How To Preserve Food By Dehydrating It
Dehydrating food is one of the oldest methods of food preservation. Dehydration is the process of removing water from something, in this case food. Removing water from food makes the food shrink. So it is smaller and lighter which makes transportation much easier.
Food is spoiled by either microorganisms or through enzymatic actions within the food. Microorganisms must have a sufficient amount of moisture around them to live and reproduce. If you reduce the moisture content of food low enough this will prevent the growth of microorganisms. It will also greatly slow down enzymatic actions. Combined this preserves the food at room temperatures.
There are three really simple things you will need to dehydrate your own food. One method is to use controlled heat (~140F), dry air and air movement. And there are a couple of ways to achieve these three. Using the sun is one, but is not recommended for foods other than fruits. The other is in an oven. For our purposes this means probably a clay oven heated by a wood fire.
TIP: When dehydrating fruits and vegetables only use ripe foods.
Rinse fruits and vegetables and cut away bruised high fibrous portions such as stems. Also remove all seeds... including pits!!!
Blanch Beets for 5 minutes. Blanch Carrots for 3 minutes. Blanch pea for 2 minutes. Blanch potatoes for 10 minutes. Blanch pumpkin for 12 minutes.
Blanching corn, garlic, mushrooms, okra, onions or peppers is not necessary.
Blanch Apples for 10 minutes. Blanch Apricots for 30 minutes. Blanch Bananas for 8 minutes. Blanch Cherries for 30 minutes. Blanch nectarines, peaches and pears for 35 minutes.
It is not necessary to blanch grapes, figs, pineapples or plumbs.
Tip: Test for dryness by cutting the fruit. There should be no moist areas in the center.
When blanching vegetables bring water to a rolling boil and then place the vegetables into the boiling water for the appropriate amount of time. Remove vegetables and place them in water to quickly cool them. Once cool, drain away the water.
When blanching fruits add 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup (.25 liters )of corn syrup to 2 cups (.5 liters) of water.
After proper blanch time remove from heat and keep fruit in syrup for 30 minutes.
Remove fruit from syrup, rinse, drain.
Natural Sun Drying
Sun drying is recommended for drying fruit only and requires clear sky's and it shouldn't be humid. The daytime highs should reach at least 85F. If you live in states that have high humidity this method of dehydration isn't going to work.
To dehydrate with this method place slices of fruit on racks or screens designed to allow as much air contact as possible. Then you need a cover such as cheesecloth or window screens to cover the top to keep the bugs off.
The more air movement across the food the faster it will dry. This can be natural, from wind, or artificial, from a fan of some sort. Drying times will vary depending on the food you are drying and the temperature and humidity and the amount of wind. Turn the fruit over once during the day. Dehydration could take more than a single day so it is a good idea to move the foods into a protected place at night. If left out the night air will put moisture right back into the fruits and ruin the dehydration process.
Ideally sun dried fruits should be pasteurized. This means heated and cooled. The temperature swings are what kill the bad stuff. Heat the fruits to 160F for 20 minutes and then place in the cold for a couple of days. Good luck with that after the SHTF.
Using A Dehydrator
If you want a more effective way to dry fruits and also have the ability to dehydrate other foods as well then you will need to have or build some sort of dehydrator. Food if possible should be dehydrated inside in a well ventilated room. Place food in the oven/dehydrator in a single layer. Dehydrate at 140F (60C). Flip the food every few hours.
Practice makes perfect. So don't try to dehydrate everything all at once. Doing food in batches will help prevent a mistake from ruining all of your food. Temperature control and knowing when the food is ready is something that isn't hard, but is still something that will take an eye for it.
Most foods are good to go at about 80% moisture removal, but vegetables need about 90%. So the dehydrated weights of the food will be roughly... very roughly about 10% of their original weight. However over time you should be able to develop your own system and figure out exactly when the food is ready. The 10% end weight varies, so just keep in mind that tomatoes will need to lose even more weight and foods like pears will not need to lose quite as much.
There is one more step to take to get fruits truly ready for long term storage. Conditioning! Place the fruits in a jar with lid on. Shake the contents periodically. If at any time you see moisture/condensation in the jar. Then remove the lid and heat up the jar to evaporate the moisture. Once the moisture is gone then let the jar almost cool down and reseal the jar. Continue with the conditioning process. This should be done for a couple of weeks with fruit.
