Dehydrating (Frequently Asked Questions)

Please read this first

Is Dried Food Healthy? You bet!

Drying fresh fruits and vegetables – removing only their water – is the easiest, cheapest and healthiest way to preserve fresh food. It's the way nature does it. The dehydrator mimics the sun – but goes one step better, because often the sun is too hot. Dehydrating actually inhibits the growth of microbes like bacteria. The circulation of warm, dry air removes the water they depend on to live.

Drying food only minimally affects its nutritional value. Most research has been on foods that were commercially dried. When you dry foods at home under gentle conditions (correct temperature and a reasonable drying period) you produce a high-quality nutrient-rich food. Compared with canning, freezing and baking, all of which involve extreme temperatures, food drying is the least damaging form of food preservation.

The process of drying fruit and storing it in jars was recorded long time ago before the birth of Christ. Today the only truly healthy dried fruits are the fruits you dry yourself at home or on the boat and store in your freezer. This way there's no risk of nutrient loss from too-hot drying, and no mold from a long shelf-life.

Are Dried Foods Good for Weight Loss?
Yes! Dried fruits and vegetables are naturally low in fat, yet high in fiber which is not lost in drying. The caloric value of a fresh food stays the same when it is dried, although some dried foods, fruits for example, taste sweeter because with the water removed, the sugar is concentrated. Your weight will go down, and energy levels soar, the more raw foods you eat. A dehydrator is the best way to keep raw food handy so you don't snack on junk.

What Nutrients Are Lost?
Home food drying leaves vitamins, minerals, proteins and enzymes virtually intact.
Some vitamin C is lost because dehydrating is an air-based process. Vitamin C is not air-soluble, but it is changed into an inactive form by air contact. So it's best not to leave sliced fruit out for too long. When a food is sliced and its cells are cut open, the surfaces exposed to air lose some vitamin C.

Vitamin C is water-soluble. Dehydrating removes water, but the good news is it leaves the vitamin C behind in the fruit and sprouted grain. The C does not evaporate with the water.

Vitamin A – or Beta-Carotene in plant foods, a critical anti-oxidant – is retained in dried food. Because it is light sensitive, dried foods rich in Vitamin A, like carrots, bell peppers and mangoes, should be stored in a dark place.

Minerals in fresh fruits and veggies – such as selenium, potassium, magnesium – are not altered when they're dried. Fresh-picked sun-ripened fruit from the farmer's market is rich in the sodium your nerves and joints are starved of. Dehydrating gives you a year-round balance of minerals.

You do more harm than good when you take mineral and vitamin supplements because they're so unbalanced. Raw plant cells give you vitamins and minerals in perfect balance, so all your metabolic pathways purr along at peak performance.

 

How Long to Dry the Food?
The lower the temperature inside the dehydrator, the longer the drying time.
Temperatures that are too low can cause food to spoil. The longer the food takes to dry, the more it’s exposed to air and the more Vitamin C is lost. To speed up drying, you turn up the temperature. But the higher your drying temperature, the more food enzymes are lost. To retain all enzymes in the food, it’s best not to go above 117°. Different food enzymes die off at different temperatures, but it’s safe to say most are dying at 120°. If a food remains fairly wet after 24 hours, the chances for mold growth increase. It's like leaving food out on a hot day – it turns bad!  When touching foods for dryness, remember that they feel softer when they are warm. Always let it cool for a while – either turn off the dehydrator or remove the drying tray. If you are not sure if an item is sufficiently dry, it is better to over-dry it than to under-dry it.

Fortunately, there is no such thing as an over-dried food. Once a food is dry, you do it no harm by leaving it in the dehydrator longer, unlike an oven that carries on baking and burning. So if zucchini or banana chips are meant to dry for 10 hours, and you come back home after 24, you still enjoy perfectly delicious chips!

Commercial drying machines operate at high temperatures to speed the drying process. Do not dry anything above 115°F because enzymes begin to die at 118°F.  Raw foods with living enzymes are the simple secret to boisterous Health and Energy.

How Best to Store Dried Foods?
Moisture is the enemy of dried foods. When exposed to air, they absorb its moisture and become limp. Brittle food is perfectly dried, while soft and pliable probably still has moisture. So leathery foods should be refrigerated to last for months, instead of weeks. Brittle will last for a year in your cupboard. Always store dried foods in air-tight containers such as moisture-proof jars or zip-lock bags. Lids must contain rubber gaskets to make them moisture proof, e.g. Mason jars. Also cotton balls will absorb moisture.

The downside of glass jars is that light entering the jar can discolor some foods like tomatoes, and steal nutrients. Light isn't good for the essential fatty acids in dried seed and nut yogurts. Keep long-term storage jars in brown paper bags (foods you plan to eat in six months, not six weeks). Store all containers in a dry, dark place with a moderate temperature. A cupboard, rather than an open pantry shelf, is best.

How Long Will Dried Foods Last?
Dried foods will last from one season to the next. If squirreled away for too long, they lose their taste and darken in color. For optimum quality, rotate dried fruits and vegetables annually. Enjoy their quality all year round by drying them at their peak, then replace them when their season returns.

What About Mold?
Mold may form on dried food if it's not dehydrated dry enough, or if the container it's stored in has moisture in it. Of course, mold is a common problem in store-bought dried fruit, as the candida and other yeast-infection books warn us. But fruit safely dried at home and eaten within a year, before the next season's harvest, is mold-free. The organisms that cause food spoilage – mold, yeast, bacteria – are always present in the air, water, and soil. But they need moisture to live and reproduce. This is why you never see mold on pasta.

Fresh foods also carry simple yeasts, molds, and bacteria, all of which can cause deterioration. Again, reducing the moisture content of food inhibits their growth. When dried, vegetables contain about 3 percent moisture, and fruits up to 15 percent water, depending on their sugar content. If you are concerned about the safety of a dried food, you can freeze it. The freezer will keep frozen any water remaining in the food, thus preventing spoilage. You can freeze dried foods at any stage of the drying process.

Placing food in a freezer for 48 hours is a mild form of pasteurizing it. You kill many microbes and insect eggs that might have been in the raw food, hence in the dried. However, freezing does not kill bacteria that form protective spores. Keeping the food dry is the only thing that keeps the bacteria from growing. If you see or smell mold in any dried food, it means it's been contaminated by moisture. It's best to throw away the food in that container.

Should We Soak Our Food Before Eating It?
It's best to return the water to dried food before you eat it. Dr. Ann Wigmore, suggests to always keep a bowl of dried fruits in water in the refrigerator, for instant sugar snacking. The trick is to rehydrate it (soak in water) just long enough for the food to absorb the water, but not too long as to leach minerals into the water. I go by taste – if it's lost its sweetness, I know I've soaked it too long. Fifteen minutes to an hour is usually long enough.

You absorb more minerals when you eat them weaved into plant tissues (organic form), rather than drink them in soak water (inorganic form).

Always drink the soak water, and use it in cracker blends.

Thank to Steve Meyerowitz (Sproutman's Kitchen Garden Cookbook) and Mary Bell's Complete Dehydrator Cookbook for most of the info here



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