Preserving Food

[Hamish]

In anticipation of the day when my system produces more food than I can consume I am investigating various ways to preserve the food and consume over a longer time span.

Obviously there is:

Canning, Bottling/Jars.
Freezing.
Vacuum bagging.
Drying.
Pickeling.

Freezing is pretty easy - as long as there is a constant supply of electricity. However what happens off grid or when the power fails.

I looked at dehydrators - but they are up to $500 for a 600W unit that still needs power - and it only has 6 square foot of drying area.

As an alternative I am currently investigating solar dehydrators. I will post any plans or links I find.

Here is a good starting point:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself/2006-08-01/Build-a-Solar-Food-Dehydrator.aspx

Anyone else have any hints and tips for storing food to add to this thread?

[echidna]

Don't forget-

Fermentation
Salting
Sugar (jams)

Have a look at http://www.cd3wd.com/CD3WD_40/CD3WD/index.htm
for lots of samples of all of the various approaches as well as guides for all sorts of useful things.

[GaryD]

......and there's smoking, too.

[fuzvulf]

Storey Publishing has a good pamphlet on drying:

http://www.storey.com/book_detail.php?isbn=9781580172189&cat=Country%20Food&p=99

Another resource can be found here:

http://thurston.wsu.edu/Food%20Safety/storingharvestresources.pdf

There is also a book by Storey publishing called "A guide to
Canning, Freezing, Curing & Smoking Meat, Fish & Game"

A method of preserving food that keeps it closer to it's fresh consistency is flash freezing, if you have access to a place that sells dry ice, you can flash freeze it in the dry ice, put it in a vacuum bag and put that in your freezer. The advantage is that when you flash freeze something it doesn't have a chance to form large ice crystals that rupture the cell walls of what you are freezing and so when you thaw it out to eat it you don't get mush. you put the dry ice in a cooler chest and put a layer of aluminum foil on top of the dry ice. Get an aluminum pan and put a little oil in the bottom. Put a layer of wax paper in the pan and the oil holds it in place. You can then put your fruits and veggies on top of the aluminum foil. Put all that in the chest cooler and lower the lid. Don't seal it off or you might have a rather loud boom as your cooler blows its lid off into the bush and possibly shattering the cold plastic of the chest itself. after about 30 minutes you can take your fruit out and put it into vacuum seal bags and then when you are ready to eat them they will thaw into a state a lot closer to the way they were when you picked them than the baby food consistency they usually come out as. Hope this helps.

Also I will dig through my books, I have plans for a solar powered dryer that has something like 3 square metre drying surface. I may also have plans for a smoker and a smokehouse if the flood didn't get the ones I drew up when my uncle took over the old farm and tore down all the buildings *(nit). My family used to butcher animals when I was a kid. If I do, I'll either draw up a set electronically or take a picture.

[hellbent]

i have been dehydrating meat for about 10 years now. started with a cheapo ronco dehydrator, bought a prosumer model off of ebay for $150 usd. its a knock off of the exalibur models. it does have a 500w heating element but it dries the beef jerky in 1/2 to 3/4 the time of my old dehydrator. i can make 6 lbs of beef jerky in my 6 tray model between 8-12 hours.
you could also make a drying box i suppose.

[Tsaphah]

Hi Hellbent,

Us South African expats make something called biltong, which (personally) tastes much better than beef jerky. Just Google and you will find a ton of recipes and its dead easy to make a drier, even a cardboard box with a PC fan and maybe a 40W light bulb if its a humid climate.

It doesn't matter where in the world you go, find a South African and he'll tell you how, if not where to get biltong:cool:

I did a lot of hiking when I was younger and bought a electric food dehydrator similar to the Ronco type and used it extensively. Also used the microwave to do a chicken dish that just needed rehydrating and warming up.

[hellbent]

Interesting, but well, you havent tried my beef jerky =)
I make:
Hickoryaki (tm)
Sweet Chili
Red Thai Coconut Curry
Hoisin
Pulehu (salt and pepper) flavors.

I tried to make Miso and Raspberry Chipotle, but those were not popular.

[Tsaphah]

Hmmmm! Recipes please. I'm game to try something new!
Pity customs will not let it through. The dogs know the smell way too well!!!:D
Cayenne peper blows their senses for a few hours though! Don't ask...:rolleyes:

[hellbent]

hoisin is simple... coat meat with hoisin sauce, stir meat every few hours. i use top round, leaner meat is better for beef jerky.

sweet chili is made using a sauce called mae ploy. it tastes similar to jimmy's beef jerky.

red curry, just follow instructions on bottle. a few ounces of thai red curry paste, a can of coocnut milk, i put in extra spices like turmeric and curry powder to give it a kick. some sea salt. if you want you can also add some peanut butter to get a satay kind of taste.

pulehu is a marinade of garlic, salt, pepper, and a splash of lemon juice. it has a simple meaty flavor.