Technorati Tags: advantages of dehydrating food, food drying basics

I came across an article that suggests how you might put a food dryer to use for tasks other than drying food. The terms of use for the article require that I not change a word in it. However, I want to point out that the author clearly has an agenda to get you thinking there’s something special about a particular brand of food dryer. Never mind that. The suggestions for how to use a food dryer are both creative and useful.

Please enjoy this article about practical uses for a food dehydrator:

Actually… when I published the article, Google immediately trashed the ranking of my Food Dryer blog. This has become a recurring problem for articles I’ve republished from article services. So… I’ve taken down the original article and have paraphrased it below. Because of this recurring problem, I will no longer publish the full text of previously-published articles in this blog.

I hope you’ll still visit; I’ll continue to post information about drying fruits, vegetables, and meats, and about the equipment available to help with these projects.

My Spin on 11 Ways to use a Food Dryer

An eZine articles piece describing 11 odd but practical uses for a food dryer offers… well, eleven suggestions for how you might use a food dryer. Please visit the original article for details. Here are the suggested uses:

1. DRY PASTA: When you make your own noodles, your dehydrator can dry them quickly.

2. MAKE INSTANT PASTA: Have you ever eaten Ramen noodles? They’re actually dehydrated cooked noodles. This explains why they cook so rapidly. If you dehydrate your own cooked noodles, they’ll rehydrate quickly in boiling hot water.

3. REFRESH CRACKERS: When crackers get soft or a bit stale, revive them with a stint in your food dryer.

4. HUMIDIFY: A food dryer pulls moisture from food, and blows it into the air. If your house is dry, you can add moisture to the air by dehydrating several plates of water.

5. MASK ODORS: Do you want to get that fishy or deep-frying odor out of your house? Run a few slices of orange, lime, lemon, or grapefruit in the dehydrator for several hours.

6. AROMATHERAPY: You can use your food dryer as an aroma therapy diffuser: use your favorite scented oils and herbs, place them in a small open container, and set it on a rack in the dehydrator for the duration of your aromatherapy treatment.

7. MAKE BREAD CRUMBS: It’s easier to make bread crumbs from old bread if you dry the bread thoroughly before grating it or processing it in a food processor. So, first leave the bread in your food dryer until it gets particularly arid..

8. MAKE POTPOURRI: The sky may be the limit on what you include in your own potpourri. Dry citrus peels, herbs, flower petals, and grasses, then mix them in your own blends.

9. MAKE FIRE STARTERS: Apparently, dried citrus peels contain enough oil that they burn very nicely. When you peel an orange, dry the peels thoroughly and add the finished product to your emergency survival kit.

10. SNACKS FOR YOUR PETS: Buy parts of animals that you’d never eat, such as ears, snouts, and feet. Process them in your food dryer, and they make terrific chew-treats for your dogs.

11. VEGETABLE AND FRUIT POWDER SEASONING: An Indian dish I particularly enjoy calls for mango powder, which isn’t available in stores where I live. I can buy whole mangos, slice them up, and dry them in my food dryer. Then I process them to powder in my food processor and I have mango powder. You can do this with any fruit or vegetable to create great seasonings you can’t buy in a grocery store’s spice section.

Technorati Tags: dehydrator, dehydrator projects, food dryer projects

If you are a chronic food dryer, you might not be aware: the industry seems to think that making jerky is a seasonal activity. Stange as it may seem, we’re just now coming into the jerky season. And, while a lot of food dryers as busy preserving fruits and vegetables for the coming winter, why not load up the dehydrator and crank out a few trays of delicious beef jerky as well?

I’ve lined up several jerky recipes for the coming months. This one is a bit exotic. I hope you enjoy it!

Hawaiian Beef Jerky

Delicious Hawaiian Beef Jerky Recipe

By Caleb Liu

When you think Hawaii, you may think of tropical. And when you think tropical, you think of pineapple. But that is just one of the many tastes associated with the Pacific Island state. Hawaii is really a melting pot of a state and a melting pot of cultures; much of their food has a blend of flavors.

When it comes to a beef jerky recipe with a Hawaiian flair, it’s no wonder then that there are a variety of flavors that will create a luau inside anyone’s mouth!

