Jeanette Hurt - The Complete Idiots Guide to Dehydrating Foods

Dehydrating
Foods

by Jeanette Hurt

A member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

This book is dedicated to Yvonne Miller, Jim Scotton, Richard Leonard, Marie Starsiak, Elsie Stiffler, Sheila Webb, and all the writing and journalism mentors who told me I could write. Its also dedicated to Mr. Bill Picha, super math teacher.

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ISBN: 978-1-61564-376-9
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2012951746

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An ancient art. A traditional method. A trendy practice. Dehydrating foods encompasses all three, but for me, drying foods is simply a delicious culinary technique for both cooking and preserving foods.

As a food writer and recipe developer, Ive always been open to trying and using new techniques. But I got into food dehydration almost accidentally. Two of my neighbors have been drying enthusiasts for years, but I wasnt initially interested. Why dry food yourself when you can buy it dried? Although I preserved my own salsa, made my own soup stocks, and hadnt purchased a boxed cake recipe in more than a decade, I didnt understand what the dehydrating fuss was all about. That is, until I was gifted with a secondhand dehydrator.

The boyfriend of a dear friend left his food dehydrator at her house after they broke up. Several months later, my friend discovered the dehydrator, and because he didnt want it, she offered it to me. So I said, why not?

After cleaning the dehydrator, I began to tentatively experiment, first drying dill from my garden and savory from my neighbors garden and then drying mushrooms from the mushroom farmer at a local farmers market. Slowly, apple by apple, berry by berry, I began branching out into homemade raisins, fruit leathers, and more.

Home-dehydrated pineapple sealed the deal for me. Succulent and tart, my home-dried treats tasted so much fresher and sweeter than the sugar-coated store-bought versions, and my son and I finished the whole batch the morning they came out of the dehydrator. I learned that home-dried foods taste so much better than anything you can get from a grocery store, and Ive also found that drying foods myself not only saves me money, but also helps me prevent kitchen waste.

Home food dehydration is exciting, and for me, its opened a whole new culinary avenue to explore, from crafting my own fruit leathers to making fresh yogurt to experimenting with raw food recipes. Theres something so satisfying about doing it myself, using my own palate, to make snacks, crackers, and even soup mixes. Each bite just tastes more perfect than the last.

I hope youll discover the same sense of excitement and enjoyment as you learn to make dehydrated foods. The Complete Idiots Guide to Dehydrating Foods will have you drying your own strawberries, making your own fruit leathers, and even marinating your own beef jerkies. By the end of this book, youll be drying like a pro. Happy dehydrating!

How This Book Is Organized

Ive organized this book into three parts:

, The Basics of Dehydrating Foods, introduces you to the history and economic benefits of drying foods and also shows you how to equip your kitchen, shop for ingredients, and stay safe during food prep. It also teaches you some proper techniques to make drying foods a breeze, and it gives you the tools to make all the recipes in this book.