I'm getting a dehydrator for Christmas, a late Christmas present because it's still in the mail apparently.
What are some things I should dehydrate? I'm looking for clever things besides the usual jerky, fruit leather, and herbs I've seen listed by every website. Something clever I've read about was dehydrating meals and creating your own MREs that you just have to add hot water to from some hikers/campers website.
Maybe fish? Or what about some other obscure cuts of meat?
Bump
You can dehydrate mushrooms easily and they work great for soups
Watermelon. For real.
Yeah watermelon would be stupid.
you're stupid
True, give more ideas. Do people here dehydrate anything? What's the difference between dehydrating and simply slow baking something?
JERKY!!! It lasts forever and is fucking amazing. Just make sure you let it marinate for a good 2 days. I recommend using londonbroil and waiting for it to go on sale so you can get a shit load.
forgot pic
also make sure you don't over dehydrate it and keep swapping the racks from bottom to top while checking the smaller pieces for doneness. My jerky is always best if the center is still ever so slightly moist. Make sure to store in a vacuum bag in the fridge to help keep it nice and tender
So that brings up the next part. Storage.
How long can you store dehydrated foods? Logic tells me sort of indefinitely and that it has a long storage life but how would you go about determining an expiration date? Does how moist you dehydrate jerky play a factor? I'm guessing the moister it is the shorter its shelf date.
Around 2 months without freezing but It depends on a few factors.
1. moistness left in the meat (that's what the bacteria needs to live)
2. the amount of salt in the marinade
3. the package you store it in
4. the amount of meat in each package
5. weather you keep it in a refrigerator
I'm kinda anal about my jerky but you should be good for up to two months with this method. Make sure the meat is slightly moist still, because flavor/tenderness trumps lifespan. Use a soy sauce based marinade so that you get a good amount of salt. Make sure to use a vacuum bag when you store it for maximum shelf life. Don't just put the whole batch in one bag, split it up so there are about 2 servings (like 8-12 pieces) per bag. Store it in the back of fridge (or wherever is the coldest part). I like to put all the little packages I made in a paper bag to prevent light from getting in. Also, if you make to much, just freeze a bit.
That'll make it last, but you'll probably binge eat most of it fairly quickly
2 months is pretty short, any ways to extend that?
Perhaps dehydrating the meats more and vacuum sealing? I know your anal about taste and flavor but hypothetically how would one extend shelf life without resorting to adding preservatives or more salt.
2 options:
freeze some after you bag it. It has basically no effect on it.
Just make it dryer. with zero moisture it will last for years user
How much are you planning on making? Or do you think you won't be eating it very often after you make it? In reality if you do what I said above it will likely be more than 2 months, I've never had a batch that wasn't eaten by then though. Last one I made was able to fill three gallon bags and was gone in just over a month an a half (mind you I did share it though). Just use your senses to determine the freshness.
thats straight up how my jerky looks
Hell yeah user! I think we need more jerky threads.
>How much are you planning on making?
A lot maybe. I want to do enough to last maybe 5 months.
chicharrones
Like pork rinds?
yes pork rinds. very delicious home dried 'n fried, and it opens up seasoning possibilities beyond "hot" and "bbq".
If it's fried though then it's not just dehydrated. I think the idea are products or easily dehydrated items that involve a one ingredient maybe two ingredient process. Jerky is a good example of this.
your loss. dehydrate some watermelon.
Well OP was just asking for ideas of things to utilize the new dehydrator pork rinds are a good example of that
Salmon skin is bomb dried as well it becomes a crispy light snack a bit oily by itself though (just natural oils) pairs fantastic on top of a filet or used as a chip base for tapenade.
Might sound a bit off but olives dehydrate really well too. Drain them of liquid and rinse them off otherwise you get deposits of salt on them then dry them for two days flavor isn't affected that much but they can be microplaned as a garnish or just munched on they are obviously on the salty side of things.
Capers are similar to the olives but a bit crunchier in texture.
Salmon skin and olives sound good
Silica gel packets and vacuum sealing.