Putting Food By - Janet Greene [171]
The wiring of all electrical heating and blowing units must meet all safety criteria.
Electric fan. To boost the natural draft in an indoor dryer or to augment a cross-draft when drying in an open room or outdoors. It needn’t be large; it should be directable, and it must have a safety grill covering the blades.
Thermometers. With an indoor dryer or oven, you’ll need a food thermometer—a roasting, candy or dairy type will do—to check on the heat of food being processed. You can use an inexpensive kind of oven thermometer that sits on or hangs from an oven rack. Remember to move this around between the top and bottom trays periodically to keep track of the varying temperatures.
Scales. Not vital but a great help is scales that go up to 25 pounds/ 11 kilograms, with quarter- and half-pound gradations; use it for judging water-loss by weight, per-pound treatments before drying.
Blanching kettle. Your stockpot or Boiling–Water Bath canner will do. Assorted kitchen utensils. Dishpan, colander, crockery, stainless steel, or enameled bowls; stainless sharp knives for cutting and paring; apple-corer and a melon-ball scoop; non-wood cutting board; vegetable slicer or a coarse shredder; spoons—some wooden, at least one slotted; also plenty of clean towels and paper towels, and an extra packet of cheesecloth.
Materials for storing. Several large covered crocks for conditioning dried food before storing—or strong cartons, moisture-proofed with a lining of plastic sheeting; plastic or paper bags (not big) for packaging dried food in small quantities; mouse-proof, sealable containers for the packages. And cool, dark, dry storage when you’re done.
THE DRYING METHODS
Basically, drying food at home combines sustained mild heat with moving air to accomplish its purpose. This means (1) heat adequate to extract moisture, but moderate enough so that it doesn’t cook the material; and (2) currents of air dry enough to absorb the released moisture and carry it off. These conditions can occur outdoors naturally, or they can be reproduced indoors in dryers.
Open-Air/Sun
Successful outdoor drying is possible only in sun-drenched regions with prolonged low humidity, where foods are exposed for perhaps only a minor portion of their total drying time to direct sun, and are partially shaded by a roof of some sort from the fierce rays at midday. An open, south-facing veranda is a favorite place for drying in many parts of the American Southwest.
Where to Sun-Dry
Hereout, “sun-drying” will mean outdoors in open air, the food exposed to sun but not in full sun at all times of the day, lest it “case-harden”—that is, cook the outside to form a crust that prevents the inside from drying well.
In North America, the interior of California and the high country of Southwestern states possess the ideal climate for sun-drying: predictably long periods of hot sun and low humidity. Next come the wide Plains east of the Rockies in the United States and Canada, where occasional showers are not a great problem if the food hasn’t gotten wet and if drying can be resumed in open air the next day. Sun-drying can be done in parts of the Northwest east of the Cascade range, and in the Appalachians. Despite their heat, the humid areas of the South are not so good. It is wise not to try sun-drying in the Northeast.
What to Dry in Open-Air/Sun
Before we start, a warning: eggs, poultry, and meat—except for very lean beef, young lamb, or venison made into jerky—are not good for home drying; nor is fish, unless it is heavily salted cod, etc., that is more likely to be dried as a commercial venture. Reason: Salmonella and Staphylococcus bacteria thrive on these foods. There are also some vegetables whose storage life is comparatively short.
In the following list of sun-dryable produce, most of the fruits were exposed to extensive sulfuring before drying; with some of the “easier” fruits, consensus is that color and flavor are better when they finish drying in stacks in the shade, humidity permitting.
Fruits easier to sun-dry. Apples, apricots,