[pct-l] Food Dehydrator Tips or Recipes?

[Kevin Cook]

You can definitely do chili!

I now have 2 dehydrators and found that I can only use the one with a fan.
The "passive" one did not work on the chili. It got all moldy :( With the
"good" dryer, it worked great! It did take more time to rehydrate than I
expected, but food prep time is not an issue for me on the trail.

I have a tip for you too. They say to use plastic wrap for stuff like chili,
soup, fruit leather etc. Instead, use wax or parchment paper. I found it
MUCH easier to cut it to fit my trays. I did try one tray with plastic wrap.
It dried about the same, but was a major PITA to get on the tray. I like the
parchment papers best because it was wider. The wax paper I had wasn't quite
wide enough to cover my entire tray.

I did some fruit this weekend and it seemed to work better than my last
attempt. The key thing I learned for fruit is to cut it thicker than I
thought. I was making thin slices, but you really need them to be ~1/2"
thick!

Please let me know if you come up with any good recipes. My turkey chili
worked great. Next I want to try a chicken stew or something I can put
dumplings in.

On Mon, Dec 6, 2010 at 10:29 AM, Lisa Freathy
<rainorshinecamper at yahoo.com>wrote:

> Hi!
>
> I received a food dehydrator as a gift last week and just put in my first
> trays
> of apple, pineapple and bananas to see how this thing works. Are there any
> favorite dehydrator recipes that you love or tips that I could play with as
> I
> get to know my new machine?
>
> I was planning on looking up online if it is possible for me to dehydrate
> home
> made chili or soups. Has anybody had experience with this?
>
> The instruction book indicates dried foods may be stored for approx. a week
> on
> counter, a month in fridge and many months in a freezer. I had planned on
> dehydrating this winter to send over the summer months but am concerned by
> the
> storage time table I read. Did I misunderstand or are they perhaps being
> overly
> cautious? Should I be freezing my dried foods now and have my support
> person add
> to my boxes last minute? What have you all done as I know I have read of
> many
> accounts of dehydrators running all winter long to prepare for the summer
> months. I was thinking about getting a vacuum sealer for storage.
>
> Thanks!
>  Lisa
>
>
> "Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in awhile, and
> climb
> a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean."
> ~ John Muir
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-L mailing list
> Pct-L at backcountry.net
> To unsubcribe, or change options visit:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>
> List Archives:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
>



-- 
~ Kevin
Soon To Be PCT Thru Hiker!
"The indoor life is the next best thing to premature burial." Edward Abbey