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Dehydrating Produce
by Monica Resinger - plantldy98@aol.com
Description: Tips for dehydrating your summer garden produce.
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There is a great way to preserve produce that takes up less
space and is less work than canning or freezing. It is food
dehydration. Dehydrating foods is a simple process of
exposing foods to heat and air which evaporates the moisture
from the foods. A food dehydrator will dry produce, meats,
herbs and flowers. This article will discuss drying produce.
Generally, to dry fruits and vegetables, you slice them thin, and
depending on if it browns or not when exposed to air, dip the
slices in lemon juice. You then place the slices onto the racks
of the dehydrator and turn it on. My kids have a good time
helping me prepare the food for drying and are getting a
valuable lesson in food preservation not to mention quality
time with mom. After a matter of time (it depends on which
fruit or vegetable you're drying), you will have the finished
product ready to be stored in glass jars, baggies, canisters or
whatever you'd like to store them in. It usually takes quite a
few hours for the produce to become dry. When you purchase
a food dehydrator, it comes with an instruction book listing
approximate times, directions and a few recipes that include the
finished product.
Since the finished product is dried, the natural flavor is
concentrated into chewy, healthy snacks. Dehydrated
vegetables are great thrown into soups, casseroles and stews.
Dehydrated fruit is great in muffins, cake, granola or pancake
batter to name a few. This is when you get to be creative and
come up with your own great ideas.
Dried food is great for hikers and campers for the obvious
reasons of lighter food to carry and no spoilage. It's also great
for people trying to get their children or themselves to eat
healthier and for garden growers that like to preserve their
harvest for later use.
A food dehydrator can save you a lot of money. For one, the
cost of dried fruit at the grocery store is pretty high, so you can
save yourself quite a bit of money by drying it yourself. For
two, if you have purchased too much of something, you can
dehydrate it for use later instead of letting it go bad. Not only
will food dehydration save you money, but it will also save you
valuable shelf space in your kitchen. The finished product
takes up a lot less space compared to canning or freezing and
you don't need expensive canning jars or freezer containers.
One last benefit is there is considerably less work involved
when compared to canning or freezing.
To sum it up, if you are a person that wants to eat healthier,
save money, cook creatively and/or have a great way to
preserve food, then a food dehydrator is for you.
Monica Resinger is editor/founder of
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