Our family raises a large garden every year.   We also have many fruit trees and berry bushes.  We can’t eat all of the fruits and vegetables before they over ripen or go bad, so what are we to do?  We do can and freeze great quantities of produce, but one of our favorite methods of preserving food is dehydrating.

Canning is wonderful.  But the bottles take a lot of space and are prone to breakage.  Frozen foods can, if handled properly, taste almost as good as fresh.  But, if the power goes out, a lot of food, and the hard work that it took to put it there, may go to waste.

Dehydrated foods are probably the easiest to store in so many ways.  For one thing, they take a fraction of the space that they did when they were fresh.  Very few individuals have too much space at their house, and pantry space is usually at a premium.  I can pretty much fit a whole bushel of food, after dehydrating, into a gallon jar.  That much food can go a long ways.  And it doesn’t take power to store, thus saving money.

Dried foods usually don’t spoil, and, if they do, it was probably because they weren’t dried properly.  Some items need to be blanched, and some don’t.  But all should be very dry before storing.  It is very important to follow recommended procedures.

Dried foods are easy to use.  It wouldn’t be hard to put together a soup or stew if there are dried onions, carrots, potatoes, and other things in the pantry.  After all, we use more dried foods than most of us realize on an everyday basis.  How about macaroni?  Granulated garlic?  Raisins?  Some can be tossed into the pan of water and reconstituted while cooking.  Others may need to be soaked for a short time, but that’s okay.  Defrosting takes time too.  I maintain that drying foods and then using them later takes less time that most of us think.

That thought brings up another point.  I find it difficult to keep all the fresh produce on hand that I would like to have.  Onions spoil, potatoes don’t always last all winter, and carrots wither away.  If I have dried vegetables on hand, I am guaranteed to have what I need for the meals that I prepare.  The trick here is storing what you use.  If I use onions in practically everything, but my family hates celery, then it would be a better user of space to dry a lot of onions.  Then I can toss in a handful whenever I want, and I don’t have to pay high, winter prices at the store when I do.

Dried foods are versatile.  Fruits can be used in breads, pies, fruit leather, desserts, and just eaten plain.  Dried vegetables are great in many main dishes such as soups, stews, casseroles, and other things.  They make great snacks.  I find it easier to get my five servings of fruits and vegetables a day with dried fruit around.  Not only that, but my children will eat whatever is available.  If I have cookies out, they eat them.  If I leave a jar of dried apples out, they eat them, especially if I put them in a really cool jar or pretty bowl.  Why use a candy dish for candy?  Why not fill it with yummy dried plums or apples?  Perhaps a variety would be nice.  Add in some apricots too, and maybe peaches.  It would look nice on the countertop, and I think it would be quite a treat.

Fruit leather is a favorite in our family.  Remember those fruit rolls in the grocery store?  Children love them!  But mine prefer our homemade ones.  They have so much more flavor.  When they take them in their lunch on a school outing, they always have to take a lot because they end up sharing with at least half the class.  I love seeing them eat something that was essentially free, but really very valuable, nutritionally speaking.

I suppose, in a nutshell, that is one of the greatest benefits of dehydrating.  It gives us a way to preserve virtually free garden and orchard produce so that we can reap the benefits of all that wonderful nutrition all year long.

Some may say that they don’t have a big garden, but have you ever noticed that in nearly every neighborhood there is an overabundance of something every year?  Keep your ears open.  One day our family was driving down a street, and I saw an apple tree that hadn’t been picked.  The apples were dropping, and I wondered if anyone was interested in them at all.  So I got up the courage to knock and ask, and the sweet lady there was more than happy to see someone use her apples, and she got some applesauce and apple butter out of the bargain.  And we got several bushels of apples that we canned and dried, along with a new friend.  The produce is there if you are willing to look for it.  But remember that if someone is kind enough to share with you, share back some of the delicious, homemade items you have made from what they have given you.

Another concern is the time it takes to process the food.  It really doesn’t take that long, especially if children help.  In our family, we all eat, so we all help.  I enjoy watching my children sit around the kitchen table while they are cutting apricots for drying.  They are talking and singing, and quite a few pieces never make it to the dehydrator tray.  That’s fine with me.  They are learning some valuable lessons about using what we have, saving money, and eating well.

And their favorite part of it all is that we are eating well.