A food dehydrator is an indeed an integral part and parcel of your approach to alternative energies.
Most of us know that the "Transition" is coming and many of us realize that it is not going to be a pleasant time as we try to take care of our families without a lot of funds or help. I wish that our government would just wave a wand and all the petroleum was gone, replaced by alternative energies, and we could all just take care of our families. But we all know that won't happen. When the transition does come, most of us will do without flowing electrons for light as well as food storage and most everything else. For that reason, one of the things you will need to have in your home is a food dehydrator.
Food drying is a simple, yet ancient skill. It does require a safe place to spread the food where dry air in large quantities can pass over and between thin pieces. The sun is often used to provide the hot dry air. Dry clean air, including dry cold air from any source will dehydrate food. A food dehydrator will help you in many ways.
A food dehydrator is a fairly simple piece of equipment. You can buy any of a number of models fairly inexpensively, most powered by electricity. It is also very simple to make one. You can find a number of plans on the internet or in a number of books. The important thing is to go and do it. Don't just think about it. Do it. A solar dehydrator is important.
In a simple plan you will find a dehydrator made primarily from a couple of cardboard boxes, a little tape, and some clear wrap. A drawing is easy to find on the internet. Notice how the thing goes together. Nothing complex. Don't make it so.
Also keep in mind you can make a sturdier, longer lasting machine with few materials. I used the basic idea but instead of cardboard boxes, I used some scrap wood and a piece of glass. Same ideas, again, don't make it more complicated than it is.
Our purpose here is to use the beneficial and life-giving rays of the sun. Make it to be what you need.
The sun is there for our benefit. To not use it is almost criminal.
This is pretty easy to make using two cardboard boxes, a little scotch tape and a roll of plastic wrap. This is practically a free appliance. Once you have it together, set it up on a chair or end counter or whatever and face it toward the sun. This is not difficult; don't make it so.
Once you have put it together and have it faced properly, you have a real, live, functional food preservation machine for your time and the use of some odds and ends around the house.
You can see how one is constructed if you find a drawing located on the internet. You might try using a long, thin cardboard box for the collector and a taller, nearly square box for the drying box. Boxes can be easily cut to size and then taped together. Use small cardboard pieces to custom make your functional appliance. You should probably line the bottom of the collector box with a black plastic garbage bag or you can instead paint the bottom with black poster paint. Use only water based paint. This is important. Ms. Kerr (see below) suggests using some lamp black or even soot mixed with some vegetable oil. This would work wonderfully.
An important point: If you happen to spray paint or other toxic material on the collector, let it bake in the sun for at least a day or even two before you try to use it. You could cover the top of the collector with a plastic wrap or even a window glass as I did. Put it all together as shown. Using tape is fine. I used screws to make a more permanent appliance.
You will find the appliance more efficient if you cover the sides and bottom of both boxes with fiberglass or even Styrofoam insulation.
If you are interested, you can read how the American Indians in the Southwest would sometimes store their dried food in large jars which they packed very tightly. They then covered them with leather and tied it on very tightly. They were known to keep these jars on their roofs and they were left there during some pretty low temperatures. Some tribes were known to keep their dried foods in deep pits which they lined with flat rocks to try and keep out the rodents. These were also covered with wood or leather to protect them from rain.
Be sure to select good food, wash it thoroughly, slice, dip, or blanch. Know how to pasteurize, package with a label showing the date you are doing this as well as anything you will need to remember about the food and then store it in a cool, dark and dry location. Do this as much as possible. Be sure and use in rotation, oldest packages first. If you have extra, pulverize in a blender and just add it to many foods: example gravies, sauces, casseroles, and breads.
Be sure and check your dried foods periodically for weevils. Weevils are not the terrible contamination many think of. They are a small, fairly clean insect. They will appear from eggs which hatch in your storage area. They will infest your food if you let them and grow about 1/2 inch. long. From the egg stage, they will go into a small webbed cocoon. A mature weevil is about 1/2 inch long and appears as a gray-brown moth. You can limit the infestation by eliminating the adult moth before they manage to lay their eggs. If you miss this opportunity to eliminate them, don't be overly concerned. They will appear rather like a very active worm with a dark head. Keep in mind that they will feed on your food if they can get to it and so do not usually carry disease or toxic contamination. If you do not see them, you will know they have been around by the small brown granules in the bottom of the packages.