With other food this isn't necessary if you did the dehydration process correctly. However regardless all dehydrated foods are best stored in glass jars. And if any moisture develops in the jar, then the above re-drying process should be done. Moisture is the enemy to dehydrated foods.
>Dried foods are best stored away from lots of sun... so inside. And if you somehow have the capability they can be stored in nitrogen or in a vacuum. Both of these environments would prevent the food from absorbing moisture from the air around them.
Making Jerky
Jerky can be made from almost any lean meat. Dehydration of meat at 140F (60C) is not hot enough to kill all of the microorganisms that are always present on meat.
If you have spices and stuff available, then for taste purposes you will want to marinate the meat prior to dehydrating it. This can be done overnight if the temperature of the meat can be brought down to 40F (5C) or so. If not then marinate it for an hour or two and then proceed to the dehydration steps.
Things to marinate meats in include, but are certainly not limited to the following, Soy sauce, Worcestershire, Pepper, honey, syrup, garlic powder and salt.
Now follow the regular dehydration procedure. Slice meat into thin strips. Remove 100% of the fat!!! NO FAT ALLOWED! You cannot safely dehydrate meat that isn't cut thin so that All areas are never more than an 1/8 (3.2 mm) of an inch from the surface. So the max thickness of a strip is 1/4 inch (6.3 mm) thick, never more.
Now before dehydrating the meat, precook the meat. In the marinade and as little water as possible bring the water to a boil for 5 minutes then remove from heat and drain liquid.
Dehydrate the meat at 140F (60C) until it will crack when flexed/bent a bit. Usually something like 7 to 12 hours. Now remove dried strips and cool.
Meat strips should be stored in glass jars. Store in dry and as cold a place as you can to maximize storage time. How long will it last in an airtight jar? Depends! Anywhere from two weeks to two years. It all depends on how well you killed the bacteria, how well you dried the meat and how well it is sealed and stored.
Let's Eat
OK so you have shelves of dried meats, fruits, and vegetables, but now it is time to eat. What do you do? You will want to restore the moisture of the fruits and vegetables prior to eating them. To do this soak them in water for 2 to 8 hours depending on the food. Typically the more fibrous the food the longer the soak time. It is not necessary to re-hydrate meat. Just eat it as jerky.
Food is spoiled by either microorganisms or through enzymatic actions within the food. Microorganisms must have a sufficient amount of moisture around them to live and reproduce. If you reduce the moisture content of food low enough this will prevent the growth of microorganisms. It will also greatly slow down enzymatic actions. Combined this preserves the food at room temperatures.
TIP: When dehydrating fruits and vegetables only use ripe foods.
Rinse fruits and vegetables and cut away bruised high fibrous portions such as stems. Also remove all seeds... including pits!!!
Blanch Beets for 5 minutes. Blanch Carrots for 3 minutes. Blanch pea for 2 minutes. Blanch potatoes for 10 minutes. Blanch pumpkin for 12 minutes.
Blanching corn, garlic, mushrooms, okra, onions or peppers is not necessary.
Blanch Apples for 10 minutes. Blanch Apricots for 30 minutes. Blanch Bananas for 8 minutes. Blanch Cherries for 30 minutes. Blanch nectarines, peaches and pears for 35 minutes.
It is not necessary to blanch grapes, figs, pineapples or plumbs.
Tip: Test for dryness by cutting the fruit. There should be no moist areas in the center.
When blanching vegetables bring water to a rolling boil and then place the vegetables into the boiling water for the appropriate amount of time. Remove vegetables and place them in water to quickly cool them. Once cool, drain away the water.
When blanching fruits add 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup (.25 liters )of corn syrup to 2 cups (.5 liters) of water.
After proper blanch time remove from heat and keep fruit in syrup for 30 minutes.
Remove fruit from syrup, rinse, drain.
Natural Sun Drying
Sun drying is recommended for drying fruit only and requires clear sky's and it shouldn't be humid. The daytime highs should reach at least 85F. If you live in states that have high humidity this method of dehydration isn't going to work.
