in spite of everything. Sun drying works finest in scorching climates with low humidity. Food security consultants solely advocate solar drying for fruit and herbs. Vegetables don’t have sufficient naturally occurring acid or sugar, each of which assist resist molding and spoiling.
2. A associated methodology is air drying, which doesn’t contain direct daylight. Think bundles of herbs or scorching peppers hanging from the rafters to dry. This methodology additionally requires low humidity and good airflow. Air drying is the popular methodology for some sorts of dried meat like biltong.
3. Use your oven. This isn’t the very best methodology as a result of most ovens don’t have a low sufficient warmth setting. The beneficial temperature for dehydrating meals is 140 levels Fahrenheit (60 levels Celsius), however a typical oven received’t go beneath 170 levels. Ovens additionally don’t flow into air except they’ve a convection setting. Still, you can also make it work in a pinch, however you must take note of keep away from cooking your meals as an alternative of drying it.

Choosing a Food Dehydrator

Overall, meals dehydrator home equipment will ship probably the most constant outcomes, they usually’re appropriate for all sorts of meals. If you’re fascinated by making your personal snacks or backpacking meals, it’s value choosing one up.

Besides worth, you’ll additionally need to contemplate measurement and supplies. Many dehydrators use plastic trays, however you may pay extra for stainless-steel. Alternately, you should purchase cheap silicone mats or use parchment paper to stop your meals from touching the plastic trays if that’s one thing you care about.

You may additionally need to pay extra for a mannequin that gives completely different temperature settings. Although you may dehydrate just about something at 140 levels Fahrenheit, it’s possible you’ll discover you get higher outcomes with barely cooler temperatures for herbs and greens and hotter temperatures for meat and seafood.

What Are the Best Foods to Dehydrate? Anything You Can’t Dehydrate?

You can dehydrate absolutely anything, however fruits, greens, herbs, and meat are the commonest for home-drying. Legumes and grains are additionally dry-able, however that’s in all probability not a giant promoting level for Primal people. Dried legumes are already available, anyway.

Foods that don’t dehydrate effectively are people who include a number of fats:

• Fatty meats
• Avocados
• Dairy merchandise*
• Nut butters
• Olives (When you see dried olives, they’re normally salt-cured and/or preserved in oil, not simply dried within the conventional sense.)

*For backpacking meals or stocking your pantry, buy commercially dried and pasteurized milk, cream, buttermilk, butter, and cheese powders. Dairy-free people can search for dried coconut milk powder as an alternative.

Eggs might be dehydrated at residence, however salmonella is a priority. Because egg powder can also be available on-line or at tenting provide shops, that is one other one I like to recommend buying.

And do you know you may also dehydrate dairy-free, egg-free, low-fat sauces? Great information for these of you who can’t think about backpacking with out your favourite ketchup to place in your scrambled eggs! Make “ketchup leather” to throw in your pack, and also you’re good to go.

Dehydrating Food How-tos

Where to Start: Dehydrating Basics

The entire level of drying is to discourage micro organism and mould, so be certain to start out with clear meals, utensils, and work surfaces.

Optionally peel vegatables and fruits, then take away any broken or bruised spots. Slice produce and meat into skinny, uniform slices not more than ¼-inch thick (about 6 mm), or cube produce small. Either manner, preserve the items as constant as potential to make sure even drying.

Place meals in a single layer on the dehydrator trays. While you may put multiple sort of meals right into a dehydrator at one time, preserve them separated so to take them out at completely different occasions relying on how shortly they dry.

Make certain you take away as a lot moisture as potential with out cooking or overdrying the meals. Be affected person. Dehydrating takes anyplace from just a few hours for one thing delicate like kale chips to 24 hours or extra for jerky or dehydrated bone broth.

Once your meals is absolutely dried, let it cool for about an hour, then switch it to an applicable container.

Below are suggestions for drying several types of meals. I like to recommend wanting up directions the primary time you dehydrate one thing new to double-check approach and timing. Note that these pointers assume that you simply’re going to be consuming your dried meals inside a matter of months. If you’re stocking up for the apocalypse, you’ll have to comply with extra steps to arrange your meals for longer-term storage.

How to Dehydrate Vegetables

Before drying greens, blanching is beneficial to protect taste and texture. This entails briefly exposing the greens to scorching water or steam to deactivate enzymes that result in spoilage. This step is just not vital if you’re beginning with frozen greens, as they had been blanched earlier than freezing.

