Recipes and uses of a dehydrator

[Jerky Meister]

Im working on an hour long 1 1/2hour talk on the use's of a dehydrator, so i can do demo's at shows and help cut the cost of pitch fee's lol , whats the sort of thing people would wanna know ? i know what interests me ,jerky n biltong, but others might be interested in veggie stuff, meals and as i have been using em for years in my business i forget what others might want to know (ello to everyone i met atWG lasy year lol ) so if anyone has any suggestions to put into a talk i'd really appreciate it , sitting here with a JD hangover and trying to think is getting me nowhere

 

[Toddy]

Someone must have worked out the nutrient values of dried foods, that'd be interesting.

The way that sauces can be dried and re-hydrated; storage and recipes.

Personally, I'm munching my way through three punnets of pears, dried, in about a fortnight these days and I'm losing weight So they're obviously good for me
HWMBLT seems to find the dried apple rings irresistable; he's managing a couple of kilos a week

atb,
Toddy

 

[kram245]

Jerky meister, one thing i came across the other day is cooking pasta or rice etc, then de-hydrating. When you come to cook it again it only takes half the cooking time. More geared towards backpacking, so you use less fuel. I think there would be quite a lot of interest in dehydrating, as compared to the States, its not widely known about in the UK.

 

[richardnhunt]

Way off topic but I'm thinking about one of these - anyone care to point me in the right direction?

cheers

 

[Jerky Meister]

depends what you want it for really, i use 6 Excalibur 9 tray dehydrators, they have temp dial and you can get alot in one but they are quite expensive though, or there are some you can get for about £50 on ebay and they are fine but slower or if you really want it on the cheap, an electric fan oven, set on the lowest heat possible with a chopstick in the door to keep it ajar owrks wonders as well lol, look on ebay.com not .co.uk and you will find hundreds and sometimes its worth the postage and getting an adapter cos there are some very good ones on there

 

[richardnhunt]

thanks for that

 

[Mikey P]

Way off topic but I'm thinking about one of these - anyone care to point me in the right direction?

cheers

Tchibo did a mail order one for about 30 quid but they seemed to run out of stock pretty quickly. There was a forum thread on these so it might be worth a look. I live in Germany normally and got mine there no problem - a lot of folks in the UK were disappointed as they ran out there quite quickly.

They are good for small loads but would clearly not be as good as some of the more expensive ones mentioned above. Fine for home use, though.

 

[Moonraker]

Way off topic but I'm thinking about one of these - anyone care to point me in the right direction?

cheers

This is the one a lot of people picked up on the forum as it is cheap and works well:

QVCK - Total Chef Food & Flower Dehydrator

There are more expensive options, just google 'dehydrators' on google.co.uk

For a home made option I found this info:

DESCRIPTION OF MY HOME-MADE DEHYDRATOR

And really free you can simply put stuff out to dry on paper in a sunny window or hung up in a airy place with low humidity. All depends on location and material being dried.

It good fun whichever way you go

I second Toddy's request for nutritional info and how dehydrating effects nutrient and properties of the foodstuff being processed (potential loss of vitamins, antioxidants etc)

And also some better idea of typical methods of storage (convenient for carrying in the field for instance) after drying and an idea of safe shelf-life.

 

[Voivode]

And also some better idea of typical methods of storage (convenient for carrying in the field for instance) after drying and an idea of safe shelf-life.

I can field this one, from personal experience.

Field transport of dried goods involves ziploc bags for us. Even home storage is usually in big zipper bags, but I often put stuff in canning jars and screw the lids down tight. If you're looking to store them a long time, filling the jar with carbon dioxide (tip a candle into the top of the jar for a minute or two; the CO2 is heavier than air and will "fill" the jar, displacing the air). Into a cool, dark area (my cold room) and we lead into the second part...

Safe shelf life: I've eaten food I've dried myself 2-3 years previously with no ill effect. The general rule is that if it's properly dried, it will keep indefinitely but the official recommended shelf life is usually about a year. If any moisture is left behind, the food becomes a breeding ground for molds and fungi, which you can usually detect right away.

I have no direct sources to back me up on this one, but I'm certain that dehydrating food will degrade the quality of the food compared to fresh, but only very little is lost if performed properly. I'm also sure that it continues to lose quality over time as vitamins, proteins, etc denature and break down. Storage in an oxygen free, cool, dark area will retard that process but never halt it. Blame the second law of thermodynamics.

 

[grebo247365]

Anyone interested in drying meat should check out Biltongbox.com, its got lots of tips on making biltong and a biltong box design you can copy, Im making one at the moment.

 

[Moonraker]

I can field this one, from personal experience.

Field transport of dried goods involves ziploc bags for us. Even home storage is usually in big zipper bags, but I often put stuff in canning jars and screw the lids down tight. If you're looking to store them a long time, filling the jar with carbon dioxide (tip a candle into the top of the jar for a minute or two; the CO2 is heavier than air and will "fill" the jar, displacing the air). Into a cool, dark area (my cold room) and we lead into the second part...

Safe shelf life: I've eaten food I've dried myself 2-3 years previously with no ill effect. The general rule is that if it's properly dried, it will keep indefinitely but the official recommended shelf life is usually about a year. If any moisture is left behind, the food becomes a breeding ground for molds and fungi, which you can usually detect right away.

I have no direct sources to back me up on this one, but I'm certain that dehydrating food will degrade the quality of the food compared to fresh, but only very little is lost if performed properly. I'm also sure that it continues to lose quality over time as vitamins, proteins, etc denature and break down. Storage in an oxygen free, cool, dark area will retard that process but never halt it. Blame the second law of thermodynamics.

Thanks for the details I will look around for some further info on nutrient/ vitamin loss.

 

[British Red]

Grebo,

(the cat or the biker?)

Any chance of a few photos of the build process?

Red