Pick your produce at its peak and work quickly to prevent spoilage and to aid in preserving the color and taste.
Fix your vegetables as if you were going to serve them. Wash well, trim, cut, chop or cut. Use your favorite food dehydrator recipes.
Tips:
1. Process foods as soon after picking as possible.
2. Do not add fresh produce to a partly dried load.
3. Drying times will alter based on the thickness of slices, the amount of water in the food, temperature, humidity and altitude. Start a journal to track and record your own drying times for diverse foods.
4. When stored the correct way, dehydrated foods are usually good for a year.
5. Ascorbic acid can be acquired from food shop and drug stores, and is available in powder and tablet form.
Dehydrating veggies (whether fresh from the garden, the farmer's market, or perhaps just from the grocery at in-season pricing) and used in the off-season is one of the best methods of saving your vegetables. Dehydrating veggies preserves them with a higher nutritional content that far transcends that of canned vegetables. Also, the process of dehydrating veggies is frequently more cost effective than freezing, as you will not use electricity in the further storage of your items.
Quick Facts...
Successful drying depends on heat, air dryness and air flow.
Select vegetables to be dried at peak flavor and quality.
Blanch your vegetables before drying to stop enzyme action and boost elimination of micro-organisms.
Package dried foods in firmly sealed containers and store in a cool, dry place.
Drying is one of the oldest systems of food preservation. Drying preserves foods by removing enough moisture from food to prevent food rotting and spoilage. Water content of properly dried food differs from 5 to 25 percent depending on the food.
Successful drying depends on:
enough heat to draw out moisture, without cooking the food;
dry air to take in the released moisture; and
satisfactory air movement to carry off the moisture.
When drying foods, the key is to remove moisture as quickly as possible at a temperature that doesn't seriously affect the flavor, texture and colour of the food. If the temperature is too low in the beginning, micro-organisms may survive and even grow before the food is sufficiently dried. If the temperature is too high and the humidity too low, the food may toughen on the surface. This makes it harder for moisture to be taken out and the food does not dry correctly.
Selecting Vegetables
Select your vegetables at peak flavour and eating quality. This usually is just as they reach maturity. Sweet corn and green peas , however , should be slightly before fully ripe so they keep their sweet flavor before their sugars change to starch.
Fix your vegetables as if you were going to serve them. Wash well, trim, cut, chop or cut. Use your favorite food dehydrator recipes.
Tips:
1. Process foods as soon after picking as possible.
2. Do not add fresh produce to a partly dried load.
3. Drying times will alter based on the thickness of slices, the amount of water in the food, temperature, humidity and altitude. Start a journal to track and record your own drying times for diverse foods.
4. When stored the correct way, dehydrated foods are usually good for a year.
5. Ascorbic acid can be acquired from food shop and drug stores, and is available in powder and tablet form.
Dehydrating veggies (whether fresh from the garden, the farmer's market, or perhaps just from the grocery at in-season pricing) and used in the off-season is one of the best methods of saving your vegetables. Dehydrating veggies preserves them with a higher nutritional content that far transcends that of canned vegetables. Also, the process of dehydrating veggies is frequently more cost effective than freezing, as you will not use electricity in the further storage of your items.
Quick Facts...
Successful drying depends on heat, air dryness and air flow.
Select vegetables to be dried at peak flavor and quality.
Blanch your vegetables before drying to stop enzyme action and boost elimination of micro-organisms.
Package dried foods in firmly sealed containers and store in a cool, dry place.
Drying is one of the oldest systems of food preservation. Drying preserves foods by removing enough moisture from food to prevent food rotting and spoilage. Water content of properly dried food differs from 5 to 25 percent depending on the food.
Successful drying depends on:
enough heat to draw out moisture, without cooking the food;
dry air to take in the released moisture; and
satisfactory air movement to carry off the moisture.
When drying foods, the key is to remove moisture as quickly as possible at a temperature that doesn't seriously affect the flavor, texture and colour of the food. If the temperature is too low in the beginning, micro-organisms may survive and even grow before the food is sufficiently dried. If the temperature is too high and the humidity too low, the food may toughen on the surface. This makes it harder for moisture to be taken out and the food does not dry correctly.
Selecting Vegetables
Select your vegetables at peak flavour and eating quality. This usually is just as they reach maturity. Sweet corn and green peas , however , should be slightly before fully ripe so they keep their sweet flavor before their sugars change to starch.
About the Author:
Marjorie J McDonald experienced growing up in a gardening family. Each and every year a large garden was planted and all extra food was sold, frozen, canned or dehydrated so the extra foods lasted all thru the year. Creating food dehydrator recipes was especially fun for her family to do. Having hot soup in winter using vegetables from the peak of the season available because of vegetable dehyrating as a method to dehydrate vegetables made cold winters more enjoyable.
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