Food Dehydrator Recipes

Easy And Fun Ways To Dehydrate Food

Preserving Food Methods

Dehydration of fruit, vegetables and meat using food dehydration is one of the oldest forms of food preservation techniques known to man. Although food preservation is the primary reason for dehydration, dehydration of fruits, vegetables and meats also lowers the cost of storing.

Dehydration is an alternative to canning (called "bottling" in the UK) and freezing fruits and vegetables. If you have a surplus of fruits or vegetables from your garden, but lack the canning equipment or freezer space, dehydrating may be the right method for you!

It may also be a good method for preparing beef and game that you may have bagged on your latest hunting trip. These may include deer, antelope, elk or moose. Sometimes you can purchase a quarter, half or whole side of beef from some resources and dehydration is an exceptional way to prepare these for your family for use during the year.

Dehydrated foods have a number of advantages:

1. Dehydration is a low-cost way to preserve food that is free from concerns about botulism
2. the dehydrated foods require less storage space than  canned goods
3. there's no freezer to keep running.

Before Dehydration

Pre-drying treatments prepare the raw product for dehydration and include: raw product preparation and color preservation.

Raw product preparation includes:

• selection and sorting
• washing, peeling (some fruits and vegetables)
• cutting into the appropriate form
• blanching (for some fruits and most vegetables).

Fruits and vegetables are selected; sorted according to size, maturity, and soundness; and then washed to remove dust, dirt, insect matter, mold spores, plant parts, and other material that might contaminate or affect the color, aroma, or flavor of the fruit or vegetable. Peeling or removal of any undesirable parts follows washing.

To prevent browning: try steaming or coating light-colored fruits and vegetables with lemon juice or ascorbic acid (FruitFresh) before drying. Steaming or blanching also is recommended for vegetables to inactivate enzymes that cause vegetables to mature, or toughen during dehydrating.

Before Dehydration for your Meat

Cut or slice into the appropriate size pieces and prepare with spices or marinade if you choose to use them.

After Dehydration

Packaging of dehydrated fruits, vegetables and meat  is a must to protect the dehydrated food against:

• moisture
• light
• air
• dust
• microflora
• foreign odor
• insects
• rodents

Also packaging:

• provides strength and stability to maintain original food size
• shape
• appearance

throughout storage and serving to your , your family, friends or putting in lunches.

Package with materials that are approved for contact with food. Cost is also an important factor in packaging.

Package types include:

• cans,
• plastic bags
• bins
• cartons, and depend on how much and what your storage space is like.

Now the only other thing you will be doing after dehydration is eating the efforts of your labor and of course, enjoying doing that. Occasionally, gift giving might be another way to enjoy gifting your family and friends with healthy treats.