Drying food

[Janne]

Maybe time to start a new thread about drying, do not want to highjack the Marmelade thread....

So I bought a cheapo dryer. First one in my life. It is one of those round, with 4 baskets, blower centrally placed.

I bought it because son reminded me to buy some dried mangoes for our friends in Norway.
I did buy some bags, but then remembered that I have a super crop of beautiful mangoes dropping off the tree as we could not consume them all.
Jam for a year was akready canned.

So I have started drying mangoes. So much nicer than the over sugarred commercial ones!
Then I remembered that Grandmother used to give me dried Apple rings when I was a child.
So I have done about 5 trays of Granny Smiths and 5 trays of Red Delish and Eve.
A nice snack watching Netflix!

This morning I filled the trays with Starfruit. The tree has a good crop too, it bears well about twice a year.
Weird fruit, Starfruit. The stuff you guys buy in UK is the immature, sour ones. Ornamental.

When I am back I will try to do some Beef Jerky.

 

[Robson Valley]

Careful with the dried apple slices. I did that once.
Call it what you like:
Montezuma's Revenge, the Delhi Quick-step, the Running Green Screamers, Trotsky's Delight.
Not again. Test carefully. Dried mango didn't have the same effect.

There's a thousand-and-one beef jerky recipes on the internet that I could have tried.
Rather than slice good round meat, I always have a great supply of ground/mince (bison)
so I like to use that. Plus, the fat content is very low.

Was in Cabela's and bought the cure and seasonings, bought a "jerky pistol" which has to be
the ultimate convenience = it holds 16oz cured raw burger meat that squirts out of a 1/2" flat nozzle for 17' feet long.
I just dry it in the oven.

Next time, I want to do everything but sort of half-dry it. Then into the BBQ smoker with apple wood.

 

[Toddy]

We find the apple rings no problem

Seriously, when there's a glut of apples I run the dehydrator for a week and stuff every huge (10ltr) jar I have full of them.

Pears are absolutely wonderful but dried ripe mangos are a real pleasure to munch.

Don't waste the peelings of the apples and pears though, just put them into a big stock pot, add a litre or so of hot water and gently poach them until everything crushes down to mush with a tattie masher. Then strain through a sieve (if you're really picky and do it through a jelly bag) you end up with the most beautiful juice, just ripe for simmering down to make what we call apple spread, but I believe the Americans call apple butter. If you take it off the heat when it's gone thick and sticky and spread it out on silicon and then dehydrate that, you'll end up with superb fruit leather.

Masses of taste, no added sugar

M

 

[Robson Valley]

I'm drying foods only because I like to eat some kinds of dried foods, like Roma tomatoes.
No waste whatsoever. Always a jar on the kitchen counter.
While drying, the tomatoes actually make the whole house smell nice.

I've had the ideas to dry my own cherries and grapes but I'm not exactly bursting with enthusiasm. The dried tomatoes in oil in the grocery store are so expensive
that by their reasoning, I'm putting up more that $300.00 in product.

 

[Robson Valley]

If and when you decide to make jerky with ground meat/mince/burger, there is a genuine trick to getting it right.
Does not matter one whit which recipe or technique you use, so I was taught. Had to try it to believe it.

Most ground meats have a very granular texture when you start. Make jerky with this and I guarantee that it will fall apart.
Make up what ever recipe suits your heart's delight.
Put on a pair of disposable vinyl gloves and commence to mixing, squeezing and squishing and twisting.
After a while, the mix will suddenly become very stringy/fiberous, as the meat really was in the very beginning, right?

This pasty-looking character does not fall apart when spread out to be smoked/dried.
The jerky isn't tough as the meat fiber has been grossly cut up, anyway.

 

[JamPan]

The problem with you lot is I convince myself I don't really need a dehydrator, then you all go and say what great things you've been making and start putting ideas back in my head!

 

[Toddy]

It was thirty quid very well spent in our case

Basic, entry level model (they're even cheaper now) and it has had an enormous amount of use.
Everything from dried fruits and veggies to marmited tofu jerky

Good advice, mind and keep the box to put it tidily away until next time. It's a stack of racks that fall all over the place and get dusty otherwise.

