dehydrator page

[Jerry Curry]

Hey everyone, I need some help. I just recently purchased a dehydrator to dehydrate some primal meals for backpacking this winter, and Im being told that you cant dehydrate fat because it will go rancid fast.. I really dont want to do the carb laden backpacking pantry foods out there. Do any of you guys have any experience with dehydrating that you can pass on some advice.

[rozska]

There's a lot of ideas here:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum...ght=dehydrator

Mary Bell's book is one of the best.

Dry apples, berries, zucchini, cottage cheese -- make jerky, fruit leathers, veggies leathers -- use any combination of non-fat yogurt with fruit or veggies for added protein (or cottage cheese) -- etc. Good luck! Dehydrators rock.

[dragonmamma]

I just started dehydrating in the past half-year, but all I've done so far are veggies and fruit. I used the dehydrator as a way to preserve extra food, and so far I haven't had any extra meat sitting around!

[leera21]

Being able to dry meat depends nearly entirely on what type of dehydrator you have,to get the most dryness possible the meat needs to have ample air flow around it,so a dehydrator with a fan is best.I've never heard of drying fat,but you could always do a test run and see how it turns out.

I use an Excalibur brand,that has multiple settings,and a fan that blows air constantly around the food to speed drying.

When you dry meat though,be sure you have a way to catch the drippings as the meat dries,otherwise clean up is a pain.The drier the meat,the longer you can keep it,but remember that when using it to cook with,it will take longer to rehydrate as well.

Once the meat is dry,or any food for that matter,to help keep moisture at bay,use moisture absorbing packets(silica gel) in each package of food.
You can buy them cheaply from places like www.beprepared.com

[yodiewan]

So far I have used mine to make winter squash/sweet potato leathers (I've found that oiling the sheet and pureeing the squash with water helps), jerky, dried fruit, and to dry nuts after soaking. Now that greens are almost back in season, I want to try making some kale or collard chips.

I have Mary Bell's book and it is good. It has recipes, but it also teaches basic principles so you can actually learn how to do it right without a recipe for everything (not saying I know yet, but I'm learning). She does say that fat does not dry well. For backpacking, I'd recommend making pemmican for a portable source of fat and protein. You shouldn't have to worry about the tallow melting in winter.

[Jerry Curry]

thanx for all the help guys, ill check out those links and ill post results as i experiment