Below is a recipe for Hawaiian beef jerky. This recipe, as mentioned above contains several different flavor bursts. There is some ginger for spice. Some brown sugar for sweetness. Some pepper and Cayenne pepper for a little fire. Some soy sauce for saltiness. And we can’t forget that pineapple.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb lean meat, thinly sliced

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tsp ground ginger

• 1 tbsp brown sugar

• 1/4 tsp pepper

• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

• 1 crushed garlic clove

• 1/4 c pineapple juice

• 1/4 c soy sauce

Directions:

1. Slice meat in thin strips.

2. In a bowl, combine all ingredients of marinade and mix well.

3. Place meat 3-4 layers deep in a container, spooning sauce mixture over each layer.

4. Cover tightly and marinate 6-12 hours in the refrigerator, stirring occasionally.

5. Layout on trays, 24 to 36 hours in dehydrator (or follow directions for oven).

Now all you need is a grass skirt and some coconut milk!

REVIEW: Not sure if you can make your own?

Analei V. of Salem always wanted to go to Hawaii. At least she got a taste of Hawaiian beef jerky when she tried a piece of her friend’s Holston Mountain Hawaiian Beef Jerky. The website said that the jerky is sweeter than its other flavors. Analei agreed saying, “There was a real hint of pineapple, which was an interesting combination for beef. I am so used to pineapple being on ham. This was a unique jerky. I didn’t even know you could have fruity jerky! The piece of jerky was huge, too. I am used to thin sticks, but this was an enormous piece. A little hard to chew.” The Holston Mountain Hawaiian Jerky is available on their website in three sizes from $8-$21.

If you found this information on hawaiian beef jerky useful, you’ll want to read this article about beef jerky seasoning salt.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Caleb_Liu
http://EzineArticles.com/?Hawaiian-Beef-Jerky—Delicious-Hawaiian-Beef-Jerky-Recipe&id=554277

Technorati Tags: Beef jerky, dehydrator, making jerky

 

Today’s guest describes several ways to preserve chili peppers. The ideas are useful, but sometimes short on detail. For example, because he doesn’t have a food dryer, he glosses over using one to dry chilies. I’d encourage you to use your food dryer (if you have one) to dry cut-up sections of larger peppers, or to dry whole fruits of the smaller pepper varieties.

Of course, there are other alternatives as well. If you like pickles, try pickling your peppers. Or, make sweet pepper relish like the one described here: Red Pepper Relish from Your Home Kitchen Garden.

Great Tips For Preserving Chilies

Great Tips For Preserving Chilies

By Ric Wiley

There are several ways of preserving chilies and my favorite has to be drying, but more of that later.

The simplest way to preserve a chili is to freeze it. One of the major problems with this is that the chili then loses its eating quality. If you eat a raw chili, and be very careful here about the strength of any chili you eat, there is a crispy crunchy texture to the chili. If you defrost a chili and try this then you will find that this crispness has gone and the texture is soggy. This may not be a problem depending on what you intend to use the chili for. If it is to cook with then there are no drawbacks to freezing and I often just cut the stalk off the chilies and put them through a food processor to make a firm paste which I then freeze in ice cube trays. Once these are frozen I can put them in a bag and take out as many as I need to cook with.

Another way is to make some chili oil. There are many recipes on the internet for this and I suggest you try one of these but they all follow similar principles. Use top quality olive oil as the base, chop your chilies, add other ingredients and gently cook your ingredients in the oil. When finished allow to cool and strain the ingredients out. Bottle the chili oil. When I make this I only make small quantities as I have read that as the oil has had other ingredients added then bacteria could develop over time. I have seen it recommended that you should not keep home made chili oil more than about one month. Just remember that the more chilies you add the stronger the heat. I one tried adding some hot home made chili oil to a salad dressing. It ruined the salad so just think about what you are going to use it for.

As I have already mentioned, my favorite way of preserving chilies has to be drying and there are a few ways of doing this, some complicated, some easy. You can dry them overnight in an oven at a very low setting but I have never done this as it just seems too complicated. As easier way, (if you have one), is to use a food dryer and set this to the time recommended by your manufacturer. For those of you who do not have a food dryer, you simply space the food out on trays and switch it on. It dehumidifies the food and removes the moisture, preserving it over time. Simple enough to use, but I do not have one and I do not fancy spending lots of money to buy one just to dry chilies.

