What Are You Preserving, and How Are You Doing It? (2016–)

[haresfur]

My first batch of sauerkraut. I bought a crock, mostly because I love functional pottery, but that means I had to make if function. It is wood fired so there is a light ash glaze over the areas that were not dipped in glaze before firing.

 

The estimate for the amount of cabbage needed was way off or else I didn't measure the crock volume properly so I ended up making mostly red cabbage and a less green instead of my plan to do it the other way around. I just used cabbage and a few hot peppers.

 

Cutting up cabbage:

 

 

My scale turns off too fast for the tare to be very useful so I had to do arithmetic. The good thing is I can see what I did if something doesn't turn out right:

 

 

Used the pestle from my green-papaya salad mortar to pound down the cabbage as I added it to the crock:

 

 

This was too much cabbage. I had to take some out so I could get the weights in the crock. I braised the leftover cabbage so that's a bonus:

 

 

A few reserved leaves over the top:

 

 

Squeezed the weights in. At this point there wasn't much brine so I'll have to check and maybe add some tomorrow:

 

 

Decided the best place for the crock was out in the car port:

 

 

[haresfur]

Wow. The cabbage really softened and packed down overnight. So lesson learned is to let it sit with the salt for a while before filling the crock. I added almost a litre of brine to bring the level up over the weights.

 

The other thing is that the temperature fluctuation seems to be affecting the water seal on the crock. Moved it inside to try to keep the temperature more constant. We just turned on the heat but do try to keep the place cool.

[haresfur]

  On 4/19/2020 at 1:02 AM, haresfur said:

Wow. The cabbage really softened and packed down overnight. So lesson learned is to let it sit with the salt for a while before filling the crock. I added almost a litre of brine to bring the level up over the weights.

 

The other thing is that the temperature fluctuation seems to be affecting the water seal on the crock. Moved it inside to try to keep the temperature more constant. We just turned on the heat but do try to keep the place cool.

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Crock is burping every once in a while which is a sign of carbon dioxide production - a good thing. Pulled the lid to check for scum. Everything was clear and it's beginning to smell like kraut. I'm so excited.🤩

[heidih]

Despite the warning in the kumquat marmalade recipe I did a few weeks ago ....I cooked it down too far. Basically sticky caramel candy and impossible to dig out of jar.  I test drove a few bits with some added water in microwave - much better. Added some water to rest of jar and did same.  Such a nice complex flavor.and now I can spread it. Will do another batch when this is used up as kumquats still plentiful on tree.

[haresfur]

Sauerkraut update. Pulled a pint out of the crock today. I was going to put it all in jars in the fridge but I don't have enough room so I'll just take it out bit by bit. I guess I could can it in mason jars but that apparently kills the good probiotic stuff. For some reason, after I sealed the crock back up, it started burping away again. The product:

 

Reubens:

 

 

I forgot to mention, above, that I put some chillies in and it has a nice snap. That's fine because I normally add kimchi to the sauerkraut in my Reubens. Success.

[heidih]

Single jar kumquat marmalade redux. This time I left it bright and sprightly as opposed to the "walk way and accidentally caramelize" version last time. Really good on toasted sourdough and just a touch of cheese melted on top..

[chefmd]

Wasabi pickled carrot ribbons from Karen Solomon Asian pickles cookbook 

[SLB]

So, I got me a dehydrator in February.  Although I have exactly zero room anywhere in my kitchen for any more stuff, I felt I needed it because I have a group of friends I camp/backpack with, and we're trying to take on longer trips --  this plan emerged before the pandemic sat us all down inside --  and carrying a week-plus of non-dehydrated food is . . . well, I'm not into it.  

 

I am the meal planner for this group, and am a real believer in real food on the trail.  Oh.My.God.  The weight that comes off in this process!  Nothing takes up any space once you're done!!  I am LOSING MY MIND with the possibilities!!

 

I should've BEEN had a dehydrator.  It's glorious.  I'm now dehydrating everything in sight, to assess results and to experiment with reconstituted meals.  The cookbook that I'm using (it has a whole chapter just on camp food) is "The Dehydrator Bible".  Some of what's in this book seems strange (there's a suggestion for a five-minute blanch for rhubarb, which seems . . . disastrous).  

 

Anyway -- I'm pretty sure that nobody here except possibly me needs this, but a number of the state extension departments are running preserving courses right now, in part because so many people have resumed eating at home and bulk-buying.  UMaine is actually offering to pair you with a Master Preserver for the duration of the growing season.  You do have to be a Maine resident for that service.   

 

I thought this was such a wonderful, wonderful response to this crisis.  

