Putting Food By - Janet Greene [175]
A very quick dip in boiling water, quite apart from the steam-blanching that helps keep the color and nutrients of certain cut fruits, works well instead of any lye treatment. And it’s safer for you and for your food, and the alkali in lye and such soda compounds hurts many B vitamins and Vitamin C.
FOR CHECKING THE SKINS
Nature provides a wax-like coating on the skins of cherries, figs, grapes, prunes, and small dark plums, and certain firm berries like blueberries and huckleberries, and they all dry better if this waterproofing substance is removed beforehand. If the skins are cracked minutely (called “checking”), the fruit is unlikely to case-harden.
Gather not more than 1 pound of berries loosely in cheesecloth or a wire basket and hold them in 1 gallon of briskly boiling water for 30 seconds; lift out, dunk in plenty of fresh cold water to stop any further cooking action; shake off water, and carry on with the drying. If the amount of food—small in size or cut small—is kept to a maximum of 1 pound, and the water is at least 1 gallon and boiling its head off, there is virtually no lag between immersing the food and the return to a full rolling boil; so 30 seconds is feasible. At altitudes higher than 3500 ft/305 m, add boiling time to total 30 seconds for each additional 1000 ft/305 m.
Some people use food-grade pickling lime—calcium hydroxide—in boiling water to check the skins. Use 1 gallon of water, have only 1 pound of food; make up the solution according to the instructions on the package for firming pickles.
Steam-blanching before Drying
On the whole, vegetables to be dried are blanched in full steam at 212 F/100 C for a longer time than they are blanched, either in steam or boiling water, before being frozen. The length of blanching time is given for each vegetable in the individual instructions, as is a recommendation for high-altitude blanching.
Put several inches of water in a large kettle that has a close-fitting lid; heat the water to boiling, and set over it—high enough to keep clear of the water—a rack or wire basket holding a layer of cut food not more than 2 inches deep. Cover, and let the food steam for half the time required; then test it to make sure that each piece is reached by steam. A sample from the center of the layer should be wilted and feel soft and heated through when it has been blanched enough.
In a pinch you can use a cheesecloth bag, skimpily loaded with food, and placed on the rack to steam. Be careful not to bunch the food so much that steam can’t get at all of it easily.
Remove the food and spread it on paper towels or clean cloths to remove the excess moisture while you steam the next load; lay towels over it while it waits for further treatment or to go on the drying trays.
Microwave note for blanching: follow your oven’s manual on blanching vegetables before freezing them.
Sulfuring
For many years sulfur has been used to preserve the color of drying fruits whose flesh darkens when exposed to air. The fruits generally treated with sulfur are apples, apricots, nectarines, peaches, and pears; light-fleshed varieties of cherries, figs, plums, and prunes are also treated with sulfur to prevent oxidation, though not so routinely.
In one method, the sulfur is applied by soaking produce in a sulfur solution. Such treatment is now banned as a preservative for fresh produce sold in supermarkets or offered at salad bars in restaurants because some people have severe allergic reactions to it. However, sulfite soaking is recommended by many authorities, including the USDA, for fruits dried at home, not only to hold color but also to control spoilers. If you choose to use this method, use as the sulfiting agent USP (food-grade) or Reagent Grade sodium metabisulfite, not Practical Grade. Sodium metabisulfite is available at pharmacies or through suppliers of wine-making materials. Stir 1 tablespoon (21 grams) sodium metabisulfite into one quart (1000 milliliters) of cold water. Cut the peeled fruit directly into the sodium metabisulfite solution. Allow