Preserving food: drying
3. Drying
If you're short on freezer space and don't have any canning equipment, drying your fruits and vegetables is a great option. The idea is to remove moisture from food as quickly as possible to keep food from spoiling and to maintain its texture, colour, flavour and nutritional value.
This is accomplished by circulating air at 130F to 140F around the food. There are commercial dehydrators available, but Stewart uses what she has on hand. "I have a special rack that I use with the dehydrating cycle on my oven." Stewart dries tomatoes, apples and pears, but drying works to preserve a variety of produce. The key is to prepare foods as you want them to be served before beginning the process, such as cutting apples into rings or pureeing peaches to make a sheet of fruit leather. If you slice produce into pieces, keep the pieces uniform in size to promote even drying.
Because fruit has a higher natural water content than vegetables, it needs conditioning time after you've dried it and before you store it. This process equalizes the moisture among the pieces of food and reduces the chance of developing mold.
By piling dried fruit loosely in a sealed glass or plastic jar for seven to 10 days, the drier pieces absorb extra moisture from other pieces. Give the jar a shake every day, to mix it all up. If condensation starts to build on the jar, dry the fruit out further before continuing.
So fill your bags at the farmer's market while the local harvest is still plentiful and then pick your favourite method of preservation. And in a few months when the February blahs take hold, bake some fresh fruit cobbler to remind you that spring will come again.
Don't forget to set some of your garden fresh vegetables aside to use immediately for salads, soups and other ripe dishes while they're in season.
Page 3 of 3
If you're short on freezer space and don't have any canning equipment, drying your fruits and vegetables is a great option. The idea is to remove moisture from food as quickly as possible to keep food from spoiling and to maintain its texture, colour, flavour and nutritional value.
This is accomplished by circulating air at 130F to 140F around the food. There are commercial dehydrators available, but Stewart uses what she has on hand. "I have a special rack that I use with the dehydrating cycle on my oven." Stewart dries tomatoes, apples and pears, but drying works to preserve a variety of produce. The key is to prepare foods as you want them to be served before beginning the process, such as cutting apples into rings or pureeing peaches to make a sheet of fruit leather. If you slice produce into pieces, keep the pieces uniform in size to promote even drying.
Because fruit has a higher natural water content than vegetables, it needs conditioning time after you've dried it and before you store it. This process equalizes the moisture among the pieces of food and reduces the chance of developing mold.
By piling dried fruit loosely in a sealed glass or plastic jar for seven to 10 days, the drier pieces absorb extra moisture from other pieces. Give the jar a shake every day, to mix it all up. If condensation starts to build on the jar, dry the fruit out further before continuing.
So fill your bags at the farmer's market while the local harvest is still plentiful and then pick your favourite method of preservation. And in a few months when the February blahs take hold, bake some fresh fruit cobbler to remind you that spring will come again.
Don't forget to set some of your garden fresh vegetables aside to use immediately for salads, soups and other ripe dishes while they're in season.
Page 3 of 3
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