Home made dehydrated food for long term storage?

[NC_DAVE]

Well like the title says I recently got a food dehydrator and was wondering if anybody had tips on doing it your self for long term storage.

Also any good jerky recpies for straight consumption would be appreciated to.

[PrarieDog]

As for jerky I have found doing it with hamburger 93% fat free is good to start with to learn. Order some spices from LEM to see what you like and as you learn to use to dehydrator you can start playing with it. do small batches until you learn how to dehydrate properly.

[stinkyDrunk]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/061565...-fkmr1&pi=SL75

Some good dehydrated food recipes in this book.

[sewvacman]

As far as Jerky goes here's what I do and it comes out tasting pretty close to "Wild Bills"brand.

1. Buy a roast , what ever is on sale, the leaner the better. (recipe is for 1-1/2 to 2 lbs.)
2. Slice across the grain into pieces about 1/8" thick by however wide you want it. (This is all taste and needs here as far as the thickness. 1/16" turns out very crispy and would be good for reconstituting in soups and is good on it's own, it's about the consistency of crisp bacon and I imagine would last longer since more moisture has been removed and more salt absorbed, but I don't know this to be fact. 1/8" is about what a piece of "Wild Bills" is and is what I aim for normally)
3. Remove all visible fat (within reason)
4. Marinade in Fridge overnight in
1-10?oz bottle soy sauce. (I prefer the generic Giant brand over anything else, Kikkoman is NOT a good choice),
1/2-tsp liquid smoke , your choice, I use Hickory
1-tsp garlic powder
1-tsp onion powder

5. Put in dehydrator. (This is when I pepper it, or not, as I have the plastic rack style and coat the pieces as I stack them)

Enjoy!

For Bananas/kiwi and most fruit I cut them into 1/4" thick pieces and brush them lightly with honey on all sides before putting them in. It's not so messy if you spray the racks with Pam cooking spray ahead of time and throw the fruit into confectioners sugar afterward to keep them from sticking together.


For the record I have no idea how long this stuff lasts, it never lasts a week after I make it.

[Ready.Fire.Aim]

Dehydrated vegetables like yellow squash and zucchini last a long time. I vacuum seal mine in bags.
They make good snack chips or additions to stews.

RFA

[chadbag]

1-10?oz bottle soy sauce. (I prefer the generic Giant brand over anything else, Kikkoman is NOT a good choice),

I'm interested in why you say that Kikkoman is not a good choice. (Japanese style soy sauce)

Is a Chinese style Soy Sauce better in your opinion?

Thanks


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[sewvacman]

Honestly really didn't know there was a Chinese and Japanese soy sauce. Kikkoman has too much flavor is the best way I can describe it. It takes away from the taste of the jerky IMO. For Sushi I think it's the best, don't like it at all for jerky. The generics seem to give me the flavor I am looking for, Giant brand in particular.

[chadbag]

Honestly really didn't know there was a Chinese and Japanese soy sauce. Kikkoman has too much flavor is the best way I can describe it. It takes away from the taste of the jerky IMO. For Sushi I think it's the best, don't like it at all for jerky. The generics seem to give me the flavor I am looking for, Giant brand in particular.

Ok, got ya.

Yes, there are lots of kinds of Soy Sauce.

Kikkoman is a Japanese style. Which is why it is best for sushi. There are also ones called "Tamari" type soy sauce, also Japanese, which have little or no wheat or something in them and taste different. They are usually much more expensive and "premium".

Korean style is very similar to Japanese based on our purchases at the local "oriental" store.

We also have some Chinese soy sauce (light and dark) which I bought for when I cook Chinese (as in ingredient, not condiment, though of course, in China it is used as a condiment as well -- I tend to use Kikkoman as the condiment in any case). I have tried the chinese soy sauce plain but don't remember how it is different from Kikkoman, but it is different. Just been a while and the details escape me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy_sauce



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[Smedley]

Well like the title says I recently got a food dehydrator and was wondering if anybody had tips on doing it your self for long term storage.

Also any good jerky recpies for straight consumption would be appreciated to.

I don't (yet), but thanks for starting this thread NC. .. I'll be looking at the Excalibur Dehydrator's tomorrow. This will be a new venture for me also. But, I don't want to hijack with a million questions of my own....

[NC_DAVE]

I don't (yet), but thanks for starting this thread NC. .. I'll be looking at the Excalibur Dehydrator's tomorrow. This will be a new venture for me also. But, I don't want to hijack with a million questions of my own....

That is what I got my in-law hooked us up with a coupon from gurneys seed for 200 off you may wanna check that out.

Thanks to everyone else for the feed back I will be running test this week if time allows. I will post any good results or any really bad ones.