Drying Food Yields Year-Round Goodies

By Hklbrries

Why dry?

Why not, says Sheila O’Toole Domon. “It’s easy and you can really save a lot of money,” she said. “Then you have it all winter.”

Domon and her husband farm about 100 acres west of Spokane.

“I have three freezers and they’re all just bursting at the seams,” said Domon, who is a Spokane County Master Food Preserver.

She also cans much of the harvest and “gives food away like crazy.”

Domon uses her American Harvest dehydrator to dry black and great northern beans, garlic, onions and herbs from the garden. She also dehydrates raspberries, strawberries and banana chips and makes fruit leather for her grandchildren.

Drying foods is an ancient and simple technique. Before canning and refrigeration, it was an important way to preserve food, removing enough moisture to prevent decay and spoiling.

Denise Marcum, of Spokane Valley, began drying foods from her huge backyard garden in 1976. She built a dryer from plans in Mother Earth News.

“I tried to can a lot of the produce, but with two little children things quickly got away from me,” she says. “The food dryer was a way to ‘catch up.’

“Besides, I was running out of jars.”

There is not as much precision to drying foods as is required in canning.

“You can be more confident that your food is safe – since it is dried the botulism spores are inactive – if it is spoiled it obviously looks and smells spoiled,” said Marcum. “You do not have to be a microbiologist to figure it out.”

Marcum uses her dehydrator year-round, drying fresh produce from her garden as well as home and commercially canned fruits and vegetables. She makes jerky, tofu, dried yogurt, fruit leathers, powdered vegetables, herbs and teas.

She’ll teach an upcoming class on dehydrating and canning at The Kitchen Engine in Spokane.

Marcum said the most common mistake is misjudging if things are dry enough to be stored. Beginners need to be sure to slice produce a consistent thickness to ensure foods are dry at the same time.

But even the most experienced can make that mistake. For that reason, she stores her dried foods in pint jars so she’ll only lose a little if mold begins to grow.

Bonnie Wyrobek of Newport, Wash., another Master Food Preserver, dries pie cherries and uses them in place of raisins in many recipes, from quick breads to stuffing.

She heats cherries in light sugar syrup and drains them before drying. If they’re big enough this year, she hopes to dip them in chocolate and add them to her holiday gift trays.

She’s still perfecting her technique for apricots.

“Apricots appear to be the enemy,” she said in an e-mail message. “No matter which method I’ve used thus far for pre-treating or how carefully I time the drying, they first turn brown, then green, then a really pretty blue and finally a mixed palette of white, gray and black.

“Artistically they are a wonder to behold, but not one bit safe for consumption.”

Drying foods for storage requires using enough heat to draw moisture from foods without cooking them. Air circulation draws out the moisture. The most reliable way to do it is to use a commercial food dehydrator, although sun, solar and oven drying all can be used.

Before you buy a new or used dehydrator, food safety experts recommend checking to see that it has these features:

•Thermostatically controlled temperature dials with settings between 130 and 150 degrees. Those who plan to dry meat jerky should make sure the dehydrator can maintain a temperature of 145 degrees.

•Fan or blower to circulate warm air.

•Shelves made of stainless steel or food-grade plastic. Galvanized screens are not food safe.

•Outside cabinets made of hard plastic, aluminum or steel. The best quality dehydrators have double-wall construction to prevent heat loss during use.

•Enclosed heating element.

•Source for replacement parts.

Start with the best quality fruits and vegetables you can find. Choose firm fruit that is ripe and heavy for its size. Vegetables should be fresh and just mature. Wash in cold water to remove dirt, bacteria and insects just before drying.

Both fruits and vegetables can be pretreated to improve quality, preserve color and flavor, and minimize the loss of nutrients. It also helps ensure even drying and extend shelf life.

Fruits don’t have to be pretreated because natural sugars and acids counteract decomposition, but apples, pears, peaches and apricots tend to discolor, which can be decreased by using an ascorbic acid or salt solution dip, syrup blanching, a honey dip or sulfating. Commercial anti-darkening powders also work.

Here are some guidelines from “Drying Fruits and Vegetables,” a Pacific Northwest Extension publication, or follow the instructions in the manufacturers’ manual for a dehydrator.

