Sterilising water in cooking rehydrated food?

[CraftyWild]

I'm wondering about putting my dehydrated food into water collected in the wild (and filtered) while its all still cold, then heating it to a boil together and simmering. I figure this will reduce the simmering time of some of the cheaper supermarket packets of pasta or rice that indicate a ten-minute simmer, and therefore reduce the fuel use (ethanol), because the food will have a chance to rehydrate and begin to cook while it all heats up. What I'm slightly concerned about is whether this will kill all the pathogens in the water. It seems likely, but I thought I'd get other opinions before going down with something unpleasant. What'd'ya reckon?

 

[Mesquite]

It depends on what type of filter you use.

With some filters you can drink the water straight after filtering, some like a Millbank filter it's recommended additional treatment is needed before drinking.

If yours is the former type of filter then you should be fine.

 

[Jared]

If you have a water purifier, the water is likely good. If just a filter then might need further treatment.

Here's a table of the temperature & duration required to kill off various pathogens.

https://www.wemjournal.org/action/showFullTableHTML?isHtml=true&tableId=t0005&pii=S1080-6032%2819%2930116-4

Taken from https://www.wemjournal.org/article/S1080-6032(19)30116-4/fulltext

We use boiling as it's the easiest way to know you are around 100C. But can get/make WAter Pasteurization Indicators (WAPI). Here's one

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sunflair-Water-Pasteurization-Indicator-WAPI/dp/B00F7104EY

You hang that in the water, green end at the top. It's a green wax that'll melt at ~65C and drop to the bottom, indicating the water is pasteurized.

Water pasteurization

Contrary to common belief, biologically-contaminated water does not need to be boiled to make it safe to drink; it only needs to be brought to a temperature that is sufficient to kill all disease-causing organisms. This is known as water pasteurization. Because the pasteurization temperature is...

solarcooking.fandom.com

 

[CraftyWild]

Thanks Mesquite and Jared, that's put my mind at rest. I should have said the filtering I do is through activated charcoal to remove some of the organic compounds that might be there from farm run-off etc., and physical crud, so it's not sterilizing. But the links you posted, Jared, show that this method of mixing dehydrated food with cold water and then heating it to simmer should be completely safe, as many organisms will be killed from 50 Celcius onward, and even a few minutes at a simmer should finish off the rest.

I had heard this before, that water doesn't need to be boiled to sterilise it, but loads of other people, even longstanding pro wild-campers with a military background, keep saying to do a rolling boil for a minute or more. I guess the myth is at least erring on the safe side.