Food drying: health benefits and long shelf life

If you want to dry your food as efficiently and professionally as possible and in raw food quality, we recommend a dehydrator. Especially if you dry in large quantities and value low raw food temperatures, the purchase of a dehydrator can be very worthwhile. The food dries much faster than at room temperature and you use much less energy than with an oven.

Thanks to the efficient combination of air exchange and constant temperature, the food dries quickly and gently. You can set the exact temperature in the dehydrator, which not only has a positive effect on preserving the ingredients, but also ensures that your food dries faster.

This blog article gives you an insight into the world of dehydrating, reports on the health benefits and the steps involved in dehydrating. You can easily do this with the help of instructions. Convinced? Here are the many positive aspects of dehydrating.

Drying can preserve fruit, vegetables and even flowers for a long time

Advantages of dehydrating

#1 Extend seasonality: Dried food is always in season!

By drying freshly harvested food from your own garden, you can extend your self-sufficiency enormously. Of course, you can also use bought, seasonal food. What is in season is extremely fresh and usually available at lower prices. This way you can start a bulk purchase and preserve your acquisitions for later.

#2 Flavour

Dried foods are extremely flavourful, as the ingredients are very concentrated and are not "diluted" by water. The water content decreases by up to 60-80% during drying, which means that the flavours are much more pronounced. This is why dried fruit (e.g. apple rings, apricots) also tastes much sweeter than fresh, raw fruit.

By dehydrating food, you can make your harvest available regardless of the season and snack on delicious figs at any time

#3 Nutrient and content density thanks to raw food temperature

The great thing about dried food: They largely retain their nutrients, as drying - unlike boiling - does not require particularly high temperatures. Most foods can be dried at 35-50°C, which is particularly gentle on the nutrients and vitamins they contain. Dried fruit and vegetables, for example, contain particularly high levels of antioxidants, polyphenols and fibre. In addition, valuable minerals such as potassium, iron, calcium and magnesium are an integral part of dried foods.

#4 Low space requirement

Dried berries, fruit and herbs also take up very little space in storage. This is because almost all of the water escapes during the drying process and the dry mass therefore has less volume. After all, berries, for example, have a very high water content!

Dried foods such as apple slices have a much smaller volume than fresh apples due to the removal of water during drying

#5 Durability

Once dried, you can store your dried food as fruit or vegetable crisps or process it directly into powder, which saves even more space. Drying is therefore super effective and guarantees a long shelf life of 12 - 24 months.

Instructions for drying food

If you've now got a real taste for dehydrating, here's a step-by-step guide to successfully drying your food. Here we go!

Important principle: When preserving by drying, the aim is to reduce the water content of the food as much as possible. This is because bacteria and moulds cannot survive at a low water content of less than 20%. They need water to grow and multiply.

Berries such as kiwis have a very high water content, which must be minimised to ensure a long shelf life

1. Preparation

Before drying, you should check your dried goods for damaged and rotten areas, possible pest infestation and diseases. Rotten spots on apples, apricots etc. are best cut away generously. You should only use ready-to-eat fruit for drying that you would eat straight away. As with eating raw fruit and vegetables, everyone should decide for themselves whether to use washed or unwashed fruit.

2. cutting

Cut your dry goods into small pieces or slices. Make sure that your dry goods are always of a comparable size or slice thickness. This will ensure even drying with the same drying time. For example, if some apple rings are 2 mm thick and others are twice as thick, they will dry very unevenly. Large vegetables and fruit such as apples, sweet potatoes or parsnips should be cut into slices, as this makes the drying process much quicker and more efficient. Smaller dried goods such as berries or seeds can of course be dried whole.

3. distribute on the shelves

Spread your prepared pieces or slices evenly on the drying racks of the dehydrator. You don't need to leave a lot of space, as all the pieces will shrink together quite a bit during the drying process. You can therefore place everything close together at first.