Salt Solution Dip: 2 to 4 tablespoons salt per gallon of water. Soak fruit 2 to 5 minutes and drain well.

Syrup Blanching: 1 part sugar to 2 parts water. Use less sugar, if desired. Bring the syrup to a boil, add fruit and simmer 5 minutes. Drain. Produces candied fruit.

Honey Dip: 1 part honey to 4 parts water. Dip fruit immediately after slicing and soak about 5 minutes. Drain well before drying.

Sulfuring or Sulfiting: Most commercially prepared light-colored fruits are treated with sulfur compounds. Sulfuring at home is complicated, potentially dangerous and no longer recommended.

The most popular sulfating agent is sodium bisulfite and can be purchased at wine-making suppliers or some large supermarkets. University extension publications include guidelines for those who want to use sulfites at home.

Vegetables are best pretreated by steam blanching or water blanching. Blanching times vary depending on the vegetable. The heat destroys the enzymes that makes vegetables deteriorate. There’s a good chart, “Drying Fruits and Vegetables,” available free online or at extension offices for $2.95.

There’s no need to pretreat or blanch some vegetables. Garlic, leeks, onions, peppers and tomatoes keep quite nicely without it, according to editors of “Preserving Summer’s Bounty” by the Rodale Food Center.

Domon uses a mini-mandoline to slice slivers of garlic before drying them. Or she’ll send the cloves through her mini-chopper to mince them.

She spreads the garlic on the solid dehydrator trays about 1/4-inch thick to dry. Domon uses the same technique for drying some onions.

Herbs need only be washed and dried before dehydrating.

Fruits should be conditioned before storing. Some pieces of fruit will be moister than others after drying. Conditioning distributes the remaining moisture to reduce the chance of mold.

To condition, loosely pack cooled dried fruit into plastic or glass containers about two-thirds full. Cover tightly. Shake them daily for 2 to 4 days. Excess moisture will be absorbed by the drier pieces.

Dried vegetables are nearly waterless and need not be conditioned.

Store dried produce in an airtight container in a cool, dry place and away from light, or in the refrigerator.

Here are some recipes using dried fruits, vegetables and herbs:

Fruit leathers can be made by simply pureeing fresh fruits and spreading on baking sheets or dehydrator trays for drying. It is also a good way to use up canned fruits that have been on the shelf more than a year. Drain and puree.

The fruit puree can also be cooked for more concentrated flavors and faster drying. The Oregon State University extension offers a good primer on leathers online at http://extension.oregon state.edu/catalog/html/ fs/fs232/.

It recommends adding yogurt to fruit leather. Blend 6 cups of berries (strained) with 8 ounces of plain or flavored yogurt and 2 tablespoons of sugar for flavoring (optional).

Or, for a vegetable leather, try pizza. Blend one 15-ounce can of stewed tomatoes (drained) with one 8-ounce can of tomato sauce and 1 teaspoon of sugar (optional). Pour the purée on a drying tray and sprinkle with leaf oregano, leaf basil, and garlic salt.

Here are some resources for drying fruits, vegetables and herbs:

“Drying Fruits and Vegetables,” a 29-page Pacific Northwest Extension publication available at local extension offices for $2.95 or online free at http://info.ag.uidaho.edu/Resources/PDFs/PNW0397.pdf.

“Food Drying with an Attitude,” by Mary T. Bell (Skyhorse Publishing).

“How to Dry Foods,” Deanna DeLong (HP Books).

“Preserving Summer’s Bounty,” by Rodale Food Center, edited by Susan McClure (Rodale Books). Includes instructions for oven drying, drying indoors, sun drying and building your own dryer.

“Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving,” the 100th anniversary edition.

“So Easy To Preserve,” University of Georgia Cooperative Extension: www.uga.edu/setp .

National Center for Home Food Preservation: www.uga.edu/nchfp.

Dehydrator demonstration
The Kitchen Engine, in the Flour Mill, 621 W. Mallon Ave., will host a dehydrating class at 6 p.m. on Monday, July 27 by Denise Marcum. Cost is $20. Call [phone] to reserve a space.

Ingredients

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Preparation

Step 1

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