J Is for Jerky

The beauty of jerky is you can use almost anything to make. Though I have not personally tried it with all of these, I understand it can be made with beef, venison, turkey, pork, chicken, salmon or rabbit. You can even use ground meats for making jerky. The options for flavoring it are just as varied. Common flavors are teriyaki, barbeque, mesquite and spicy.

Tips for Making Jerky

Trim all the fat off. Use only the lean portions of the meat. The fat will become rancid and ruin the jerky if left intact.

Slice the meat when it is still partially frozen in order to control the width of the slices more easily. Slices should be between ¼” to 3/8” thick. The thicker they are, the longer they will take to dry out.

Marinade

You can use almost anything to marinate the meat. It depends on your personal tastes. Here are some common marinates to try:

Worcestershire Sauce

Soy Sauce

Teriyaki Sauce

Barbeque Sauce

Beer

Wine

Italian Dressing

To these you add your spices. We’ll get into recipes for specific flavors later on. For now, these are the basic spices you can use to make jerky: salt, pepper, garlic powder, sugar, onion powder, cloves, cinnamon, and curry. You name it and you can use it.

Let the meat soak in the marinade overnight, for at least 12 hours. Fish and chicken can soak for 4 to 6 hours. Remove the meat from the marinade and pat it dry with paper towels. Marinates don’t work well with ground meats. Instead, add the seasonings you want and use as is.

Dehydrating

Follow the directions that came with your dehydrator for settings. I use between 150 and 175 degrees. Meat will reduce by about 30% when it is done. It should be dry but not brittle. Some cuts of meat are dry enough in six to eight hours, while ground meats can three or four days to complete. Keep checking on it and remove it when it has achieved the consistency you like. Store it in a Ziploc bag or some Tupperware and you’re all set!

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Posted in: dehydrating,recipe,technique,tips

“I” Is for Inexperienced

You may be a little afraid to try food preservation at home, especially if you have no one on hand to walk you through the process.  We were all inexperienced at one point. It’s like learning to read. Once you learn the letters and the sounds they make, you can begin making words. It is the same with any new thing learned.

I recommend starting easy. Dehydrating foods is one of the simplest ways to preserve foods. Many foods required nothing more than slicing into small pieces and distributing on the drying trays. Sealing the finished goods in sealable plastic bags or in mason jars completes the task.

Freezing is also a simple process for many foods. Take blueberries for example. Pick through them to remove any damaged, spoiled or under-ripened berries. Spread them on a baking sheet in a single layer and place the tray in the freezer. Wait a few hours and pour the frozen fruits into freezer containers and seal. Label, date and you are done.

So don’t let your inexperience keep you from trying your hand at food preservation. Keep coming back and we will move through the foods and the seasons, learning the best ways to keep foods fresh and tasty.

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Posted in: blueberries,canning,dehydrating,food preservation,freezing,techniques

“H” Is for Huge

For the A to Z Blogging Challenge, my letter for today’s post is H. At first I was daunted by this but then it came to me. Preserving your own food stocks is huge, huge in many ways.

Huge Investment of Time

This is especially true if you grow much of your own food. Even if you buy the produce or meats, you are still investing a good deal of time in the selection, preparation, processing and storing of the food. While dehydrating foods takes very little time and freezing often even less, canning can take wole days or weekends to complete.

Huge Amounts of Love

You cannot be interested in food preservation without loving both the activity and those it serves. Many people love the idea of having done it themselves, being self-sufficient. Others are motivated by the fact that they know exactly what went into each container. They are satisfied knowing they are serving the freshest healthiest foods they possibly can to their families.

Huge Cost Savings

You buy supplies, for the most part, just once. Dehydrators, canning equipment, even bag sealers are bought once and used over and over. The only consumable items are the lids for the canning jars and freezer safe bags. And the food of course! Plus, by buying foods when they are in season instead of when you want them and they are out of season, you are saving money. Buying in bulk for processing large batches can save you even more.

Home food preservation is a huge world of opportunity to learn and grow while providing for your family.

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Posted in: canning,dehydrating,food preservatoin,freezing,preparation

“D” Is for Dehydrating

Dehydrated bananas, cranberries and pineapples, photo copyright Theresa Leschmann

Dehydrating foods is the act of removing moisture from food in order to preserve it. Moisture together with exposure to air is what leads to food spoilage. People have been using drying techniques for hundreds of years. Today, as I struggle make my budget work and still serve wholesome, natural foods to my family; dehydrating has become part of my routine.

Benefits

Dehydrating foods allows to grow my own foods or stock up on them when they are in season and preserve them for use later in the year when they are no longer abundantly available and therefore cost a small fortune at the grocery store. Take for instance blueberries. In June and July, you can get them everywhere, even indulge in a little agrotourism and visit a local U-Pick. By October, you can buy bags of frozen blueberries or pay upwards of $4/pint in the grocery store for fresh. Dehydrated blueberries will never reconstitute to their fresh state but you can still enjoy the flavor in numerous ways.

Uses

Dehydrated fruits can be used for baking, trial and snack mixes, even added to cold cereals. Dried vegetables are perfect for adding to soups stews, slow-cooked meals and roasts. Dried meats are often used as snacks, such as jerkies. There are endless possibilities

Supplies

If you can provide low humidity and heat, you can dry food almost anywhere. Think about sun-dried tomatoes. These are dried in the sun, exposed to the warm air. Humid locates require different measures. Food drying can be done in the oven providing you can set the temperature to lower than 200 degrees. Many foods are dried at around 170 degrees. Too hot and you begin to cook the foods. There isn’t much air flow in the oven so you have to watch the process carefully, turning the food periodically.

If you have $30 o so, you can buy a simple dehydrator. You can sometimes find them at yard sales and second hand shops too. Older models simply plugged into the wall and started heating. Newer models come with temperature settings. Either will do just fine.

Aside from the oven or a dehydrator, the only other thing you need is containers. Zipper-type storage bags are good. I recommend the freezer type for long term storage. Plastic or glass containers are also good providing you can achieve an air-tight seal. Mason jars filled with dehydrated foods make a lovely display across a counter or on a pantry shelf, in my opinion.

For more information on dehydrating you can read this article on dehydrating. Now all you need to do is buy some food and get started.

I am taking part in the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge. Be sure to check out my other blogs. You’ll find them listed on the side bar. You can also read the blogs of others taking part in the challenge by using the A to Z Challenge button on the side bar tool.

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Posted in: cooking,dehydrating,drying foods,tips

Blueberries Can Be Dehydrated Too!

It won’t be long before blueberries are everywhere: the grocery store, the farm stands, even at the U-picks. In my neck of the woods, this tends to occur in June. By June, my mouth is watering for the taste of fresh blueberries.

My gang likes blueberries. When I say they like blueberries, I mean they LIKE blueberries. I can’t keep enough around. I can them, freeze them and even dehydrate them. Yes, dehydrate them.

Why would you want to dehydrate them? There are a number of reasons. Dehydrated blueberries can be stored in zipper-type plastic bags, mason jars or other tightly sealed containers, none of which take up freezer space. Most recipes for canning blueberries call for adding some amount of sugar. Dehydrated berries have nothing added.

Dehydrated blueberries are also versatile. You can use them in all sorts of recipes where you would use fresh berries. You can also eat them as is, add them to your own snack mixes or toss them in cereal. Directions for dehydrating blueberries are easy to follow and require only that you have a dehydrator and storage containers. Anything else you might need, you probably already own.

When you see blueberries on sale this summer, consider stocking up and dehydrating some for your winter use. You’ll be glad you did.

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Posted in: dehydrating,drying foods,techniques