A shopkeeper in an Asian supermarket I use once told me the best way to dry chilies is simply to wrap a bunch of chilies in newspaper, put it on the top of a cupboard and just leave them. I tried this but one of the chilies rotted and this spoiled several more. If you use this method check them regularly for chilies which are spoiling. Another method is to string the chilies and air dry. Do this by threading the chilies using a needle on to a strong thread and hanging in a warm room to dry.

Whilst both these methods work, I have also tried two more methods. One is to dry them in a muslin bag next to a radiator. This works very well but the chilies dry very fast and become hard, so hard in fact that you cannot easily cut them with a knife. This is fine if you want to grind the chilies into chili powder or flakes for cooking but they are not too good for eating.

My favorite method of drying chilies is to simply put them in a tray and dry them on a windowsill. This is near a radiator but this is not always on. The windowsill gets sun on it for about 5 hours a day, (when it is sunny). Every couple of days, I simply stir the chilies up with my fingers and this also allows me to spot any which are spoiling. I remove these. The chilies are finished when I feel they are dry enough but still feel leathery. At this stage I simply keep them in an old biscuit tin and use them as needed. One thing I do though is keep the green stalks on the end of the chilies as these help to draw the moisture out from the middle of the chili. I cut this off when using the dried chilies.

Whichever method you use just make sure that surfaces and any utensils you use are clean as you do not want to introduce any disease to your harvest. You can also start the drying process off by leaving the chilies on the plant and not watering but only do this at the end of the growing season when production of new chilies has stopped. By leaving the chilies on the plant they will start to dry out naturally. Just watch them for mold or rot though and harvest immediately this is spotted on any plant.

To find out how easy it is to grow your own chillies, harvest and preserve them, check out http://www.highdensitygardening.com/home.html

Ric Wiley is an internet writer and gardener. His latest website about High Density Gardening can be found at http://www.highdensitygardening.com/home.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ric_Wiley
http://EzineArticles.com/?Great-Tips-For-Preserving-Chilies&id=1393556

Technorati Tags: chili, chilies, dried chilies, drying chilies

Store-bought beef jerky comes in many varieties, and some are very tasty. However, jerky you make at home is likely to be far tastier than any you buy in a store. Today’s post explains how to make beef jerky and includes a recipe for a simple jerky marinade.

Making Beef Jerky at Home

Simple, Inexpensive, & Delicious!

By Warren Ransom

Beef jerky is nothing more than dried meat, a shelf stable and nutritious, tasty treat. As moisture is removed, flavors concentrate, and any additional seasonings added to the meat take on a life of their own. Making beef jerky at home is an incredibly simple process, and requires no special equipment. Beef jerky can be stored for long periods of time without going bad, and makes for a healthy, tasty snack any time. Most people think beef jerky is only found in hermetically sealed bags in the grocery store, however making jerky at home, out of any meat, is accomplished with just a few steps and may be tailored to any taste you prefer, from smoky, to sweet, to spicy.

Before modern food processing, man made jerky out of any available meat, with no more than the sun or a campfire. As long as the meat is lean and prepared properly, it can easily be made into jerky. These days, a person can better tailor the results to any taste preference, and making jerky at home is as easy as preparing the meat, marinating it and setting it out to dry. These days, jerky is surprisingly popular, and every grocery store seems to carry some. It can be found in convenience stores, and in some areas it is even sold by the side of the road. Store bough jerky can be an expensive item, however, and often the meat has been treated with additives. Also, any time you buy a prepared item at the store, you should expect to pay a premium over home made items. An easy way to keep costs down, and ensure your jerky is just the way you want it, is to make it yourself. Jerky is also an easy way to preserve game meat such as venison or elk, which many people may hunt and find themselves with an abundance of meat.

Making jerky at home is easy. There are a few simple rules of which you should be aware to ensure both a safe and tasty product.

Most importantly, the meat should be lean. Fatty meat will go rancid and will not dry properly. Fat in the meat will result in a subpar product that won’t last very long out of the refrigerator (or even in it). Commonly, beef is used for jerky, in which case the best cuts to use are flank steak or round steak. Various game meats such as buffalo, elk, venison, caribou, and many others can also be used as long as lean cuts are chosen.

