I’ve been dehydrating veggies and fruits. The apples come out bendable (is that a word?) but not moist. Does anyone know if these keep for a long time? I intend to mail these to myself. Although I have a support group at base camp that can mail my food, they drew the line with dehydrating fresh fruit for me half way through. So the question is whether the fruit that I dry in February will keep all the way until summer?
Thanks!
gumwood
All dehydrated foods will go bad over time. Dehydrating means you are taking part of the moisture out of the food (part, not all) so that it will keep longer and not rot.
Foods that have moisture in them will give off moisture to their surrounding especially in cooler weather. For example, lay and orange on a table in the winter in a cool room of your home and watch it go from the size of a baseball or larger to the size of a golf ball. It shrinks big time within several weeks as it gives off its moisture to the surrounding air.
By the same token, dehydrated foods will absorb moisture from the surrounding air and go bad over time. There are several things you can do to help them keep longer (1) freeze them (2) vaccum pack them and (3) both.
I’d do both, stuff them in a freezer and have them pull them out and mail them to you whenever you want.
You can do this with any dehydrated food. Even beef jerky will go to the bad over time as it absorbs moisture from the air, etc.
Hope this helps. Might do a search for this on the WWW also for some additional info. Also some others may have some info.
BTW all dehydrated fruits tend to come out as you’ve described. You can buy them at some super markets and compare your product to theirs.
See you out there. :cheers
Maintain
you can also add Fruit Fresh (Found in canning isle with Ball and Kerr jars , also with pickling items at grocery stores)…i think it is absorbic acid…wrong spelling i am sure, but it keeps it fresh
burn
GW, run your you slices thru a wash of lemon juice first. This will coat them with acid and retard any bacterial growth. they’ll last for darn near ever. Bottled juice is fine. Slice to 1/4", wash and lay out on the trays. When dry,let cool to room temp before bagging, keeps the crunchier. If you wanna vacuum pack in bags line the bag with a paper towel or when the air is sucked out the pieces and puncture the bags. Store in a dark cupboard until pack time.
Chips we made months in advance were fine. Also works great for half peach chewies; Get nice big juicy fresh and full ripe ones. Wash, slice in half, you can smash sort of flat if they’re very thick with the heal of your hand or turn them inside out a bit, lemon wash and lay on the trays. Sprinkle a bit of sugar on the cut sides, dry a little slower the normal, like 125* until leathery. :cheers
Bushwhack
bendable is good. you dont want them too crunchy or they tend to hurt when being swallowed or you end up drinking a liter of water trying to chew a few slices. i seal my stuff with a food sealer. i have apples ive soaked in some acidulated water (water and lemon juice); sprinkled with cinnamon; dehydrated; and then vaccummed sealed that i sealed 2 years ago and are still good. (you can tell my the sniff test and the package test). if u seal them in a vaccuum sealer; the only way they will puff is if they get moldy. the mold produces gas and the package puffs sligtly. plus; u can see the mold. plus; when u open them; give em a sniff. if they smell yummy; they are. if not; they will smell bad. throw them away.
beef jerky keeps years if made; dried; and vaccuum sealed. my dehydrator and vaccuum sealer are my 2 best at home hiking investments. less than 200 $ for the set.
Big Boy
You (all) are so helpful. Thank you. I actually went out and bought a vacuum sealer today and found that there was another dehydrator on sale at Walmart (of all places) for $15. Can you believe?
See you on the trail in 04.
gumwood