Food Dehydration: Food Storage You Can Do at Home!
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Food dehydration is a process that allows for moisture removal from a food product, halting the microbial growth that causes spoilage. If properly done, food dehydration makes for a long shelf life of the finished product, even after the sealed package has been opened.
Vegetable Dehydration Vegetables have low acidic content and are not suitable for sun dehydration or solar dehydration. Use only fresh, firm vegetables. As with meat and fruits, you will need to slice them uniformly for even drying. Blanching Most vegetables need to be blanched prior to food dehydration. Blanching not only kills many spoilage-causing bacteria, but it also shortens the dehydration time. Although water blanching is easier than steam blanching, there is more nutrient loss when doing the former. After blanching, you will need to soak the vegetables in cold water until they are just somewhat hot. Shake the excess water from the vegetables, and place them in a single layer on the dehydration rack. Onions, mushrooms, and peppers do not need blanching. Beets likewise do not need blanching, as you will need to cook them first. The Mushroom Caution Be careful about mushrooms. Only an expert can determine whether or not they are poisonous. Dehydrating mushrooms will not remove the toxins from them. Dehydrated Vegetables Depending on the vegetable and the dehydrator, it will take somewhere between three to ten hours to dehydrate them until 90% dry. They will be crisp, and some will actually shatter when hammered. Like dried fruits, dried vegetables need to be soaked in water to be reconstituted. Place the soaking vegetables in the refrigerator. Most vegetables would take two hours to get reconstituted. Some Things to Remember
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