 

[Robson Valley]

The dehydrator is one of those "nice to have" things in my house. Maybe used 5-6 times per year.
The deal is, you get lucky, get into a food deal or grow something and saving it all is a puzzle.
Some things like mushrooms, herbs, jerky and fruits & veg, come out pretty nice, dried.

All depends on what you really like to eat and what you'd pay for it in the store.
For me, it's the dried tomatoes, either packed in seasoned olive oil or just bagged up and tossed into the freezer.
Those alone, have more than paid for the machine.

I know a guy here in the village who makes beef burger jerky and sells it.
Never seems to lack customers. He's the one who taught me about the meat texture.

 

[Janne]

Kneading minced meat, by hand or in a food processor, is important if you make Sausages ( European style). The meat paste binds together the other ingredients, like coarse ground meats, maybe boiled tongue, heart, squares if bacon fat.

I never had any problems with dried apples.
I do not peel them.
The dried Star Fruit are really nice. Just finished. They shrunk hugely though. They taste almost like honey.

 

[Robson Valley]

I am so gosh darn all happy that you all can eat dried apple slices. I can't.

 

[JamPan]

Oh I'm just going to have to buy one now!

 

[nitrambur]

We tried to dry some basil in the dehydrator yesterday, from what I read it should have taken between 1 & 4 hours. It was on for about 8 hours yesterday, and nearly all day today and the leaves are still soft, not crumbly. What are we doing wrong?

 

[GGTBod]

All i will say on the subject for now is try pears, holy ****! Pears are insane dehydrated, all other fruit is awesome too but pears and pineapple top the lot by a good margin of what i have tried so far, proud owner of a cheapo round dehydrator too

 

[Toddy]

GGTBod, you have to try the pear leather, you really, really, do
I eat a lot of fruit, am fond of apples, but pears beats them hands down. The fruit leather from the left over bits of peel, etc.,
is absolutely brilliant

M

 

[Toddy]

We tried to dry some basil in the dehydrator yesterday, from what I read it should have taken between 1 & 4 hours. It was on for about 8 hours yesterday, and nearly all day today and the leaves are still soft, not crumbly. What are we doing wrong?

Did you take the leaves off the stems ? the stems are really full of water and apart from using them for making stock, I usually discard them.

 

[Robson Valley]

I think near to over-ripe fruit would dry well because you can dry it farly quickly.
Might even be a price drop to move it out of the store, as well.

Can you imagine very ripe strawberries, for dry slices as nibbles, out on the track??????

Dehydrators need to be round to avoid cool spots and even air flow.
I think it's an advantage to have the motor and heater in the top.
Not a problem to turn it off, flip it over and leave it while I restack the trays in reverse order.
Everything seems to dry faster and more evenly.

Our First Nations Haida on the coast still dry clams and mussles on strings over open smokey fires.
If you can make jerky in a dehydrator, why not dry mussels?

 

[nitrambur]

Did you take the leaves off the stems ? the stems are really full of water and apart from using them for making stock, I usually discard them.

Not until some time this afternoon. We'll give that a try for the next lot

 

[Robson Valley]

I use a lot of mint so buy and dry it almost weekly. I leave the stems on, doesn't seem to matter.
I can see that the stems could make a big difference with basil. Worth the experiment.

 

[Janne]

The hot, humid air needs to be sble to escape. Are the vents blocked?
I cut the starfruit in about 1 cm thick slices. ( 1 cm = 3/8 inch) and they dried in about 9 hours. Starfruit is very, very full of water.

 

[Robson Valley]

How thick is the Starfruit when it's dried? Half big Roma tomatoes can't be more than 1/4" when really leathery.
What temperature do you run them at?

This is weird. I've got a double cake rack over a sheet pan. Just room temperature.
1/2 is mint leaves on stems, 1/2 is dill fronds. Been laying there since the 21, 3 days ago.
The mint is dry, ready for a storage jar. The dill is soft and floppy, just wilted, no more than that.
The dill had no aroma or flavor anyway so it's in the garbage.