Simply treat and then sift out the residue. Your goods will rarely show any sign of infestation if you will store in an airtight container. If you store in "bread bags," you will almost always find them.
But as I said earlier, your food is probably safe even if infested. Many of us heard a grandmother say that the little buggers were "just a little clean protein." I am not suggesting that weevils are a great meal, but don't go overboard either. Good prevention is the best way to go. I have found that generally good packaging is the key here along with storing at the lowest available room temperature. I do not remember having found any infestations at temperatures below 70 degrees.
Drying and storing of your food is a simple process. Using your dried food should be equally simple. Any fruits or vegetables can be simply eaten like they are. I would rinse the fruit anyway. Drain it and put it in a closed jar in the refrigerator to soften. Any of your dried produce, I would cover with boiling water just a bit above the level of the product. At this point you should probably toss it a bit to be sure that all of the dried parts are in contact with the water. I would let the food stand for fifteen minutes or so, in water. Heavier pieces of vegetable may require more time to rehydrate all the way through. Also, another way would be to just toss pieces into a growing soup or casseroles. If you have crispy dried food you might pulverize it in a blender and then added to recipes for your breads, soups, casseroles, sauces, etc.
If you are doing greens, you can just pour boiling water over them and steam them for a few minutes. This depends, of course, on the type of green. If you are using dried squash or small pieces of potatoes, cover them with boiling water about 1/2 inch. above the product. Then keep them covered with water for 20 to 30 minutes so that they will become moist to the center of the food. This is important before you begin to cook. If you have larger chunks of potatoes, keep them soaking for several hours.
Keep this in mind: Most dried foods lose nutritional value slowly over the months. Prepare it every growing season. Use it as you get to it and don't let it get too old. It should normally be eaten during the coming winter and anything left over early the next spring as soon as other foods are available.
Remember that generation after generation have prepared and preserved food thanks to our bountiful sun. You should enjoy and appreciate our bountiful treasure of sunlight. Please pass this simple basic knowledge along to everyone around you.
We're all in this together. We might make it all together. Only together. Separately, we probably will not.
Much of this information is from the knowledgeable Barbara Kerr (see references). She, as I, wishes this information to be passed on to as many people as possible.
Here are a few references to use:
Erickson, Duane, produces a small, hanging, screened food dryer. Duane Erickson Enterprises, 1170 Elgin Avenue, Salt Lake City, Utah. 84106.
Jagadeesh, A. Director, Shri AMM Murugappa Chettiar Research Centre, Tharamani, Madra - 600 113 INDIA. Designs of simple basket dryers.
Kerr, Barbara. The Sustainable Living Center. 3310 Paper Mill Road, Taylor, Arizona 85939 USA. Schematic of downdraft design.
LIVING FOODS DEHYDRATORS, 3023 352nd SE, Fall City, WA
Phone: (202) 222-5587. A source of food-safe plastic screening. They also supply an electric heating rack that might be used for hybridizing a solar drying cabinet.
MacManiman, Gene, DRY IT -- YOU'L LIKE IT. MacManiman, Inc., P. O. Box 546, Fall City, WA. 98024. 1973. (Non-solar as of 1992, but a good source of drying literature, materials and recipes. Their very fine design of drying cabinet depends on electricity but the trays can be placed in racks for solar drying if desired, returning them to the electric cabinet only when solar heat is not sufficient.)
Susan McClure and the staff of the Rodale Food Center. PRESERVING SUMMER'S BOUNTY, a Quick and Easy Guide to Freezing, Canning, Preserving and Drying What You Grow. Rodale Press, Book Readers' Service, 33 East Minor Street, Emmaus, PA 18098. 1998 ISBN 0-87596-979-8
Rodale Plans, SOLAR FOOD DRYER edited by Ray Wolf. Rodale Press, 33 East Minor Street,
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