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Jam Lady
Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 2566 Location: New Jersey, USA
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Posted: Sat Aug 22, 20 2:31 am Post subject: Using A Dehydrator |
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I'm back in full post-apocalyptic mode here. I have partially dried tomatoes in the oven, then freeze them. Not good enough.
The covid-19 virus has turned our world upside down. Recent storm Isaias walloped New Jersey (where I am located) with power outages, putting freezer-stored items at risk. Canning jars and replacement lids are the latest empty shelf syndrome items that cannot be found.
Here we are at the height of summer when it is time to put food by. Drying food seems like an excellent technique to avoid both power outages and unavailability of lids.
Friday evening I ordered a dehydrator. The model I chose after reading reviews etc seems to be edging towards the empty shelf syndrome - out-of-stock on Amazon, Home Depot, Walmart, etc. Mr Jam Lord tracked it down at Target (none in stores, on line available only.) It should arrive September 1.
Electric fairly high wattage internal fan. No timer. It comes with eight trays. More can be added. Dry fruit. Dry tomatoes, peppers, onions, celery, etc. Dry tomato skins then powder to use as a seasoning. Dry pickles to a powder, for seasoning. This one comes with tray liners for making fruit leather. Can use to make jerky.
If anyone else has used / does use a food dehydrator I would welcome comments / suggestions / recommendations / recipes that you might want to share. |
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jema Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 28227 Location: escaped from Swindon
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46168 Location: yes
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Posted: Sat Aug 22, 20 9:25 am Post subject: |
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yep i have an excaliber one with 10 shelves it has lasted well and i quite efficient at a range of temps
a few hints re temps:
jerky can be fresh, or from frozen(if parasites might be an issue frozen is good), at some stage of the drying a few hours above 70 c will sterilize it but then turn it down for drying through as too long hot gives a cooked taste
things like herbs etc should be done almost cold to retain the flavours
veg fruit and shrooms etc are best done coolish
most kit will come with a recipe book giving a guide to what temp for what thing
re stacking, you should have grid racks, mesh sheets and silicone sheets for sloppy stuff
most things it will be obvious which to put them on but be aware that fluffy stuff, unless sandwiched between 2 plastic mesh sheets, will blow away when dry(my first herb batch was rather too mobile )
tougher bits of meat will be quite similar to tender ones once dried so using cheaper cuts or the whole beast is not a problem
most meats can be dried but lean is easiest, fatty meat such as mutton breast or brisket needs an antioxidant marinade as well as the salt and spices, i use blackberry juice for baah snacks (berry juice salt pepper for 24 hrs)
if making baah snacks or similar put a tray at the lowest level to catch any fatty drips
buccan mix is a good dry marinade rub(equal volumes of salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper or chilli) it works well with beef, venison and rabbit etc
you need enough for a thin even layer on the meat strips which is quite a bit
some folk use wine or whisky in marinades, i prefer to drink it and keep the jerky simple
soy sauce is sort of ok in a marinade but a bit cloying if you use too much
while i am shredding a largish animal in chunks i hang it up, hold and turn it with one hand and cut with the other to unroll flaps which can then be cut into strips
always shred along the muscle rather than cut slices across it
strips should be 1/2" x1/4" and as long as the muscle
even with practice good cutting is a slowish process as unrolling a muscle at a time needs precision and a different set of butchery skills to english or french cut
dont bother with cubes they are either wet in the middle or too hard to chew
biltong style ie drying a thinnish steak is possible but it will either be short shelf life ie a bit damp or a boot sole unless you get the conditions and timings correct
things get smaller quite quickly so it is possible to double up loads after a while and add more on the freed up shelves if you have a fair bit to do
start with them spread out and not touching each other, when part dried they can be shuffled to give a lot more space as they will not stick together at that stage
even in a good one the middle will dry faster than the top and bottom, that can be a problem or used to your advantage if drying a lot of one thing or several things
this is one they often miss from the instruction books, the water has to go somewhere so ventilate the place the machine is, a chum thought he had a burst pipe when the light fittings filled with condensation, that was about half a cow in several machines but i have made the kitchen rather damp with a few pounds of mushrooms or fruit
shrooms that are best dried and matured like ceps work well in a de.
for things like carrot a food processor and cut thin slices works well.
thick bits are either very chewy unless thrown in a stew or wet in the middle and covered in mould.
apples are best cored, peeled and sliced into a bucket of citric acid solution to prevent the phenolics from making them go brown, dry in a towel then rack
re moisture in air, if the day is very humid drying can be almost impossible, the ideal arrangement is dry air in and wet air out and gone
if you have to do it in a fairly sealed room a dehumidifier is essential
ps tt says only dry things you like and went on to recall three days of strong banana smells when neither of us like dried bananas
if i had to choose one jerky it would be venison in buccan mix |
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Jam Lady
Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 2566 Location: New Jersey, USA
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Jam Lady
Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 2566 Location: New Jersey, USA
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46168 Location: yes
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Nicky cigreen
Joined: 25 Jun 2007 Posts: 9857 Location: Devon, uk
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gz
Joined: 23 Jan 2009 Posts: 8879 Location: Ayrshire, Scotland
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yummersetter
Joined: 26 Jan 2008 Posts: 3241 Location: Somerset
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 20 11:47 am Post subject: |
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Mainly fruit in our Excalibur, halved skinned Victoria plums drying at the moment. Back in the days when we travelled, there was always a couple of bags of dried plums in the car to chew on. My favourite prune flavoured plum for drying, Anna Spath, has hardly any fruit on the tree this year and we'll miss it.
We're also drying lots of tomatoes, usually skinned and sliced.
When the quinces are ripe some get stewed, pureed, sieved, sugared and dried on sheets as leather and as a 3/4 inch deep layer as a kind of membrillo, dried till no longer sticky then cubed and kept in the fridge.
I've never tried onions, does the smell linger in the dehydrator? I've got an abandoned circular dryer in a cupboard so could allocate that to smelly stuff. |
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tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 45661 Location: Essex
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Jam Lady
Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 2566 Location: New Jersey, USA
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46168 Location: yes
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46168 Location: yes
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Jam Lady
Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 2566 Location: New Jersey, USA
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46168 Location: yes
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