Excerpt from the Popular Kitchen Series magabookCanning & Preservingwith permit from its publisher , BowTie magazines , a segmentation of BowTie Inc. PurchaseCanning & Preservinghere .
There are several approaches to dehydrate intellectual nourishment . To find the one that works best for you , call up aboutwhat you want to dehydrateand your geographic and climatic billet .
Dehydrate By Sun-Drying
Sun - drying is the oldest and most inexpensive method of food drying . While a great idea in theory , sun - drying can be tricky in practice . Sun - drying depends upon atmospheric condition , which is often irregular , resulting in odd dry and wretched food for thought timber . Ideally , use sun - drying when you experience several consecutive breezy days of high-pitched temperature ( a minimum of 86 degrees Fahrenheit ) and low humidity . fruit are easily suit for Sunday - drying , because their in high spirits dinero and acid substance makes fruits less prone to spoilage risks .
A Sunday - drying apparatus is well-heeled to make : Place screens ( untainted sword , Teflon - coated , fiberglass or plastic screens are recommend ) on blocks to provide air movement around the food for thought . Birds andinsectsare attracted to dried fruit , so use two covert : one to give the food and another to protect it .
convey the fruit in at nighttime , because the cooler Nox melody could impart moisture to the food for thought and sustain the drying mental process . Because the yield was alfresco where worm might have touched and lay eggs on it , you must pasteurize the dried fruit . To pasteurize , place the nutrient in a single layer in an oven solidifying at 160 arcdegree for 30 minute . allow the solid food cool before storing . Another option is freezing the food at 0 grade or below for a minimum of 48 60 minutes .
Dehydrate Using the Oven
Oven - dehydrating does n’t bet on the weather condition and uses equipment already in your kitchen . The downside is that an oven has finite space , limited by the number of oven racks . Additionally , vegetable can take more than 12 hr to dry , during which you ca n’t use the oven for other cooking . Many mass dehydrate overnight in the oven to help handle time .
The key with oven - dehydrating is keeping the temperature at 140 degree . utilize an oven thermometer place near the food to supervise the temperature . The oven temperature usually is warm near the heating system element such as the pilot light .
air travel circulation also is essential to oven - dehydrating , which can be achieved by prop the doorway open 2 to 6 in .
Electric Dehydrators
For masses who enjoy dry food and desire to try out with various solid food and process larger mint , an electric dehydrator make things much easier . These relatively small appliances have an electric warming constituent as well as line release and fans for air circulation . These machines variegate in size and price chain . They also come with stackable trays , and you could buy extra trays to increase your wad size .
Electric dehydrators can be more economical than oven - dry out , because they run more efficiently and utilize less energy . With an electric dehydrator , a ecumenical rule to keep in judgment is that 12 square foot of dry out space typically dries about a half - bushel of produce ( about 4 congius ) .
