Today I'm drying potatoes.
At this moment, my dehydrator is working away to dry the sliced potatoes I loaded into it this morning. After submitting them first to Fruit Fresh to keep them from oxidizing and browning, then a steam blanch for eight minutes, followed by a dip into honeyed water - another treatment to prevent darkening, I laid them in single layers on the trays of my dehydrator. Fortunately, most foods I dehydrate don't require this much preparation for dehydration!
My dehydrator holds about five medium-sized potatoes worth. Most often I'm drying a variety of different vegetables (or fruits) simultaneously, but having acquired five potatoes, I decided to dehydrate all of them.
I dehydrate in my balcony's storage closet. Although not noisy, the dehydrator is out of the way while it operates.
My dehydrator is about 15 years old and gets fairly regular usage. It's not one of the most expensive on the market, but it is one of the simplest to use and I've always gotten good results from it.
My dehydrator is a Nesco American Harvest. Although there are recipes for making jerky and fruit leathers, I've only ever used it to dry fruits and vegetables. It has four trays and a ribbed base for laying out the items to be dehydrated. I bought mine at Ace Hardware and they can be ordered on line. Nesco makes a variety of dehydrator types. My model is the least expensive - $36.00 - at Home Depot.
Dehydrated foods are compact so you can store quite a bit in a small space. Studies have shown that there's a little nutrition loss when foods are dehydrated...Vitamin C particularly. Dehydrated foods are rather pricey, so home drying is the frugal option.
I add dried foods to recipes, especially if I've run short of the fresh versions such as, onions, garlic, tomatoes, celery, leeks, and mushrooms. However, I dry just about everything!
This delicious soup is made entirely of dried veggies and minute-style rice. The veggies were re-hydrated, sauteed in a little butter and simmered in a reconstituted beef stock.
I don't use the dehydrator for mushrooms. These I simply slice or quarter - the stems are diced and used in sauce and gravy mixes. Mushrooms are air dried on a tray lined with waxed paper, parchment paper, or a paper towel. They dry in a few days out of the way on top of the fridge. They, and most of the items I dry, are stored in Ziploc baggies and labeled. Greens, such as kale, cabbage, and collards are better stored in jars because they crumble easily.
Dried potatoes are stored in paper bags because if they are not absolutely dried, the whole batch will mold. They can look and feel dry but the slightest amount of moisture and the batch is ruined.
Most fruit will be leathery and flexible when dehydrated because of their natural sugars. Vegetables are firm and crisp.
Foraged wild plums seeded and ready to dehydrate.
There are many great books that will guide you through the process of drying foods. And there are a variety of methods and dryers to choose from. You can even dry some foods in your oven!
The book on the right is the one that came with my dehydrator. For years it was the only one I used. A few years ago I purchased the Teresa Marrone book, "Dried Foods" which has a greater selection of fruits and vegetables one can dry.
The Teresa Marrone book also has tasty recipes for using your dried foods, such as baby foods, gift and camping mixes, sauce recipes, and more. The Nesco booklet also tells how to use your dried foods in recipes and has some fun projects for using home dried herbs in crafts, potpourri's, and making tasty chips and snacks.
My method of operation has always been to dry some of the foods I grew. When I lived in my Folk Victorian cottage/farmhouse I grew nearly everything I ate, and my dehydrator was used often, along with freezing - I had a large chest freezer - and my home canning stored in a large walk-in pantry.
Now, living in a condo, my dehydrator is my main food storage strategy with a bit of freezing - what my fridge's narrow freezer will hold. I don't have a pantry, so I've co-opted the narrow linen closet in the hallway near the bathroom to serve as my pantry. I now store towels in a basket in the bathroom and sheets on my closet shelf so I can claim the luxury of having a "pantry". Dehydration allows me to store a lot of foods in not much space. If the electric goes out I don't lose all my food storage.
I can no longer grow much in the way of food due to lack of a garden, but do use the portion along my balcony railing to grow a few edibles. I get about six hours of sun a day in the Summertime and I can grow a few crops such as lettuce, scallions, herbs, spinach, lettuce, arugula, some types of tomatoes - those that need less sun such as cherry tomatoes and yellow tomatoes - and surprisingly I can grow pole beans in pots! While my balcony harvests are limited, some of what I produce goes into the dehydrater.
Pole beans along with Grandpa Ott morning glories, grown in a pot on a bamboo tepee on my balcony last year.
My dehydration strategy is to dry some of whatever I purchase, forage, or grow. If I buy a small bag of potatoes, I'll get a second one for dehydration. However, I usually only buy two or three at a time for fairly immediate consumption and then buy double that amount so there'll be some to dehydrate.
balcony-grown fresh pole and bush beans.
This method has served me well over the years and I highly recommend it.
Dehydrated foods are now my main tactic for food security, especially at a time when the availability of goods is, or could get a bit iffy, depending on how this viral contagion goes.
The health experts are predicting that even if we get a handle on this present outbreak of Covid-19, they expect we'll have another resurgence this Fall. This is a good time to implement plans to add to your food security - not by hoarding - but buying a couple extra items of canned goods, foods to dehydrate, dry goods like beans, pasta, rice, and toilet paper. Most market presently limit purchases to two of any one item. Consider and plan for what you'll do if our water supply becomes compromised. Make a plan!
What if the folk who insure our safe water supply become ill?
What if the supply becomes contaminated?
Just in case, you might want to start saving plastic and glass containers over one quart capacity. Even wax milk cartons can work in the short term.
I mentioned above that it's possible to use your oven to dehydrate foods. In my next post, I'll show you how to do this. In the meantime, acquiring a dehydrator will be more economical, efficient, and better designed for dehydration than your oven. Still, it's best to start where you can with what you can - right now! - until you acquire the better option.
Stay well. Stay safe! Keep others safe by following all the guidelines!
Dehydrated potatoes from a previous batch.
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Whatever space you have available may be turned over to food production. It may not yield a lot, but it will be so tasty. Planting "seeds of hope" for a brighter, tastier future uplifts my spirits!
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