[Shelby]

  On 6/9/2020 at 5:09 PM, SLB said:

So, I got me a dehydrator in February

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That's great!

 

I need to use mine more.  It's sitting behind a door to the kitchen so it's not like it's hard to access...  I dehydrated a ton of zucchini a couple of summers ago.  Took forever to rehydrate but they were great.  

[Darienne]

I use my dehydrator regularly.  And because I kept the trays from my old one which bit the dust last year, I can actually load it more heavily for some easily dehydrated items, like sliced onions, or at least set up trays before emptying others.

 

I dehydrate onions...into the food processor for slicing...because often when I am cooking large batches of stuff, I am just too lazy to deal properly with the onion instructions and just dump in enough dried onions.  Plus my hands don't work well anymore.  On occasion we can buy ten pounds of onions very cheaply.  In fact, I have a bag awaiting my attention as we speak.

 

I also dehydrate beef liver for the dogs.  Costs a fortune to buy dehydrated at a pet store and I can do the job at home.  First into a regular oven to cook, chop into small pieces and into the dehydrator to dry out completely.

 

Also make fruit leathers, particularly apple with or without chopped nuts in it. 

 

I'm going to try some dehydrated vegetable slices next.

 

Right.  Forgot the endless apple rings.

Edited June 9, 2020 by Darienne (log)

[chromedome]

I used mine a lot last autumn for apple rings, rose hips and homemade "craisins," and I also turned some of my applesauce into fruit leather (to the delight of the grandkids). Might have it out again as early as this evening, because the lovage is going gangbusters in the "community" bed at the community garden and I plan to dry it all summer long.

 

Also I bought a marked-down can of mango puree, some of which will become my next batch of fruit leather (the rest will become a wee batch of sorbet, I think).

[haresfur]

  On 6/9/2020 at 5:09 PM, SLB said:

So, I got me a dehydrator in February.  Although I have exactly zero room anywhere in my kitchen for any more stuff, I felt I needed it because I have a group of friends I camp/backpack with, and we're trying to take on longer trips --  this plan emerged before the pandemic sat us all down inside --  and carrying a week-plus of non-dehydrated food is . . . well, I'm not into it.  

 

I am the meal planner for this group, and am a real believer in real food on the trail.  Oh.My.God.  The weight that comes off in this process!  Nothing takes up any space once you're done!!  I am LOSING MY MIND with the possibilities!!

 

I should've BEEN had a dehydrator.  It's glorious.  I'm now dehydrating everything in sight, to assess results and to experiment with reconstituted meals.  The cookbook that I'm using (it has a whole chapter just on camp food) is "The Dehydrator Bible".  Some of what's in this book seems strange (there's a suggestion for a five-minute blanch for rhubarb, which seems . . . disastrous).  

 

Anyway -- I'm pretty sure that nobody here except possibly me needs this, but a number of the state extension departments are running preserving courses right now, in part because so many people have resumed eating at home and bulk-buying.  UMaine is actually offering to pair you with a Master Preserver for the duration of the growing season.  You do have to be a Maine resident for that service.   

 

I thought this was such a wonderful, wonderful response to this crisis.  

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Doing a backpacking trip on mostly beef jerky and raman noodles was, um, a mistake.🤢

[kayb]

I'm contemplating teaching a canning class at church. I was astounded at how many people my age (65 in a little more than two weeks!) had no clue how to can.

[SLB]

  On 6/9/2020 at 10:41 PM, haresfur said:

  On 6/9/2020 at 5:09 PM, SLB said:

onderful response to this crisis.  

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Doing a backpacking trip on mostly beef jerky and raman noodles was, um, a mistake.🤢

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Hmm.  I thought that with enough walking, one did not need dietary fiber . . . .

Edited June 10, 2020 by SLB (log)

[haresfur]

  On 6/9/2020 at 11:45 PM, SLB said:

 

Hmm.  I thought that with enough walking, one did not need dietary fiber . . . .

 

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Keeping moving wasn't the problem

[Smithy]

Damn all you enablers, now you've got me thinking I need a dehydrator. Or at least, that I could justify having one.

 

  On 6/9/2020 at 5:35 PM, chromedome said:

<snip> Might have it out again as early as this evening, because the lovage is going gangbusters in the "community" bed at the community garden and I plan to dry it all summer long.

 

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Please say more about the lovage. Mine is going great guns, and I mave to admit that I usually just admire it without remembering to use it. If you dehydrate it, how much does the flavor change? Do you rehydrate before later use, or just throw it dehydrated into (say) stews, soups, pasta dishes?

[chromedome]

I don't find a whole lot of change, though admittedly I've mostly used it dried.

