[pct-l] Dehydrating

[chelin at teleport.com (Sharon & Chuck Chelin)]

Good morning,

Last week someone asked about the availability of dehydrated refried beans.
I didn't reply then because I make my own, but then I thought maybe others
haven't discovered the stuff yet.  Beans have long been a staple of those
who outfit wilderness travel, such as Hudson's Bay Company, and U.S. Army.
You may have heard the old Cavalry expression, "Forty miles a day on beans
and hay."  Beans are durable, cheap, readily available, nutritious, and
tasty, but compared to many other dry food-stuffs, like pasta, regular dry
beans are pretty much off the hikers' list because they require such a long
soaking/cooking time.

Pre-cooked, "refried beans", solve that problem once they are dehydrated.
Refried bean paste is ready to smear on your dehydrator sheets, or on a
cookie sheet for oven drying.  It dries quickly, and afterward I give it a
ride in the blender to make it into powder.  It reconstitutes well to make
soup or to thicken any other kind of soup-like stuff.  I rarely cook lunch,
but sometimes I add water to a zip-lock sack of bean power and kneed it a
bit as I hike to make a dip/spread for crackers or bread.  It is quick, and
it is good cold.  I like to inspire it a bit with some jalapeno, but as
tempting at it may be, I don't thing a shot of bear-spray in the dip is a
good idea.

I sometimes boil dry beans to make the paste, but here in the Northwest
COSTCO sells a #10 can of refried beans . that's a 7 lbs. gallon. . for less
than $3.00, so I have started using that instead.  Before any of you
comedians get a chance to say it, yah, I know: COSTCO is selling gas for
$3.00 a gallon.

In the same way I dehydrate sea-poop . I mean pea-soup.  Boil your own, or
open a can of thick, condensed soup and smear it on the dryer sheet.

A little variety surely beats an endless diet of pasta and instant mashed
potatoes.

Steel-Eye