Some people swear by a dehydrator, which is a multi-tasker than can be used for much more than just drying meat. While a dehydrator can make excellent jerky, it is by no means necessary and an oven will easily suffice. A smoker can also make excellent jerky, while imparting a stronger smoky taste, which many people appreciate. Sun drying is possible, but risky if proper safety measures are not taken, and can also take a much longer time to dry your meat effectively.

The easiest way to prepare the meat is by freezing it to the point of firmness but while it is not yet fully frozen. Cut the meat into strips no more than a quarter of an inch thick, half to three quarters of an inch wide, and six to eight inches long for the perfect working size. You should cut the meat across the grain to ensure a proper finished texture, and again, make sure than all visible fat and gristle has been removed.

Seasonings are multiple and varied. In the olden days, beef was merely treated with salt and pepper and dried, which actually results in quite a satisfying end product. Meat is more commonly marinated these days, however, but there are still many dry rubs and other methods used that can make great beef jerky. Some folks engage in what is called a ‘quick cook’ method to start the process, whereby the meat strips are dropped in a pot of boiling water for a minute or two, which may kill any bacteria that may be on the meat and prepares the meat for a dry rub. While this is one method, often simply marinating the meat for a period of time results in more depth of flavor and is just as safe; however both choices produce tasty beef jerky.

Making Beef Jerky

Most dehydrators will come with instructions for drying jerky, and they usually vary from machine to machine. For most people, the oven is a convenient way of making jerky at home, and is simple and readily available. For this, you will need a wire rack for the meat to dry on and a cookie sheet or low pan underneath to catch the drippings. Generally speaking, set your oven to 140 degrees and let it get to temperature. Prepare and marinate the meat according to your instructions (a great, simple beef jerky recipe will follow this article). Place the strips of meat on the wire rack and place in the oven above the sheet or pan and leave the door of the oven open a crack. The beef jerky should be ready in six to eight hours, and you will know when it is done when it has turned very dark, and when it is bent, it will slightly crack but not break.

If you happen to have a smoker, this is a good option as well since the additional smoke flavor from the smoker will enhance the taste of the jerky in a way that liquid smoke just can’t. Only a small handful of coals should be fine or eight bricks of charcoal if you don’t have any wood handy. Remember to keep the heat down to about 140 degrees as you are not trying to cook the beef, just dry it out. You may have to add some coals as time goes on, as it should take six to eight hours for the beef jerky to be ready.

Storing your jerky

When your jerky has dried, let it cool completely before removing from the rack. Then place it in zip-lock bags or air tight jars. It will keep many weeks in the refrigerator, and will last years in the freezer. Just grab a piece for an anytime snack, or put it in a pocket or bag for an on-the-go treat. Beef jerky is simple and inexpensive to make at home, and a highly nutritious treat for anyone, anywhere.

Easy Basic Beef Jerky Marinade:

1 1/2 lb Lean Boneless Beef
1/4 Cup Soy Sauce
1 ts Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 ts Onion Powder
1/4 ts Ground Black Pepper
1/4 ts Garlic Powder
1/4 ts Liquid Smoke
Vegetable oil cooking spray for rack

In a medium-size glass, stoneware, plastic or stainless steel bowl, combine soy sauce, Worcestershire, onion powder, pepper, garlic powder, and liquid smoke. Stir to dissolve seasonings. Add meat and mix until all surfaces are thoroughly coated. Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or until next day, stirring occasionally; recover tightly after stirring. Dehydrate according to instructions above.

If you are looking for beef jerky recipes, jerky making tips, and easy how-to instructions, The Jerky FAQ at http://www.jerkyfaq.com is a complete guide to making jerky at home, or finding beef jerky online.

Warren Ransom is a personal chef and manages a number of websites devoted to food and dining.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Warren_Ransom
http://EzineArticles.com/?Making-Beef-Jerky-at-Home—Simple,-Inexpensive,-and-Delicious!&id=1407414

Technorati Tags: Beef jerky, dehydrator, food dryer, jerky, making jerky

While the embeded video in this post lacks some detail, it gives you a decent overview of equipment that seriously simplifies your life if you like to make jerky. The deli-style meat slicer lets you cut thin slices that dry quickly. Thin slices also make more chewable jerky.

