Having be
en the leader in food dehydration for over 30 years, Nesco/American Harvest is considered to have the best food dehydrators in the world. Nesco/American Harvest Food Dehydrator processes fruits, vegetables and jerky for times of need, like the times we are experiencing this winter with some severe snow and ice storms. Without a doubt the Nesco/American Harvest food dehydrator is always there for you.
A food dehydrator will take the worry out of being house bound during blizzards, ice storms, hurricanes, etc .and facing the dilemma of finding the shelves in your grocery store bare. You will always have vegetables, fruits and meat to create wonderful soups and stews or delicious desserts, just to mention a few.
A food dehydrator can save you money. If you are a gardener, here the perfect way to utilize your crops for future use. Or if your local store is running a sale on produce you can buy at a lower price and dehydrate for later use at a savings! Fruits are very tasty when dehydrated as well. I especially like apples, strawberries and pineapple. With the fruits you can also make fruit leathers, which most children love.
Below is a list of drying information for various vegetables and fruits:
Vegetables:
- Beans, green:Stem and break beans into 1-inch pieces.Blanch. Dry 6-12 hours until brittle.
- Beets: Cook and peel beets. Cut into 1/4-inch pieces. Dry 3-10 hours until leathery.
- Broccoli: Cut and dry 4-10 hours.
- Carrots: Peel, slice or shred. Dry 6-12 hours until almost brittle.
- Cauliflower: Cut and dry 6-14 hours.
- Corn:Cut corn off cob after blanching and dry 6-12 hours until brittle.
- Mushrooms: Brush off, don’t wash. Dry at 90 degrees for 3 hours, and then 125 degrees for the remaining drying time. Dry 4-10 hours until brittle.
- Onions: Slice 1/4-inch thick. Dry 6-12 hours until crisp.
- Peas: Dry 5-14 hours until brittle.
- Peppers, sweet: Remove seeds and chop. Dry 5-12 hours until leathery.
- Potatoes: Slice 1/8-inch thick. Dry 6-12 hours until crisp.
- Tomatoes: Dip in boiling water to loosen skins, peel,slice or quarter. Dry 6-12 hours until crisp.
- Zucchini: Slice 1/8-inch thick and dry 5-10 hours until brittle.
Fruits:
- Apples:Peel, core and slice into 3/8-inch rings, or cut into 1/4-inch slices. Pretreat and dry 6-12 hours until pliable.
- Apricots: Cut in half and turn inside out to dry. Pretreat and dry 8-20 hours until pliable.
- Bananas: Peel, cut into 1/4-inch slices and pretreat. Dry 8-16 hours until plialbe or almost crisp.
- Blueberries: Dry 10-20 hours until leathery.
- Cherries: Cut in half and dry 18-26 hours until leathery and slightly sticky.
- Peaches: Peel,halve or quarter. Pretreat and dry 6-20 hours until pliable.
- Pears: Peel, cut into 1/4-inch slices, and pretreat. Dry 6-20 hours until leathery.
- Pineapple: Core and slice 1/4-inch thick. Dry 6-16 hours until leathery and not sticky.
- Strawberries: Halve or cut into 1/4-inch thick slices. Dry 6-16 hours until pliable and almost crisp.
You can pre-treat your fruit with lemon juice or ascorbic acid so it won’t darken while you are preparing it for drying. Just slice the fruit into the solution and soak for 5 minutes.
Dried fruits can also be used to make beautiful wreaths and swags for gifts combined with cinnamon sticks and bay leaves. These last for years and you can refresh their fragrance with a spritz of cinnamon oil.
Here is how you would prepare your fruits and vegetables for use in your recipes:
- Apples: Add 1 1/2 C. warm water to 1 C. apples and soak for 1/2 hour.
- Beans, green: Add 2 1/4 C. boiling water to 1 C. beans and soak for 1 1/2 hours.
- Beets: Add 2 3/4 C. boiling water to 1 C. beets and soak for 1 1/2 hours.
- Carrots: Add 2 1/4 C. boiling water to 1 C. carrots and soak for 1 hour.
- Corn: Add 2 1/4 C. boiling water to 1 C. Corn and soak for 1/2 hour.
- Onions: Add 2 C. boiling water to 1 C. onions and soak for 1 hour.
- Peaches: Add 2 C. warm water to 1 C. peaches and soak for 1 1/4 hour.
- Pears: Add 1 3/4 C. warm water to 1 C. pears and soak for 1 hour.
- Peas: Add 2 1/2 C. boiling water to 1 C. peas and soak for 1/2 hour.
- Potatoes: Add 1 1/2 C. boiling water to 1 C. potatoes and soak for 1/2 hour.
Many people enjoy meat jerky. Jerky does not store as long as fruits and vegetables. For storage longer than a month you will want to consider storage in the freezer or refrigerator. To aid in the curing of jerky, meat must be marinated in salt and spices. In days of old people used 1 1/2 cups pickling salt to 1 gallon of water and soaked the meat strips in this for a couple of days. Below are several marinade recipes for you to choose from. You will want to marinade the meat strips overnight.
Jerky Marinade No.1
- 1/4 C. Soy sauce
- 2 T. Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 t. pepper
- 1/2 t. garlic powder
- 1 t. liquid smoke
- 1 t. salt
Jerky Marinade No.2
- 4 t. salt
- 1 t. pepper
- 1 t. chili powder
- 1 t. garlic powder
- 1 t. liquid smoke
- 1/2 C. water
Jerky Marinade No.3
- 1 C. ketchup
- 1/2 C. vinegar
- 1/4 C Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 t. dry mustard
- 1 t. salt
- 1/2 t. pepper
In checking the shelf life of dehydrated fruits and vegetables most resources recommended one year. Be sure your items are stored in a dry environment.
If you are an avid camper, a dehydrator can help in the preparation of awesome trail mix!! There are many recipes and suggestions on the internet proving the Nesco/American Harvest FD-80 Square- Shaped Food Dehydrator Is always there for you. To learn more information about this dehydrator please click on this link:
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