 

I don't rehydrate. If I'm using it in something liquid - as you say, soups, stews, pasta dishes - I'll just throw it in as-is. Sometimes I pulverize it a bit in my mortar & pestle or spice grinder, depending what I'm doing with it. I treat it mainly as a celery alternative, so I use it ground-up in things like marinades and dry rubs where I'd like a bit of celery flavor. More or less the way people use celery seed, I suppose. I haven't grown it myself (because reasons) and therefore have never really had enough to use freely and experiment widely with, hence my excitement to take full advantage now.

 

I'll certainly be using the fresh as well, but we were on the topic of dehydrating so that's what I led with.

 

A dehydrator is something I'd often thought of getting, but somehow it had never gotten to the top of the "things to buy for my kitchen" list. This one was a gift from the in-laws: It's a Salton, and I can pretty much guarantee it's about the cheapest and lowest-end model available in my neck of the woods, but it's perfectly adequate for my (modest) needs. I've made several batches of jerky in it, dried two autumns' worth of apples, and put up a fair quantity of herbs (some I don't dry, of course...for things like cilantro I'll puree with a smidge of oil and freeze). It's a handy tool, and mine makes a low-profile stack about the size of a Dutch oven when it's in use, so it doesn't take up a lot of space (the trays can stack "tight" or "tall" depending on usage..."tight" keeps your herbs from blowing around but it's also good for storage purposes).

 

 

[Darienne]

  On 6/10/2020 at 11:43 AM, Smithy said:

Damn all you enablers, now you've got me thinking I need a dehydrator. Or at least, that I could justify having one.

 

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There's really no need to buy a dehydrator.  I have dehydrated many items in my oven.   Just turn the oven to its lowest temperature and stick a double oven glove in the opening.  Voilà.  A dehydrator par excellence. 

[heidih]

  On 6/10/2020 at 1:11 PM, Darienne said:

There's really no need to buy a dehydrator.  I have dehydrated many items in my oven.   Just turn the oven to its lowest temperature and stick a double oven glove in the opening.  Voilà.  A dehydrator par excellence. 

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Exactly!  We had a double gas oven. My dad used to make the most incredible beef jerky. Our drams were infused with the beefy spicy aroma, No glove as ours held very low temp steady easily overnight.  My ex ordered one of those "as seen on TV" ones. It worked but was small and the clean-up was more trouble than the appliance was worth. Whoever got it at the garage sale probably loves it though.

[kayb]

  On 6/10/2020 at 11:43 AM, Smithy said:

Damn all you enablers, now you've got me thinking I need a dehydrator. Or at least, that I could justify having one.

 

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I bought an el cheapo Ambiano brand dehydrator at Aldi for $19.99 two or three years ago. I use it a good deal. Should have dried apples off my heavily laden tree last fall, but didn't; I will this year. I've dried most veggies, some with more success than others (I thought cucumber chips ought to be good; they weren't). have dried a good many herbs, and made jerky once. Jerky was OK; I cut it too thick. I dry tomatoes all the time, rehydrate some to use for sauce, and just gnaw on a lot of them.

 

Also, I agree with Darienne; you can use your oven easily enough. The downside to that is that I tend to get the dehydrator going when I'm in a big notion for cooking, anyway, and then my oven is tied up for an extended period and a lot of other stuff comes to a halt. I could avoid that if I did it overnight, but evening is not when I'm in the notion to stand at the counter and prep fruits and veggies for the dehydrator. I guess I could put them on cookie sheets earlier in the day and let them sit until I was through with the oven for the day.

 

I do like that the dehydrator has openwork plastic racks; I have only one rack that fits in a half sheet pan, and I often want to dehydrate two pans' worth.

[Darienne]

  On 6/10/2020 at 4:47 PM, kayb said:

 

I bought an el cheapo Ambiano brand dehydrator at Aldi for $19.99 two or three years ago. I use it a good deal. Should have dried apples off my heavily laden tree last fall, but didn't; I will this year. I've dried most veggies, some with more success than others (I thought cucumber chips ought to be good; they weren't). have dried a good many herbs, and made jerky once. Jerky was OK; I cut it too thick. I dry tomatoes all the time, rehydrate some to use for sauce, and just gnaw on a lot of them.

 

Also, I agree with Darienne; you can use your oven easily enough. The downside to that is that I tend to get the dehydrator going when I'm in a big notion for cooking, anyway, and then my oven is tied up for an extended period and a lot of other stuff comes to a halt. I could avoid that if I did it overnight, but evening is not when I'm in the notion to stand at the counter and prep fruits and veggies for the dehydrator. I guess I could put them on cookie sheets earlier in the day and let them sit until I was through with the oven for the day.

