Dehydrated and foods are often found in backcountry traveler's packs. The benefit of dehydrated or freeze dried foods is that the moisture has been removed so they are lighter in weight and easier to transport. They also have a longer life span. If you are an avid backcountry traveler, instead of buying dehydrated fruits in bulk, save money by buying fresh fruit and dehydrating or freeze drying them for camping adventures.
Instructions
Dehydrating
1. Wash off the fruits thoroughly. For larger fruit like apples or pears, slice into small, thin pieces. As a general rule, keep the slices to no more than 1/2 inch thick.
2. Sprinkle enough treatment spice to lightly coat the fruit in order to prevent it from browning.
3. Set the temperature in the dehydrator to 140 degrees.
4. Lay out the prepared fruits on the dehydrator trays. Do not stack more than one layer of fruit on each tray.
5. Place the trays into the dehydrator and "sweat" the fruit for one to two hours. Sweating is the process of heating the outside of the fruit fast, bringing the inside moisture to the fruit's surface. Do not try to remove the fruit to look at it after the two hours; just leave it in the dehydrator and turn down the heat after two hours.
6. Turn the temperature of the dehydrator down to 115 degrees and dehydrate for several hours. Check back every three hours to check the hardness of the drying fruit. When the fruit is leathery and shriveled it is ready to cool.
7. Remove the trays and let the fruit cool. Pack the dried fruits into plastic baggies or mix them into trail mixes.
Freeze Drying
8. Place the berries or sliced fruit pieces into the strainer and wash them off completely. Do not wash blueberries or blueberry relatives like huckleberries or Saskatoon berries. Add these berries to the washed fruit after the others are washed and strained.
9. Slice fruits like apples, apricots and bananas into small slices and chips, no more than 1/2 inch thick.
10. Take the roasting pan (use disposable pans found at grocery stores) and make a series of holes into the sides so it looks like an improvised strainer.
11. Let the fruit dry off and then layer them into a roasting pan. Place no more than one layer of fruit into each, making sure the fruit pieces don't touch each other. Place berries in a separate pan and keep the layer to a single layer of berries per pan.
12. Put the pans into the freezer, keep them in the coldest part of the freezer. Leave them in the freezer for at least six to eight weeks. They fruit dries as a result of the cold semi-arid environment in the freezers.
Tags: more than, after hours, backcountry traveler, dried foods, freeze dried, freeze