Note near the end of the video the cabinet-style food dryer. It consists of a chamber that holds removable trays. This design sets a specific limit on how many trays you can process in one drying.

How Cheryl Merrill Makes Jerky

From meat cutting to marinade, I show you how I make beef jerky. A long-term food storage strategy of mine, after drying the meat in

Duration : 0:4:3

Read more…

Technorati Tags: Beef jerky, dehydrator, excaliber dehydrator, food storage, meat storage

I’m not a fan of mushrooms, but like them or not, this video provides a great look at a food dryer in action. All popular convection food dryers use systems of perforated drying trays – some are round as these are, others are rectangular. You can apply the methods shown in this video to many vegetables and fruits as well.

Dried Mushroom Chips

These are plain white mushroom chips made in a food dehydrator. They are great as a snack as is, or can be used in other recipes

Duration : 0:4:47

Read more…

Technorati Tags: chips, dehydrator, dryed food, mushroom, mushrooms

A guest post offers two recipes for turkey jerky. Make these in your oven, or use a dedicated food dryer. Whichever you use, you’re bound to like the end-product:

Turkey Jerky Recipes

By Kim Roach

Turkey Jerky is a great low carb snack for those who are looking to lose weight. It’s a very high protein recipe that can be eaten on-the-go. Best of all, it also tastes great. To stay on a healthy program, you must enjoy your food. Turkey jerky helps you do that.

Turkey jerky is also packed with amino acids, tryptophan, selenium, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B6, and phosphorus.

These important nutrients help protect against cancer and provide cardiovascular protection. The B vitamins are important for energy production.

Here are some great turkey jerky recipes to get you started:

Turkey Jerky

Ingredients:

1 lb turkey breast, sliced thin
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. liquid smoke
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
10 dashes of Tabasco sauce
1-1/2 tsp. hickory seasoning liquid
1 Tbsp onion salt.

Directions:

Once you have all of your ingredients laid out, mix them all together in a marinade dish. Marinate for 8-24 hours, depending upon how flavorful you want it.

Take the chicken strips out of the marinade. Place the turkey strips in a dehydrator or on sheets for the oven. Dehydrate until the jerky is tough/crisp. The time will vary based on the method you use for dehydration.

However, it usually takes around 12-35 hours.

Add extra Tabasco for a more spicy flavor.

Here’s another turkey jerky recipe you may like as well.

Tomato Turkey Jerky

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey
2 Tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp. brewer’s yeast
1 tsp. garlic powder

Directions:

Preheat the over to 120 degrees (or lowest setting). You can also use a dehydrator if you have one available.

Combine all of the ingredients and mix well. Line a jelly roll pan with foil and spread the meat mixture on it. Flatten the mixture to about 1/4 inch thick using your hands.

Place the meat mixture in the oven and prop the oven door open a crack so that the moisture can escape. (or follow the directions on your food dehydrator)

Bake for about 2 hours or until the meat is quite dry. Remove the meat from the oven and place another sheet of foil over it.

Grasp both sheets of foil and flip the meat over and peel of the foil from the now top. Place the meat back in the oven with the door propped open and bake for another 1-2 hours.

Meat should be red and crispy when finished.

These two turkey jerky recipes are both low in fat and low in carbs. They are perfect for anyone looking to stay in great shape.

Kim Roach is the fitness reporter at HealthyEveryDay.com, where you will find more healthy recipes and nutrition articles.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kim_Roach
http://EzineArticles.com/?Turkey-Jerky-Recipes&id=430468

Technorati Tags: jerky, turkey jerky

A few useful tidbits in the form of questions and answers. If you’re just getting started with a food dryer, check out the comments:

I have just gotten a food dehydrator, but it has no instruction book with it. How do I use it? Would like to do apples, peaches, fruit leather, etc., but don’t know how long to leave them drying for? This is an old model, so has no dials of any type. Just plug in and do it’s thing. Need any advice you can give!

This exchange provides a lot of useful information for anyone getting started with a food dryer; there are some excellent insights in the comments:

I picked up a food dehydrator in perfect condition at a second hand store and it didn’t have a manual. I have never used one befor and I was going to wash it up to make apple and bannana chips but there are different vents at the top with the numbers one through four on it and I don’t know if I need to worry about them or not. Also I was wondering about how long it takes to do each fruit.