To dehydrate with this method place slices of fruit on racks or screens designed to allow as much air contact as possible. Then you need a cover such as cheesecloth or window screens to cover the top to keep the bugs off.
The more air movement across the food the faster it will dry. This can be natural, from wind, or artificial, from a fan of some sort. Drying times will vary depending on the food you are drying and the temperature and humidity and the amount of wind. Turn the fruit over once during the day. Dehydration could take more than a single day so it is a good idea to move the foods into a protected place at night. If left out the night air will put moisture right back into the fruits and ruin the dehydration process.
Ideally sun dried fruits should be pasteurized. This means heated and cooled. The temperature swings are what kill the bad stuff. Heat the fruits to 160F for 20 minutes and then place in the cold for a couple of days. Good luck with that after the SHTF.
Using A Dehydrator
If you want a more effective way to dry fruits and also have the ability to dehydrate other foods as well then you will need to have or build some sort of dehydrator. Food if possible should be dehydrated inside in a well ventilated room. Place food in the oven/dehydrator in a single layer. Dehydrate at 140F (60C). Flip the food every few hours.
Practice makes perfect. So don't try to dehydrate everything all at once. Doing food in batches will help prevent a mistake from ruining all of your food. Temperature control and knowing when the food is ready is something that isn't hard, but is still something that will take an eye for it.
Most foods are good to go at about 80% moisture removal, but vegetables need about 90%. So the dehydrated weights of the food will be roughly... very roughly about 10% of their original weight. However over time you should be able to develop your own system and figure out exactly when the food is ready. The 10% end weight varies, so just keep in mind that tomatoes will need to lose even more weight and foods like pears will not need to lose quite as much.
There is one more step to take to get fruits truly ready for long term storage. Conditioning! Place the fruits in a jar with lid on. Shake the contents periodically. If at any time you see moisture/condensation in the jar. Then remove the lid and heat up the jar to evaporate the moisture. Once the moisture is gone then let the jar almost cool down and reseal the jar. Continue with the conditioning process. This should be done for a couple of weeks with fruit.
With other food this isn't necessary if you did the dehydration process correctly. However regardless all dehydrated foods are best stored in glass jars. And if any moisture develops in the jar, then the above re-drying process should be done. Moisture is the enemy to dehydrated foods.
>Dried foods are best stored away from lots of sun... so inside. And if you somehow have the capability they can be stored in nitrogen or in a vacuum. Both of these environments would prevent the food from absorbing moisture from the air around them.
Making Jerky
Jerky can be made from almost any lean meat. Dehydration of meat at 140F (60C) is not hot enough to kill all of the microorganisms that are always present on meat.
If you have spices and stuff available, then for taste purposes you will want to marinate the meat prior to dehydrating it. This can be done overnight if the temperature of the meat can be brought down to 40F (5C) or so. If not then marinate it for an hour or two and then proceed to the dehydration steps.
Things to marinate meats in include, but are certainly not limited to the following, Soy sauce, Worcestershire, Pepper, honey, syrup, garlic powder and salt.
Now follow the regular dehydration procedure. Slice meat into thin strips. Remove 100% of the fat!!! NO FAT ALLOWED! You cannot safely dehydrate meat that isn't cut thin so that All areas are never more than an 1/8 (3.2 mm) of an inch from the surface. So the max thickness of a strip is 1/4 inch (6.3 mm) thick, never more.
Now before dehydrating the meat, precook the meat. In the marinade and as little water as possible bring the water to a boil for 5 minutes then remove from heat and drain liquid.
Dehydrate the meat at 140F (60C) until it will crack when flexed/bent a bit. Usually something like 7 to 12 hours. Now remove dried strips and cool.
Meat strips should be stored in glass jars. Store in dry and as cold a place as you can to maximize storage time. How long will it last in an airtight jar? Depends! Anywhere from two weeks to two years. It all depends on how well you killed the bacteria, how well you dried the meat and how well it is sealed and stored.
Let's Eat
OK so you have shelves of dried meats, fruits, and vegetables, but now it is time to eat. What do you do? You will want to restore the moisture of the fruits and vegetables prior to eating them. To do this soak them in water for 2 to 8 hours depending on the food. Typically the more fibrous the food the longer the soak time. It is not necessary to re-hydrate meat. Just eat it as jerky.
