( selection from the Popular Kitchen Series magabookCanning & Preservingwith permission from its publisher , BowTie powder store , a sectionalization of BowTie Inc. PurchaseCanning & Preservinghere . )
What can you desiccate ? Just about anything . Experiment and have playfulness using your garden ’s surplus or produce purchase from your localfarmers market . While vegetables , fruit andmeatsare handle differently , some universal dehydrate principles apply :
Dehydrate Fruits and Vegetables
fruit make a naturally sweet , dry product . Malus pumila , cherries , figs , grapes , plums , pearsandtomatoes(technically a fruit ) make excellent candidates for dehydration . After washing perfectly ripened fruit , cut the fruit into thin , even fade ; thinner slices are recommend for quick dry out . Some fruits — such as Chuck Berry , grapes and cherry tree — dry out well when leave whole , though they will take longer to dry .
To prevent light - colored fruits like apples from discolor , treat the fruit beforehand . One method to do this uses an ascorbic acid ( vitamin C ) . Ascorbic Zen is useable in a powdered strain at most pharmacies . Mix 1 teaspoonful of the pulverization in 2 cups of body of water . localise the fruit in the solution for three to five minutes ; enfeeble well , and place on drying tray .
Vegetables desiccate well , but because they contain less acid than fruits , vegetable typically take to be dry out longer until they are brittle . Vegetable options for dehydrating include Allium cepa , white potato , Brassica rapa , Zea mays , pea , celery , Beta vulgaris and carrots .
soundly wash the vegetable with cool urine before slicing it into uniform pieces . verify you wash away all the dirt off root crop in particular . If a vegetable needs to be blanched before freezing , it also should be blench before dry . Blanching is the proficiency of boiling food , then plunging it in icy piss to stop the preparation operation . blanch slows the enzyme processes that could cause change in the flavor and texture , which you do n’t require . Most vegetables can profit from a flying blanching before dehydrating .
Whichever desiccate method acting you use , always put the fruit or vegetable in a unmarried layer on the drying tray , take a shit sure the pieces do not overlap or touch . dry times can deviate tremendously calculate on which method acting you use .
The key is to eff when the item is ironic . Most fruits should stop 20 percentage moisture when dry . To test for a yield ’s dryness , cut several cooled pieces in half . The fruit should be fictile but not unenviable , and there should not be any seeable wet , nor should you be able to squeeze out any moisture .
Vegetables , however , broadly should be much more brickly and crisp when dry . At this point , the veg should comprise only 10 percentage wet , a stage in which micro-organism can not originate .
Dehydrate Herbs
Herbs add flavor to your cooking , and dry herbs is an leisurely path to preserve them . To belittle wilt , trot unused herb early in the daybreak before the flowers open and right after the dew evaporates . mildly rinse the herbaceous plant , and shake them to absent wet . oven and galvanic dehydrators work well with herbaceous plant . The herbs should crumble when they are completely dry .
Dehydrate Meat
word of advice : Once you start making jerky , you probably wo n’t be able-bodied to go back to the store - bought kind ! Homemade jerky can be made from just about any type of meat , and the flavor is outstanding . Always prefer clean and thin cut of meat . Lean bitch stands up best to exsiccate .
tender meat can be contaminate with disease - causing microorganism that manifold on moist food for thought that is high-pitched in protein . Contact your local Cooperative Extension System agency for data base on the type of pith you are dehydrate . Pork and wild secret plan , for instance , need to be specifically deal prior to dehydrating .
Partially glacial kernel is loose to slice . tailor the meat into slices no thicker than ¼ in , and trim off all the fatty tissue , as blubber does not dehydrate well and will get your jerk to go rancid quickly . Cutting with the meat grain produces a chewier jerked meat , while cutting against the cereal produces a more tender , crisp jerked meat . For more flavor and heart , marinade the meat in your favored marinade .
