Drying Food: A Simple, Space-Saving Method of Food Preservation

Enlarge Image Image Gallery "Modern Homestead" is a guide to homesteading in the city, whether on a windowsill or in a backyard. Author Renee Wilkinson walks readers through how to grow their own food, preseve the harvest, raise small livestock and even make their own cleaning and beauty products. Photo Courtesy Fulcrum

The following is an excerpt from Modern Homestead: Grow, Raise, Create by Renee Wilkinson (Fulcrum, 2011). The excerpt is from Chapter 4: Preserving the Harvest.

Drying foods is a simple and space-saving way to preserve the harvest. Things like dried berries and fruit can be delicious, healthy snacks to get you through the winter months. Dried vegetables can add a punch of flavor when cooked into stews, soups, and casseroles. Although not as sexy as a jar of jam, dried foods tend to retain more of their nutritional content than canning.

As a preservation method, the drying process removes 80 to 90 percent of the moisture in food. This creates an uninhabitable environment for food spoilers like bacteria, yeast, and molds. When done properly, dried foods can last anywhere from six months to a couple years. Roughly four pounds of fresh produce will dry down to about one pound—lightweight and taking up little space in the cupboard. If you live in a tiny apartment or condo, drying the harvest may be an excellent option with your digs in mind.

The key to properly dried foods is air circulation and warm temperatures. Air needs to reach under, over, and into the sides of the foods you are drying. The ideal drying process does several things: air circulates evenly, hot temperatures are slow and steady for evaporation, and food is protected from insects and pollutants. Maintaining the perfect temperature is often the trickiest aspect of drying to control.

If the temperature is too low, it will take forever to dry the food or they may not dry out at all. You also run the risk of encouraging bacteria to multiply, which is bad, bad news. The drying temperature needs to stay above 95 degrees Fahrenheit to prevent this from happening.

If the temperature is too high, you will end up cooking the food instead of drying it. The outside cooks and creates a hard outer shell, trapping moisture inside the food, which is called case hardening. The trapped moisture will eventually cause spoilage. The hot temperature may have also killed off valuable nutrients and vitamins. You will want to keep the temperature below 140 degrees Fahrenheit to avoid cooking your beloved produce.

Methods

Food is typically dehydrated using one of the following methods: dry air and hot sun, the oven, or a food dehydrator. Of these methods listed, the food dehydrator offers the most control over the drying process in terms of air circulation, protection from unwanted particles and bugs, and keeping a steady, proper temperature throughout the process.