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COMMUNITY
Ask the Food Expert
Dehydrating Ingredients at Home
Mur's Question:
What are the advantages of dehydrating ingredients ourselves?
— Murray Nolan Dorcas' Answer:
Home dehydration takes time, but gives you the opportunity to:
 Obtain ingredients according to your needs and preferences
(free of additives, salt, etcetera);
Dehydrate foods that are not available commercially;
In some cases, save money;
Increase the variety in your backcountry fare.
But there are definitely situations where it does not make sense to dry. Buying a box of raisins, for example, is much less expensive than buying a huge bag of grapes. Plus, grapes require a large time investment—you have to boil the waxy coating off them, cut each one in half, and then begin the process of drying. Also, some foods are tedious to dry; slicing and dicing a bowl of
onions may not be your idea of fun.
These days, I dry strategically. If I don't have dried mushrooms or tomatoes in the cupboard, I'll buy them at the supermarket, but I do dry items that are not available in dehydrated form, such as spaghetti sauce (I use my favorite store-bought brand and make spaghetti sauce leather) and kiwis (these fruits are unbelievably good when dried).
I've had some notable failures in my experiments. Dehydrated watermelon is boring. Canned baked beans rehydrate into a textureless mass (think: sweet refries). And maple syrup just stays gooey.
Experiment and let us know how it goes!
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