4. select the correct temperature setting

The ideal temperature for drying and dehydrating is between 30 - 50 °C. The higher the temperature, the more nutrients (especially vitamin C) are lost. Gentle drying is therefore the be-all and end-all for valuable ingredients, a good flavour and a long shelf life. If you start drying at too high a temperature, the outer layer hardens relatively quickly and traps the moisture inside.

5 Allow to cool and pack

Once your dried goods have cooled down a little, you can either leave them to dry at room temperature for 1-2 days or pack them directly. Breathable paper bags or screw-top jars are most suitable. If the jars are tightly sealed, you should check in the first few weeks whether there is any residual moisture, which would reduce the shelf life. If, for example, individual drops of water form on screw-top jars or they mist up on the inside, there was still too much residual moisture. You should then allow them to dry again.

Suitable foods for drying

There are many more foods from your own self-catering that are suitable for drying than you might initially think. Dried fruit and vegetable crisps are commercially available, common dried goods that keep for a very long time. With all these foods, you can assume that you can dry them just as well yourself. The deeper you delve into the subject, the more foods you discover that are also suitable for drying. You can easily dry your own herbs for teas and spice blends or dry mushrooms for sauces and other dishes!

The following foods are ideal for drying yourself:

Fruit and berries

(barberry, goji, apple, pear, raspberries, strawberries, plums, apricots, redcurrants, chokeberries, sultanas, figs)

Herbs

(nettle, bay leaf, thyme, sage, rosemary, marigold, savoury, yarrow, cornflower,...)

Mushrooms

(porcini mushrooms, button mushrooms, shiitake)

Vegetables

(sweet potato, beetroot, potato, carrot, courgette, pepper, chilli, parsnip, parsley root, celery, kale, tomatoes)

Chilli can be preserved for a very long time by drying

Seeds

(nettle, evening primrose, ribwort plantain, fennel, coriander, caraway, mustard, dill...)

Dried herbs and flowers can be processed into decorative flower blends and aromatic teas

Digression: Are drying and dehydrating the same thing?

Dehydrating is nothing more than preserving food such as fruit and vegetables by air drying. The term "drying" is derived from the old German term "derren" or "to dry". the kiln, a grid-like support structure that was used for drying at the time. Accordingly, the two terms 'drying' and 'dehydrating' can be equated in the context of food utilisation.

Preservation, storage and shelf life of home-dried foods

If stored correctly, you can keep your dried food for years without the quality deteriorating. The ideal storage location is not too warm, but dry and protected from light. A temperature between 5-20 °C is suitable. Your stored goods should also be completely dried out and cooled down before bottling so that no moisture condenses in the store! Screw-top jars or paper bags are suitable for storage, depending on the purpose you are using them for. If you have made crispy vegetable crisps, they should be packed airtight to prevent them from becoming soggy. This aspect is not crucial when producing soft fruit such as apricots or sultanas. You can store your dried foods whole or ground into powder. Dried berries such as redcurrants, chokeberries and raspberries in particular can be used to make unique powders. These can be stored in a space-saving manner, preferably protected from light in a tinted screw-top jar or in a cupboard. These powders are perfect for smoothies or other desserts. The dried foods have a very long shelf life if stored correctly. If you regularly check for changes in flavour, smell and appearance, you are on the safe side. As a guide, you can take the following information to heart: Dried fruit, mushrooms and vegetables will keep for 8-12 months as they naturally contain a lot of moisture. Seeds and herbs can be kept for 12-18 months without any problems, sometimes even considerably longer. This depends heavily on the cleanliness of your work and the quality of the harvest. If processed correctly during the drying process and stored properly, most home-dried foods will keep for several years.

Author: Til from Selbstfairsorger Garten

The Selbstfairsorger garden blog is all about self-sufficiency from your own garden. The author Til explains in an innovative way how you can grow vegetables, herbs and fruit in the garden, harvest them and utilise them in the kitchen all year round. He emphasises the importance of natural, sustainable gardening.