How to Dry Food

There are some great advantages to drying your own food. For one, it tastes better than most of the dehydrated food you can buy on the market. It's usually healthier too--you can keep out the added sugars and added fats and chemical perveratives. You can dry food that you grew yourself so that you know exactly what kinds of fertilizers you used on that food. It's also cheaper to do it yourself. And good news: It's not hard to dry your own food!

Dehydration Methods:

Air-Drying

This method dries the food simply by the air circulating around it naturally. A good way to accomplish even circulation is to string the food on clean string, with space between each piece. Hang these strings outside in a dry place (it works even better if you have a bit of a breeze). You will need to bring in the strings at night and hang them back outside during the day. (Drying time depends on the food you're drying as well as the temperature and air flow conditions you have.)

Once the food is dry, you will need to do one of two things: place them in an oven at 175 degrees for 30 minutes. Or place them in a freezer (set at zero) for 2 or 3 days. Either of these methods will kill any insect eggs or other harmful things that can cause spoiling.

Sun-Drying

This method dries food using the sunshine. Sun-drying takes more time than other methods, but it ideal for people that live in warm, low-humidity climates. It's difficult for those living in high humidity places where the risk of spoilage is much greater.

To sun-dry your food, first you need to make (or buy) frames to place your food on. These can be made easily using either an old picture frame (with the glass and backing removed) or a set of 4 wooden stretcher bars (used by artists to stretch over canvas to create a painting surface--they can be found at art stores and are fairly inexpensive). You can also use a window screen (as long as it doesn't have galvanized screen material in it). Take your wooden frame and stretch and staple cheese cloth over it.

Place the food to be dried on the frames and place them in the direct sun. Make sure to prop them up so that air can circulate on all sides (including underneath). Turn them over after 2 or 3 days, to allow the sun to dry the other side.

As with air-drying, you'll need to bring them in at night. And you'll also have to either bake or freeze them (see above) to preserve them.

Using a Dehydrator

This is the most simple of all the methods, although it's also the most costly (however, check around--I got an awesome dehydrator on Craigslist for $25! And it came with 20 trays. It's huge and works wonderfully!) so don't let the cost throw you off. Shop around. (Even if you do end up springing for a new dehydrator, if you use it, it will pay for itself before too long).

Dehydrators come with instructions, so just follow what the manufacturer suggestions. But essentially, you prepare the fruit, load up the trays, plug it in, turn it on and let it do it's work. Depending on the kind of dehydrator you have, it will take hours or days to complete the process. It's definately faster (and easier) than the first 2 methods above.

Oven-Drying

Oven-drying is the fastest method to dehydrate your food. In order to use your oven for drying, food should be placed directly on the oven rack (or on cheese cloth if the food is so small it would fall through). Place the food in a preheated (145 degree) oven and prop the oven door open while drying (to allow moisture to escape). Food dried this way takes 4 to 12 hours.