Preserving Nature's Bounty

Granola girl says:

In many parts of the country, this is harvest time and the bounty is plentiful. I never pass up reasonably-priced, organic vegetables when I see them, but I can’t always use them when they’re available.

So, I haul out my dehydrator. Keep in mind, you can dehydrate food in the oven, but if you don’t have a lot, it’s not very energy efficient. If you do have a lot, you have to figure out a way to stack things and take advantage of all the space. You can have things as close as an inch apart. I use a dehydrator.

Be sure to cut your fruit or vegetables into uniform pieces. Drying times vary greatly, and you really have to use the trial and error method based on your oven or dehydrator. This fact makes it a good idea to dry things of similar size and density at the same time. You can plan on at least four hours of drying, and probably more.

Things I like to dehydrate include: tomatoes, bananas, green beans, apples, peaches, peas, soybeans, spinach, green peppers, herbs, and squash. I do not recommend drying potatoes. Berries are hard to dry also. While beefsteak or large tomatoes don’t dry to my satisfaction, cherry and grape tomatoes work really well. Cut them in half or smaller and dry for several hours and you have “sun” dried tomatoes. Yummy.

Preparation

Blanching. Many vegetables should be blanched before drying, in fact, I’d blanch everything other than mushrooms and onions.

Lemon Juice. Peaches, apples and bananas should be cut in slices and then dipped in lemon juice before drying. This will keep them from browning.

Storage.Be sure food is completely dry before storing. Store dried food in air tight containers.

Learn more:

• www.extension.uiuc.edu/

Previously from Granola girl:

• Natural bug repellent
• Weeds you can feed on
• Make your own Body Butter
• Natural Cleaners