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Dehydrating food is a fantastic method for preparing food to carry with
you on a camping or fishing trip. You just simply do not have to worry
about this food spoiling since the dehydration process will remove its
water which allows bacteria to grow and survive.
If
you look around, there are a variety of dehydrators available on the
market that is inexpensive, versatile, and easy to use. You can choose
from brands such as Gardenmaster, Nesco, American Harvest, Snackmaster,
and Excalibur. It is always a good move to first get an inexpensive model
to see if you like dehydrated food before spending a bunch of money for a
more advanced dehydrator which will offer additional shelves in order to
dehydrate larger quantities of food.
So now you may be asking what types of foods can be dehydrated? Some of
the most flavorable foods to dehydrate are fruits that give you a healthy,
energy boosting snack when you are living a very active life. Some crowd
favorites in their dehydrated state are apples, bananas, and various
berries. You can even develop your own fruit leathers or roll ups by
pureeing fresh fruit and drying it until it reaches a leathery texture.
Dried fruits are a great source of vitamins and nutrients although they
may be high in calories due to their sugar content which concentrates
during the dehydration process.
Many people like to dehydrate vegetables. However when you prepare them,
it is best to pretreat your veggies by steam blanching them before placing
them in the dehydrator. Of course, the overall favorite is to make
delicious beef, chicken, or turkey jerky in your dehydrator which serves
as an excellent source of protein when you are hiking or a camping trip.
It is critical that meat be properly cooked to kill any bacteria before
placing it in the dehydrator since a dehydrator typically does not reach a
high enough temperature for sterilization.
To make your dehydrated treats tasty, you can play around with various
spices and seasonings before dehydration to create gourmet dried
creations. If you are not crazy about fruits and vegetables, you may find
the dehydrator makes these healthy foods much more tasty. This is a great
incentive for getting your nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
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