No matter what the emergency situation, having on hand a store of dried foods can easily make the difference between successfully surviving or not. This agricultural college bulletin gives easy to read information on drying foods successfully and safely.
Drying or dehydration, the oldest method of food preservation, is particularly successful in the hot, dry climates found in much of New Mexico. Quite simply, drying reduces moisture necessary for bacterial growth that eventually causes deterioration. Successful dehydration depends upon a slow steady heat supply to assure that food is dried from the inside to the outside. Drying is also an inexact art. Size of pieces, relative moisture, and the method selected all affect the time required to dehydrate a food adequately.
To help with this there is a complete table regarding drying foods at the end of the instructions with information for each type of dried foods you wish to make. This 8 page document on drying foods gives all the information anyone would need to successfully and safely make dried food from a wide variety of foods.
Topics Included
- Methods of drying
- Storing dried foods
- Using dried foods
- Drying times
- Making fruit leather
- Conditioning dried foods
- Nutritional value of dried foods
- Making safe jerky
