[pct-l] River crossings, Walrus tent, and drying food

["Joanne Lennox" <goforth@cio.net>]

	Hi , all!
Someone mentioned that there was a good thread on river crossing.  I've
gone thru a bunch of posted but can't seem to find it.  being short and
short-legged, I  am the one that peels off of a river crossing first, and
would appreciate any advice on the matter.  

Also, I can't seem to get into the PCT archives anymore.  Is anybody else
having this problem.  I get a message "Internet Explorer can not open this
site...connection could not be established...


  Margo, I have a one person Walrus tent (the Swift?), which wieghts three
pounds with poles, stakes and everything.  I often take it with me when I
am by myself in the Sierras early season.  A short person can sit up in it
at the one end and it is roomy enough for most of your gear too; you could
probably have two persons in it in a pinch (it is about 4 feet kwide).  Its
bug proof, and the inside has netting over the top so there is a lot of
ventilation, and it has kept me dry in a few real blows.  I got it from
Campmor but I just looked and couldn't find it in the summer catalog.

I have beeen drying all manner of things in my oven and food drier, and
have formed some hypothesis on the results that I see.  I used to think
that if I tried to dry something and it didn't work the first time, that
that particular food was unsuited to be dried or to rehydration.   I now
believe that it can makes a great deal of difference on how thick the
slices are, whether it is parboiled, exactly how the slices are cut
relative to the water conducting axis of the plant, and the amount of salt
or sugar the breast contains.

Most plants surfaces are coated with a waxy substance called cutin.  I
think parboiling removes the cutin, and allows the plant to dehydrate and
rehydrate better.  I was able to rehydrate spinach, after slicing it in
thin strips, dipping to in boiling water, and then drying it.(it was a mess
to untangle all the strips)

I began to ponder why Asparagus reconstitued so well.  and Decided that it
was probably the way I sliced it  - crosswise to the long axis.This means
that all those little water conducting elements are just hanging on both
edges of a thin slice willing to slurp up any available water by capillary
action.   Usually I sliced green peppers into long thin slices from top(at
the attachment to the plant) to bottom, and had notice that they did not
always reconstitute very well.  I sliced the pepper in thick strips top to
bottom, and cross sliced these in turn, and found that they rehydrate
better.  Then I made long thin slices of onions, fried them until
translucent and carmelized, and dried the mess.  Tastes great.

Then I found that black and green olives are great dried too. and started
thinking that anything that has a lot of sugar or salt, is likely to be a
better candidate for drying and reconstituting.  This in cludes most root
or underground storage organs that have a high sugar or starch load (beets,
onion, carrots, potatoes, yams), and most fruits which are high in sugar.

And Craig Smith had that great lead on drying beans; much better than the
bean paste that I was dealing with.  Thanks Craig, I've dried 5 cans of
black beans already, and it has freed up my drier to be able to use the
oven more.

Peace
Goforth
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