 

I do like that the dehydrator has openwork plastic racks; I have only one rack that fits in a half sheet pan, and I often want to dehydrate two pans' worth.

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How do you prepare your tomatoes for drying?  And what size tomatoes are you talking about?  

 

Twelve years ago when we rented a house in Moab, the former tenants (who left it in an unbelievable state) also left behind a lot of baking items, including several metal racks with folding legs which have come in so handy.  It means that I can load a second cookie sheet on top of a first, just making certain that the feet are not on top of the lower food.   Yes, we took all of the items home with us.  

[kayb]

  On 6/10/2020 at 5:18 PM, Darienne said:

How do you prepare your tomatoes for drying?  And what size tomatoes are you talking about?  

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I use a lot of cherry tomatoes, and those I just cut inhalf, drizzle with a little oil, and salt, then put cut-side-up on the rack. Larger tomatoes, I'll slice in about 3/8 inch slices, salt and let them drain on a rack over the sink for an hour or so, then put in the dehydrator. I may or may not drizzle with a little oil. I like to dehydrate Romas sliced like that, but I'll do larger slicing tomatoes if I have a few I need to do something with, and it's not enough to trouble with canning.

[SLB]

Oh wow.  You dehydrate them oiled.  That's interesting -- my worry is about oil going rancid over time in regular room-temp air.

 

It's on my mind because I'm trying to approximate (with improvements) a version of dehydrated hummus.  [Again -- this is for the trial; there's a commercial version of dehydrated hummus to which you just add regular-temp water.  We do that, and slather it on pita, it's a really good lunch that even a vegetarian can enjoy.  But of course I'm certain that I can do it tastier, and more cheaply.].

 

What I'd like to try is, make a fully-hooked-up bean puree with garlic and seasoning and -- ahem, oil; and the dehydrate that.  But I haven't come across a notion of dehydrating stuff finished and fatty.  In fact, the warning for meats is:  use the lean cuts because the fats are going to go rancid.  Which is where I got the worry of rancidity.

 

We're not going anywhere until autumn at the earliest, so I have some time to experiment.  But I had actually been leaning toward -- dehydrate cooked beans, then pulverize it into a dry good.  Add dry seasoning (carefully, and obvs no tahine), and consider carrying any oil for last minute flourish.  

 

@kayb, your experience of dehydrating oiled produce suggests that something else might be possible, tho.  I might just go on and try to dehydrate a finished product (seasoned and even oiled).  

Edited June 11, 2020 by SLB (log)

[heidih]

  On 6/11/2020 at 9:39 PM, SLB said:

Oh wow.  You dehydrate them oiled.  That's interesting -- my worry is about oil going rancid over time in regular room-temp air.

 

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Well I know less than nothing but my first thought (which I've been counseled to shutter) is that let us say beef for jerky certainly has fat in it so????

[kayb]

  On 6/11/2020 at 9:39 PM, SLB said:

Oh wow.  You dehydrate them oiled.  That's interesting -- my worry is about oil going rancid over time in regular room-temp air.

 

It's on my mind because I'm trying to approximate (with improvements) a version of dehydrated hummus.  [Again -- this is for the trial; there's a commercial version of dehydrated hummus to which you just add regular-temp water.  We do that, and slather it on pita, it's a really good lunch that even a vegetarian can enjoy.  But of course I'm certain that I can do it tastier, and more cheaply.].

 

What I'd like to try is, make a fully-hooked-up bean puree with garlic and seasoning and -- ahem, oil; and the dehydrate that.  But I haven't come across a notion of dehydrating stuff finished and fatty.  In fact, the warning for meats is:  use the lean cuts because the fats are going to go rancid.  Which is where I got the worry of rancidity.

 

We're not going anywhere until autumn at the earliest, so I have some time to experiment.  But I had actually been leaning toward -- dehydrate cooked beans, then pulverize the dry good.  Add dry seasoning (carefully, and obvs no tahine), and consider carrying any oil for last minute flourish.  

 

@kayb, your experience of dehydrating oiled produce suggests that something else might be possible, tho.  I might just go on and try to dehydrate a finished product (seasoned and even oiled).  

 

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TBH, I never thought about the possibility of rancidity. I've never had an issue with it. I usually bag the dried tomatoes in plastic, closed loosely, or put them in a container with a loose lid, and leave them on the counter or in the pantry. Some I'll pull when they still have some moisture in them, and those I'll bag and freeze, which seems to work just as well.

 

Truth be told, the countertop ones don't last long enough to become rancid. I munch them like candy. I tend to cook with the freezer ones. But I've kept them room temp as long as maybe a month, and no rancidity (if that's a word).