We hope that you will find this book a helpful guide in learning to use your new American Harvest® Dehydrator. It was prepared with you, our valued customer, in mind. Executive Editor David Dornbush Editor Scott Reinhard Dehydration Expert Deanna DeLong Creative Director Mike Esson Table of Contents General Drying Guidelines ............ 3 Fruits ............................................11 Vegetables .....................................19 Jerky .............................................25 Herbs ...........................................29 Crafts & Drying Flowers..............35 Breakfast Recipes .........................45 Desserts, Cookies & Candies .......47 Condiments, Dressings, Stuffing & Sauces ....................53 Salads ...........................................57 Soups ............................................58 Snacks ..........................................59 Index ...........................................61 Printed in the U.S.A. Bolger Publications/ Creative Printing 10% Post T hank you for choosing an American Harvest dehydrator. Here at our international headquarters in Chaska, Minnesota, we've been developing and producing our dehydrators for over twenty years. We bring you the best in patented drying technology and let you enjoy fast, easy drying in the convenience of your own kitchen. Have fun! If you have any questions about drying times or service, please give us a call. We are here to serve you. 1-800-288-4545 David Dornbush Chad Erickson 2 Selecting food to dry Select the best quality produce at the peak of ripeness and flavor. Wash carefully to remove debris, dust, and insects. Cut away any bruised or damaged sections. Loading Trays Lay food pieces evenly on trays. Don't overlap food pieces as this will inhibit drying. As each tray is loaded, place it on the dehydrator to begin drying. recommended temperatures and times. Do not turn off your dehydrator and leave partially dried foods sitting on the trays. The food may spoil or develop off flavors. · Spread all foods evenly to dry in single layers. If slices overlap, the areas that are overlapping will take twice as long to dry. · Do not add fresh produce to a partially dried batch. It will slow the rate of drying for both products. It is possible however, to combine partially dried foods on to fewer trays. · Many people have more than one American Harvest® dehydrator. If you have two, it's easy to combine a load from both dehydrators after a few hours and start a new batch in your second dehydrator using the remaining trays. General Drying Guidelines There are no absolutes and quite a few variables in food dehydration. The only way to become proficient is to dry, dry, and dry some more! Certain varieties of produce, the humidity in the air, and even methods of food handling make a difference in the drying time and quality of dried product. · Experiment with different drying temperatures, thicknesses of produce, pre-treatment versus no pre-treatment and different rehydration methods. You will determine what works best for your particular needs and preferences. · To save nutrients and produce a quality product, it is necessary to work fast preparing foods to dry. When placed in your dehydrator, they need to dry continuously at the 3 Drying Time Because of the unique design of the patented Converga-Flow® system of your American Harvest® dehydrator, you'll be surprised at how quickly most foods dry. Drying times may vary, depending on the type and amount of food, thickness and evenness of the slices, percentage of water in the food, humidity, temperature of air, altitude and the model of American Harvest® dehydrator you are using. Drying times may also vary greatly from one area of the country to another and from day to day, depending on the climactic conditions. Keep records to help you predict future drying times for specific foods. Meats and fish should be dried on the highest temperature setting of your dehydrator. Since meats and fish do not contain vitamins A or C, these higher temperatures do not affect nutritional value. These temperatures also keep bacteria and other spoilage micro-organisms, common to meats and fish, to a minimum during the first stages of drying when they tend to multiply. Nuts and seeds are high in oil, and if higher temperatures are used, they will tend to become rancid, developing off flavors. The best drying temperature for them is from 90° to 100°F (30° to 40°C). Herbs and spices are most flavorful when they first open and should be harvested while very fresh, before they begin to blossom. Because the aromatic oils are very sensitive, temperatures should be 90° to 100°F (30° to 40°C) for drying. Herbs generally dry in an hour or two. Take care not to load trays too heavily as this will prolong the drying time. Dried flowers, herbs and spices used for potpourri should be dried at temperatures ranging from 90° to 100°F (30° to 40°C.). These low temperatures maintain aroma and colors. Use these guidelines for the foundation of your dehydrating techniques. Expand on them as you gain skill and confidence with experience. Drying Temperature Foods dried in the American Harvest GardenMaster® dehydrator generally dry more quickly than in other models. Fruits, fruit rolls, and vegetables should be dried at 130° to 140°F (55° to 60°C). By drying foods in this temperature range you will minimize the loss of heat-sensitive vitamins A and C. Because, all foods sweat when they first begin to dry, the temperature may be set higher than 140°F (60°C) during the first couple of hours of drying. The actual temperature of the food will remain 15° to 20°F (6° to 8°C) lower than the air temperature for the first couple of hours. 5 Testing for Dryness Food must be carefully monitored near the end of the dehydration process to prevent overdrying. Overdried foods lose quality in texture, nutrition and taste. To test for dryness, remove a piece of food, allow it to cool, and feel with your fingers to determine dryness: · Fruits should be pliable and leathery with no pockets of moisture. To check if fruit is dry, tear a piece in half and watch for moisture beads along the tear. If there aren't any, it is sufficiently dry for long term storage. · Fruit rolls should be leathery with no sticky spots. · Jerky should be tough but not brittle. · Dried fish should be tough. If the fish is high in fat, it may appear moist due to the high oil content. · Vegetables should be tough or crisp. 