After blanching, dry the greens utilizing a clear towel. Optionally season them right now—if you happen to’re making kale or zucchini chips, for instance—however use a light-weight hand since flavors get concentrated throughout dehydrating.

Table 2 right here affords beneficial occasions for blanching and dehydrating varied sorts of greens. You’ll know your dried greens are prepared after they turn into very crisp and you’ll simply snap them.

Make home made greens powder: Dehydration is a unbelievable manner to make use of up spinach, kale, or chard, plus greens that may in any other case go to waste akin to carrot tops, beet greens, and broccoli leaves. Thoroughly dehydrate and funky the greens, then blitz them in a blender or meals processor. Store the powder in a jar and add it to smoothies, soups, and baked items.

How to Make Dried Fruit

For finest outcomes, pretreat fruit with a fast dip in an ascorbic acid (vitamin C) answer. Pick up vitamin C capsules at any retailer and blend 1 teaspoon of ascorbic acid powder per 2 cups of water. (One teaspoon equals six 500mg capsules.) Soak fruit for 3 to five minutes, then drain, dry, and dehydrate. An identical methodology utilizing a sulfite dip is beneficial for long-term storage.

Fruit can take anyplace from 6 hours to 48 hours to dry relying on the dimensions and kind of fruit. You’ll know it’s dry when it turns into powerful and leathery. Dried fruit received’t turn into brittle like dried greens.

Dried fruit must be conditioned earlier than storage. This further step helps distribute any leftover moisture evenly between the items of fruit to discourage molding. Place the cooled dried fruit into massive glass containers, leaving some house on the high. Set the containers in a heat, dry place, and provides them a shake a few times per day to maintain the fruit from sticking collectively. If you discover any condensation within the container, the fruit must be dehydrated additional. After every week, it will likely be able to retailer.

Make fruit leather-based: Blend your fruit(s) of selection right into a puree with a squeeze of lemon juice to protect the colour. You’ll want strong plastic or silicone tray liners to dehydrate the puree. Pour the puree into a skinny layer and unfold it as evenly as potential. Dehydrate till you may contact the fruit leather-based with out leaving a dent. It will nonetheless be sticky.

How to Make Dried Meat and Beef Jerky

Drying meat is somewhat finickier, so I undoubtedly advocate following a recipe, however listed below are some issues you have to know to get began:

• Start with lean cuts of meat and trim off as a lot seen fats as potential. Slice meat thinly.
• The USDA recommends precooking meat to 160 levels Fahrenheit (71 levels Celsius) earlier than drying to scale back E. coli danger. For max taste, marinate the meat earlier than drying.
• For poultry or fish, it’s best to start out with canned choices, that are already precooked. Otherwise, cook dinner totally earlier than drying.
• You can dehydrate cooked floor beef or turkey, however sometimes you’d add breadcrumbs to maintain the meat from changing into too laborious. A Primal-friendly possibility is to make use of gluten-free breadcrumbs.
• Dehydrate meats at 145 levels Fahrenheit (63 levels Celsius). Depending on the thickness and kind of meat, this might take anyplace from 6 to 12 hours or longer.

In addition to the drying strategies provided above, I’ve seen recipes for making jerky in an air fryer. I haven’t tried this myself, however I’m to know if it really works. Leave a remark if you happen to’ve tried it.

Drying Herbs

Herbs are fast and simple to dry in a dehydrator. They don’t require any particular prep besides a fast wash. Removing the leaves from the stems isn’t vital, however you may if you need.

If your dehydrator has completely different settings, use a decrease temperature for herbs, ideally between 95 and 125 levels Fahrenheit (35 to 50 levels Celsius). They’ll solely take just a few hours to dry.

Yes, You Can Dehydrate Bone Broth!

If you’re beginning with home made broth, cool it first and take away any extra fats from the highest.

Place the broth in a saucepan and boil it down till it turns into the consistency of gravy. Transfer it to the dehydrator utilizing silicone sheets, like when making fruit leather-based. Spread it into a skinny, even layer, then dehydrate. Because you’re beginning with one thing so moist, it may take two or three days, and even longer, to dry fully. Check it periodically to clean out any thicker spots, and optionally flip it as soon as it’s strong sufficient to deal with.

