h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Twenty some years ago, I bought a simple electric dehydrator to use up some badly freezer burned and poor grade beef steaks. I made a simple jerky.

Since then, I have made a lot of beef jerky *, some moose jerky, even beef heart - though not much "chew" factor there.

I have tried some fruits and veggies, most with poor results. The best was an assortment of mushroom types . . . They lasted long, and added a lot of flavour to many meals.

What do you use one for?

* Recommendation: do not use a cheap device for several batches of beef jerky, and then try some floral potpourri - unless your partner actually likes beefy scented sachets in her storage of socks and undies.

There maybe a lot of posts about this reply, bit I do not recall ever seeing a dehydrator for sale in any british shop!

They sound good, anyone else seen them, may be in europe

If you have a notion to look for something of long-term storage at places like Amazon - you will find soooo many options. And maybe surprised to find some locally. My first was from a small village hardware shop.

Just as a suggestion . . . .


https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1/255-3728666-6740367?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=food+dehydrator

Thanks for that

I'm more likely to go in the other direction, i.e. adding moisture to the air. One Winter I used a humidifier.

My first one got a bit brittle after so many years. The trays were coming fractured. The newer one of a couple of years ago has a temperature control, and continuous air circulation fan. It works far better, I find.

Today's "experiment" is giblet jerky - a good measure of chicken hearts and gizzards. Each cut to simple pieces, an over-night marinade in soya and Worcestershire sauces, now just patiently becoming tasty nibbles for any time.

Isn't a humidifier just a kettle?

I wouldn't have guessed from the title that it was something for doing something to meat. I have no idea what jerky is, although I've seen it in the shops. Sounds rather embarrassing, so I've never bought any to see what it is.

Here in Germany people may well use a gadget to prevent the cellar from getting damp.

You can get things for drying fruit, but you can just as well do it in the oven. I wouldn't buy one, as I would probably not use one.

http://natürlichfrei.de/en/produkt/klarstein-appleberry-doerrgeraet-doerrautomat-obst-fleisch-und-fruechte-trockner-400w-dehydrator-4-etagen-2-temperaturstufe-zeitschaltuhr-schwarz-gruen/

My electric oven has digital controls, and the lowest temperature I can achieve is 225F - which is too high for careful and slow drying of food stuffs.

And for a humid or damp area of the home, the device is called a dehumidifier.

Jerky is little more than seasoned or salted meats of any sort that are dried low and slow. About all that is lost is the water content, leaving flavour and nutrients intact. Without the moisture - and any salts used - the process pretty much eliminates any growth medium for bacteria, so the product stays useful for very long times. I haven't looked much into the histories, but I believe many cultures have used salt and very low fires and smoke to dry and cure meats and fish for many, many years. The end result is a tasty, chewy snack that can also be more or less reconstituted by soaking.

The device that I have can be set for a range of 95 to 160F (35 to 70C), has a low power fan in the bottom to circulate the warm air throughout the layers and trays - - - and is much less messy that building a fire of wet leaves in my kitchen.

Never seen a cowboy film? Jerky is eaten a lot in those. Must be a process that keeps it preserved for those long rides across the deserts and prairies.

I tried it as a food for on-bike riding once on my long distance cycles. Er.... just no.

All a matter of personal taste perhaps? As a lad raised in fairly rugged farm country, "rougher foods" was much more common than refined cuisine.

Besides the pemmican or jerky, a measure of roasted nuts meats and dried fruits, can be a satisfying meal when away from kitchens for a while. I'm only guessing, but maybe the process of mastication and then the foods arriving in a belly cause it to be reconstituted mostly in volume to satisfy an appetite.

Aside from meats, there is the sliced fruits that people like as chewy snacks. Some make very interesting scented products from flowers and herbs.

And then there was a young mother of triplets that I knew. Snacks for 3 at school was costly, so she tried the electric dehydrator. Many come with a thin sheet for the trays, or you can easily make them yourself. Nearly any fruit, pureed and pored thinly to the device (on a sheet) . . . Voila, gummy fruit roll-ups. Inexpensive, tastier and much more healthy than factory made snack products.

Nuts and dried fruits are great!

New Year's day dinner is a roast of pork loin - which is much larger than the pair of us need. So tomorrow?

Pork jerky ! A recipe suggests soya, Worcestershire, apple cider, brown sugar (which I am short of) - with an option to glaze lightly with honey before taking its time to slow heat and dry.

I've heard that camel *can* pass through the eye of a needle, if it passes through a blender first.

Having recently retired as a city employee of Little Doodah, the Prezident of h2g2 was pondering trying her hand with some food devices. I've suggested a couple sorts of meat stick treats for her pack'o'doggies . . . One chicken sort, and a pork sort. Inexpensive and long-lasting stuff that IS all natural - not like the commercial sorts that may be 60% fillers, chemicals and preservatives