When I do something preparedness related and it actually works out, I usually tell you all about it. So it is only fair that I tell you when I mess up.
A couple of months ago I had extra onions that needed to be used up. So I peeled and chopped them and filled six dehydrator trays. When the onions were completely dry, I shut the dehydrator off to let them cool before removing them from the trays.
And then I promptly forgot about them.
Until yesterday.
When I took the lid off the dehydrator in order to fill trays with orange slices, only to find myself staring at chopped onions!
The onions sat in the dehydrator for two whole months!
I checked the onions. They were still crisp. There was no mold. There were no creepy crawlers. I rehydrated some to see if they tasted OK. They did. So I packaged them up and put them away.
There are many websites and videos about dehydrating and storing dried foods. Some say mylar bags with oxygen absorbers is the best storage method. Others swear by vacuum sealing and still others use canning jars.
All of the above are good methods but are somewhat beyond my price range. So for the past 10 years or so, I have been putting my dried fruit and veggies into Ziploc freezer bags and storing the bags in cardboard banker's boxes. And there have been no quality issues at all.
If I had a rodent problem in my apartment or if creepy crawlers were a problem, I would have to use a more robust storage method. But in the 25 years I have lived in this building, I have seen no signs of either. And if the dried onions had sat in the dehydrator during the more humid summer months, there may have been a problem.
I am in no way suggesting that others use my storage methods. I am saying that in my opinion, possibly some of the newer ways of doing things aren't totally necessary. After all, the Native Americans of a century or more past, sun dried much of their food. They stored it mostly in clay pots or tightly woven baskets.
So I don't think I will obsess about the method of storage. I think I am just very thankful that I have dehydrated food to store for future use.
I was a vendor at a craft show years ago. One couple had dehydrated apples to sell. I bought a quart since I love dehydrated apples and they were certainly better than the sweets being offered. I ate from the quart bag throughout the day. I left them in my booth for the next day.
ReplyDeleteThe next day, I started eating from the bag again. In the afternoon, I was munching away when I happened to notice motion. The bag was teeming with fly larva. Tep--maggots.
I was in a position I did not want to spit out what was in my mouth. I swallowed hard, drank something, and went back to the booth.
The woman said they must not have heated them in the oven after getting them in from the yard. These had been sundried outdoors on a sheet!
Your dehydrated onions were a nice surprise.
Linda...I have never tried drying food of any kind in the sun for that very reason. I suppose that in a situation where electricity was unavailable, many would dry food as they did years ago. There must be a way to prevent what happened with your apples, but I haven't researched that so I just don't know.
DeleteYes, the onions were a surprise. I thought for sure they would be ruined, but they were just fine.
Old age makes us forget things, Vicki. It also makes us forget things...
ReplyDeleteI ran a small batch of persimmons through the dehydrator and they turned out great. It was getting late in the season and the birds had discovered the persimmon tree, so I decided to denude the tree and run a BIG batch through the dehydrator. Don't you know it; that's when the timer had its go-to-Jesus moment, which shut off the drier. I was able to MacGyver the thing back together enough to finish the load, but the finished product more resembled frozen hockey pucks than dried fruit. It is what it is. Failure is a part of the game.
Anyone who has one of those "commercial" dehydrators with the on/off switch and the timer; do yourself a favor and set the timer before turning on the machine. This will minimize arcing on the timer contacts. Better still, if you keep an eye on the drying and shut the machine off before the timer does, it will further minimize that arcing. Again, shut off the power switch before zeroing the timer.
What happened with mine is that the contacts had gotten charred from arcing. This caused them to get hot. This in turn caused the plastic that held the contacts in place to melt, causing the contacts to separate and shut the machine off. Once this happens you're dead in the water until you change out or repair the timer.
Oh; and for you folks who don't like persimmons because of that tongue-twisting effect; drying persimmons removes the tannin that causes this. Dried persimmons are DELICIOUS!
As for storage of dried produce, I use quart Mason jars vac'ed out with the Foodsaver most of the time. I like this method because it's see-through, reusable, and mouseproof. I've had no trouble reusing lids with this method. I'll also use Foodsaver bags, and, once in a while, the Mylar bags. I don't like them as much because I can't see inside them to check up on the product. I drop oxygen absorbers in whatever container I use. Indeed, our forebears didn't have the tech. We do, so I use it when I can.
Pete...I should be used to forgetfulness. Somewhere in my apartment are birthday cards for six grands. My kids will probably find them when they clean out my apartment after I die, but I have not seen them lo these 10 years!
DeleteThanks for talking about troubleshooting the kind of dehydrator you have. I am sure that information will be useful to someone else.
My dehydrators are the ones with round trays and they have just a thermostat and start and stop by plugging or unplugging. I keep it simple. I'm not very good at fixing things unless just a hammer is needed. :)
Everyone needs to use whatever storage method works for them. I likely would change my storage if I had any problems with it. As it is, space and cost are factors, so I stick with what works for me.
I have never eaten a persimmon and I bet you will now tell me that I have lived a life of being deprived. (insert grin here)
Nah, I won't say you're living deprived. Persimmons are one of those fruit you either like or don't like. If you eat one that isn't quit ripe, you'll never want to eat another one. At that point there's a lot of tannin in them and they'll twist your tongue and swell your lips! On the other hand, when they're ripe, they taste like honey! Unfortunately, most persimmons you see at the market were picked too early. I let the birds be the judge. When I see them start sampling the fruit on my tree, the fruit is ripe. Again, drying the persimmon rids it of the tannin even if it's not quite ripe yet.
DeleteVicki, you can't be perfect all of the time; just 99.9% of the time...lol.
ReplyDeleteCW...At this stage, I believe I would be happy with perfection 50% of the time. :)
DeleteHmm. I will file that data away. Then I will probably forget where I filed it.
ReplyDeleteThat is much the same as the super special hinge pin oil that we bought, used, and then put away for safekeeping, and still have not found.
John...It is reassuring to know that I am not the only one who puts things away for safekeeping, never to be seen again. :)
DeleteOn the other hand, the forgetfulness has its rewards. While cleaning out a cupboard I found a large bag of M&Ms and a box of Little Debbie Nutty Bars that I had stashed in the back of the cupboard. Life is good. :)
I would enjoy both the M&Ms and the nutty bars way more than I would enjoy finding the lost oil!
DeletePersimmons will be ripe or on the way to ripe after the first freeze. Buttermilk cuts the tannin if you eat an unripe one.
ReplyDeleteI love it! I love onions but... I cook for 1 so I generally use a half onion and toss the rest. (bacteria, ya know...) I may have to look into the dehydrating thing. How about bell peppers?
ReplyDeleteBlue...I also cook for 1. That's one reason I dehydrate lots of different veggies. Small apartment. Not much storage space. Dehydrated takes up much less space to store. If you don't want to mess with dehydrating, you can get dried onions at the grocery or at Sam's Club or Costco. I have dehydrated bell peppers and they rehydrate well if they are used in a crock pot in stew or chili. Otherwise, the skins tend to be a bit tough. I sometimes grind them into powder to get the flavor without the tough skins. Probably more information than you wanted. :)
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