Once it’s absolutely dried and cooled, use a high-speed blender or meals processor to grind it into the consistency of coarsely floor espresso, then retailer in a jar within the freezer.

How to Store Dehydrated Food

Once your meals is dried and cooled, it’s time to retailer it. The title of the sport is preserving air and moisture out. You can try this with food-safe silicone luggage, mason jars, metallic cans, vacuum sealers, and so forth.

According to the National Center for Home Food Preservation, dried meals must be used inside 4 months to a yr. I’m conscious that many homesteaders and survivalists retailer theirs for years—generally a decade or extra. That’s in all probability secure below very best circumstances (meals is correctly pretreated, dehydrated, and saved in hermetic containers at chilly or average temperatures). Researchers at BYU say, for instance, that dried apples saved in hermetic cans or foil pouches with an oxygen absorber can final 15 to 30 years.

Do your personal analysis right here, however no matter you do, don’t fiddle with meat. The USDA states that home made jerky is just good for one or two months. Commercially made jerkies keep contemporary for as much as a yr, and canned meats will preserve for much longer.

To prolong your dried meals’s shelf life much more, stick it within the freezer. As with any frozen meals, be certain every thing is tightly sealed in freezer-proof wrapping or containers, as trapped air results in freezer burn.

For long-term storage, you may also buy desiccant packs—, these little paper packets that are available your store-bought beef jerky and say “do not eat.” They are normally full of non-toxic silica gel that absorbs a few of the remaining moisture. Preppers and survivalists apparently retailer meals in mylar luggage with desiccants for a few years with no points. That’s past what we’re discussing at present, however desiccants might be helpful for extending your dried meals’s shelf life even if you happen to’re not stocking a bunker.

Just Try It!

Now that the fundamentals, give it a attempt for your self. The National Center for Home Food Preservation is a good useful resource for novices. Start with one or two easy objects like dried apple slices or kale chips. Once you get the grasp of it, you’ll need to begin preserving all that further produce out of your backyard or CSA field.

Let us know within the feedback what your favourite factor to dehydrate is. Favorite equipment? Any meals we merely should attempt dehydrating?

Dehydrating Food FAQs

Is dehydrated meals as nutritious as contemporary meals?

Evidence means that, much like freezing, dehydrating largely maintains the dietary worth of the unique contemporary meals, with just a few minor variations right here and there. It could even enhance the bioavailability of sure vitamins. Drying does focus any sugars, although, so listen if you happen to’re counting energy or carbohydrates.

What are the very best meals to dehydrate? Worst meals to dehydrate?

You can dehydrate most meals: fruits, greens, meat, poultry, seafood, nuts, legumes, grains, and even issues like bone broth, ketchup, and marinara sauce. Fatty meals aren’t appropriate for drying at residence as a result of the fats will turn into rancid. These embody fatty meats, avocado, nut butter, olives, and dairy merchandise.

How does a dehydrator work?

Dehydrators work by utilizing low warmth and circulating air to take away moisture from meals with out cooking it. Moisture permits dangerous microorganisms to develop and trigger the meals to spoil. Removing the moisture causes these microorganisms to go dormant so meals stays brisker longer.

How lengthy does dehydrated meals final?

The reply is determined by the kind of meals and storage methodology. Dehydrated vegatables and fruits will final from 4 months to a yr, whereas home made beef jerky must be eaten inside a month or two. They all final for much longer if you preserve them within the freezer.

About the Author

Lindsay Taylor, Ph.D., is a senior author and group supervisor for Primal Nutrition, a licensed Primal Health Coach, and the co-author of three keto cookbooks.

As a author for Mark’s Daily Apple and the chief of the thriving Keto Reset and Primal Endurance communities, Lindsay’s job is to assist folks be taught the whats, whys, and hows of main a health-focused life. Before becoming a member of the Primal crew, she earned her grasp’s and Ph.D. in Social and Personality Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, the place she additionally labored as a researcher and teacher.

Lindsay lives in Northern California together with her husband and two sports-obsessed sons. In her free time, she enjoys extremely working, triathlon, tenting, and recreation nights. Follow alongside on Instagram @theusefuldish as Lindsay makes an attempt to juggle work, household, and endurance coaching, all whereas sustaining a wholesome stability and, most of all, having enjoyable in life.

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