3 to 4 times. Home vacuum packaging can be done in bags or glass jars. Manufacturers' bags, designed for use in home vacuum-packaging, are moisture proof and airtight. Glass jars are vacuum sealed using a lid with a rubber gasket. Only glass jars which have been tempered for canning should be used. Other storage jars may explode under the pressure of vacuum packaging. Be sure to follow the manufacturers' instructions. Bag sealers can also be used to package dehydrated foods. Bag sealers do not remove air within the package, but the bags are moisture-proof and airtight. Squeeze the pouch tightly against the food to remove as much air as possible before sealing. Plastic freezer bags can be used. Plastic storage bags not labeled for use in the freezer generally are not airtight nor moisture-proof and should not be used to store dried foods. Since most packaging materials are transparent, store packaged dried foods in a plastic or metal container which will not allow the light to penetrate. Do not store fruits and vegetables together in the same storage container because flavor and moisture may transfer. Fruit rolls are best if removed while still warm. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in airtight moisture-proof containers for storage. Onions and tomatoes are especially prone to absorb moisture from the air and should be packaged immediately after removing from the dehydrator. Packaging Some pieces may dry in a shorter time than others and should be removed and placed in an airtight container while allowing the rest of the pieces to remain in the dehydrator until sufficiently dry. Package all dried foods promptly to prevent contamination by insects and to prevent stickiness and rehydration caused by humidity. Store dried foods in airtight, moisture proof containers. Home vacuum packaging devices are ideal for packaging dried foods. They extend the shelf life of dried foods 6 If foods are insufficiently dried, or are exposed to moisture from faulty packaging, they can lose quality and nutrition, and can even mold during storage. Record Keeping Recording the following information can be helpful in improving your dehydrating techniques and determining quantities of food to dry each season. · Date dried · Quantity dried, including weight of produce before and after drying · Drying time, temperature, and humidity · Packaging: size of containers and packaging materials used · Storage temperature · Length of storage time before use By labeling storage containers with the contents and date dried, you can keep track of your supply, rotate as needed and avoid mix-ups. Labeling All dehydrated foods should be labeled with the name of the product, date dried, and quantity or weight. Clear labeling allows you to rotate foods so that you minimize waste and nutrient loss. Storage The storage area should be cool, dry, and as dark as possible. The darker and cooler the storage area, the longer the dried foods will last with good quality and nutritive value. For every 18°F (10°C) drop in storage temperature, the shelf life of dehydrated foods increases 3 to 4 times. The ideal storage temperature for dehydrated food is 60°F (15°C) to below freezing. The ideal storage place is your freezer or refrigerator, particularly for storing low acid foods such as meats, fish, and vegetables. All fruits dried with skins intact should be packaged and frozen for a minimum of 48 hours to prevent any possibility of insect infestation. 7 After rehydrating food, cook it as you would normally. If foods are cooked before they are fully rehydrated, they will cook in a shriveled state and will not be plump. Most fruits and vegetables will rehydrate to about 80% of their fresh state. Consequently they are a little more chewy than a fresh or frozen fruit or vegetable, even when rehydrated. Dried food used in cooking will absorb additional liquid, so adjust the recipe accordingly by adding more water: · Vegetables ­add 1 additional cup of water for one cup dried food. · Stewed fruits ­ add 2 additional cups of water for each cup of fruit, allow to stand for 1 hour, and simmer until tender. · Pies or fillings ­ use 1 additional cup of water per 1 cup of fruit ­ less, if you desire a thicker consistency. Note: When using fruits in baking or for ice cream, they may be softened by covering with boiling water and allowing them to stand for 5 minutes. Drain, then chop or blend, depending upon use. Rehydrating Dried Food Eat dehydrated foods dry or rehydrate for use in recipes. Rehydrate by placing dried foods in a container (with enough water to cover food) and soaking for 30 minutes to 2 hours Boiling water rehydrates foods more quickly than cold water or water at room temperature. Fruits or vegetables may also be rehydrated in liquids other than water, including fruit juices, cider, vegetable juices, milk, consommé, etc. Refrigerate these foods while they are soaking to reduce any risk of spoilage. Do not add seasonings, especially salt or sugar during rehydration because they slow the rehydration process. Cooking Dried Food 9 DRYING FRUITS ruits are ideal to dry because they have a naturally high sugar content. They are high in acid (and consequently less prone to spoilage and microorganisms), and taste delicious! Seasonally, fruit can be obtained in bulk from orchards or farms for considerably lower prices than what you may find in the supermarket. F Selection Fruits picked at their prime have the highest natural sugar content and the best nutritional value. For the best quality product, choose only fresh, ripe, unblemished fruits. Preparation Wash fruit thoroughly and remove any imperfections. Remove skins (if desired), stems, and stones. Halve or slice in 1/4" to 1/2" circles or slices (a food processor or slicer will speed the slicing and ensure more uniform slices, which will allow fruits to dry at the same rate.) Some fruits have a natural protective wax coating such as figs, prunes, grapes, blueberries, cranberries, etc. If you want to dry these fruits whole, dip into boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes (the amount of time needed depends on the thickness and toughness of the skin) to speed dehydration. This makes the skin more porous by removing the natural wax coating and thereby speeds up the drying time. This process is called checking. Small lines appear on the fruit skin allowing moisture to escape but may be too fine to be visible. Many ...