Putting Food By - Janet Greene [177]
Fruits rather than vegetables usually being in larger pieces (and therefore more likely to need finishing off) need more conditioning time.
Pasteurizing
Pasteurizing is recommended strongly for killing insect eggs deposited on foods that have been dried in open-air/sun. It is effective as well for treating vegetables long held in storage, although if the vegetables show ANY SIGNS OF MOLD they should be destroyed. Some molds produce aflatoxin, a dreaded food poisoning.
Don’t bother cranking up a dryer for this, and don’t do large amounts at a time: use an oven with a thermometer in it, and time the process.
Preheat the oven to 175 F/80 C. Spread the food loosely not more than 1 inch deep on the trays; don’t do more than two trays’ worth at the same time. Heat brittle-dried vegetables, cut small, for 10 minutes at 175 F/80 C; treat fruits—cut larger and therefore needing more time—for 15 minutes at 175 F/80 C.
Remove each pasteurized batch and spread it out to cool on clean towels, etc. Cover lightly with cheesecloth to keep dried food clean. Package one batch while other batches are pasteurizing.
An effective alternative to pasteurization is to seal foods in a freezer bag and place in a freezer set at 0 F/–18 C for at least 48 hours.
Storage
Hold your food in small quantities: 1-gallon glass jars with screwtop lids; or in 5-gallon food-grade freezer bags that are then stored in a metal container with a close-fitting lid. Do not use heavy plastic trash or garbage bags, or plastic barrels, or galvanized metal barrels/trash cans unless they are well lined with food-grade material that will not let any acid in the food come into contact with the metal.
Check your supplies on a frequent schedule, to make sure that no part of your food has become damp or contaminated. (The conditioning treatment is a great safeguard here; as is pasteurizing to destroy any insect eggs.)
When the dry food—conditioned well, and pasteurized if necessary—is thoroughly cool, it will go into its safe and critter-proof containers; if it is still warm, it is likely to sweat and cause trouble. Then the containers will be labeled and go to storage in a cool, dry place.
Three temperatures are pivotal in the storing of food: freezing; 48 F/9 C, when insects start to become active; and when fats melt, about 95 F/35 C. The lowest temperature short of freezing is hard to maintain, so it makes sense to consider 40 F/4 C a low easily held, and 60 F/16 C a reasonable top. Temperatures more than 70 F/21 C should be avoided.
Desiccants
For the average householder, the best way to control moisture is to examine the stored food, repasteurizing it if necessary. However, food-grade desiccants are available at some pharmacies and online. Most are food-grade silica gels. Do not use silica gels sold for drying flowers, which are toxic.
Cooking Dried Fruits
Pour boiling water over them in a saucepan just to cover—no more: they shouldn’t be drowned, and you can always add more if you need to—and simmer the fruit, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the size of the pieces. Remove from heat and let cool, still covered. Sweeten to taste at the very end of cooking, or when removed from heat (sugar tends to toughen fruit fibers in cooking). For best flavor, chill the fruit overnight before serving.
If the fruit is to be “reconstituted” to use in a cooked dish (a pie or a cream dessert, say), put it in a bowl, add boiling water just to the top of the fruit; cover; and let it soak up the water for several hours, or until tender. Add water sparingly and only if the pieces seem still to be tough, because the liquid is full of good things and should be included in the recipe as if it were natural juice.
Cooking Dried Vegetables
Before being cooked, all vegetables except greens are soaked in cold water just to cover until they are nearly restored to their original texture. Never give them