Question Dehydrating

[Rhonda]

i also make fruit leather in my dehydrators

Hi there. Yes I have watched You Tube clips on how to. Maybe if the Children or the Gran babies were here I would have a try. I am thinking of having a go at makeing Liver treats for the dog, seems easy enough

 

[daveb]

One thing i would ahve to look for the thread i had replied on a thread some time ago and posted some links to passive solar dehydrators , look up mother earth news solar dehydrators they have some planes for them

 

[daveb]

the link and the layout from mother earth news is at bottom of marks thread on thai jerky https://www.selfsufficientculture.com/threads/thai-style-beef-jerky-recipe.165/#post-30939

 

[CookingMO]

Lately I have seen some people doing some stuff like dehydrating milk and liquids and then adding water to it later

 

[Scottish_Maiden]

Lately I have seen some people doing some stuff like dehydrating milk and liquids and then adding water to it later

Dehydrating liquids is one of those things where you need to calculate the cost of energy to run your food dehydrator against the quality and value of the final product. If you happen to own cows or goats or sheep and wish to dehydrate top-grade grass-fed, organic and/or raw milk for the slow milking season, and running the entire operation off your own solar panels, then its probably worth the effort regardless of cost. But if you're buying commercial milk and dehydrating it for storage, its probably more cost-effective to buy the dehydrated product as the big processors use much more efficient machines. Its one of those things that you should experiment at least once (dehydrate your own, and then rehydrate) so you know how to do it and what the final cost will be, but do the back-of-envelope calculation on energy before you do a huge batch. You'll probably find that learning how to make cheese, kefir or yogurt, and keep it fresh in a "cheese cellar" to age, is a much more cost-effective way of storing milk.

Powdered eggs are a different calculation as there are a lot fewer commercial powdered egg processors, so the cost is pretty pricey. If you own your own chickens, or have access to affordable grass-fed, free range fresh eggs, its worth your while to learn how to scramble, freeze dry and powder whole eggs, and then do a back-of-the-envelope calculation as to the cost (including energy usage) versus commercially dehydrated powdered eggs. I scramble mine (UNCOOKED), dehydrate them in my Cosori (don't own a freeze dryer, but have used a friends), and then chop them into a coarse powder in my blender, and then run them through my Country Living Grain Mill to get t hem into a fine powder. Without that last step -- grinding them into flour grade -- the rehydrated self-made eggs will be lumpy and uneven. But if you can grind them small enough, then they work okay in baking mix as a binding agent, for French toast, or scrambled just a bit in a dish such as fried rice, but rehydrated PRE-COOKED eggs scrambled and eaten -- home-dehydrated or commercial -- are always a bit of a disappointment just the way that rehydrated powdered milk is. You will need to specially store unpasteurized, dehydrated egg powder as pathogens are always a "thing".

Don't bother cooking eggs and then dehydrating them, however, unless you are putting together your own hiking MRE's as dehydrated pre-cooked eggs just aren't all that good in-bulk. They're okay if you make a fried rice stir-fry (broken into small pieces) and then dehydrate it for trail food.

Again, if you need to store eggs from your own chickens, its probably more cost efficient (once you calculate the cost of electricity) to learn how to "water glass" store your eggs. Unwashed, fresh eggs will store for several months if properly limed, and will taste just like fresh eggs for at least the first few months of storage. If you have your own chickens, planning around the winter solstice slow season + water-glassing will usually get you through the slow season, no dehydration required.

 

[daveb]

Dehydrating liquids is one of those things where you need to calculate the cost of energy to run your food dehydrator against the quality and value of the final product. If you happen to own cows or goats or sheep and wish to dehydrate top-grade grass-fed, organic and/or raw milk for the slow milking season, and running the entire operation off your own solar panels, then its probably worth the effort regardless of cost. But if you're buying commercial milk and dehydrating it for storage, its probably more cost-effective to buy the dehydrated product as the big processors use much more efficient machines. Its one of those things that you should experiment at least once (dehydrate your own, and then rehydrate) so you know how to do it and what the final cost will be, but do the back-of-envelope calculation on energy before you do a huge batch. You'll probably find that learning how to make cheese, kefir or yogurt, and keep it fresh in a "cheese cellar" to age, is a much more cost-effective way of storing milk.

Powdered eggs are a different calculation as there are a lot fewer commercial powdered egg processors, so the cost is pretty pricey. If you own your own chickens, or have access to affordable grass-fed, free range fresh eggs, its worth your while to learn how to scramble, freeze dry and powder whole eggs, and then do a back-of-the-envelope calculation as to the cost (including energy usage) versus commercially dehydrated powdered eggs. I scramble mine (UNCOOKED), dehydrate them in my Cosori (don't own a freeze dryer, but have used a friends), and then chop them into a coarse powder in my blender, and then run them through my Country Living Grain Mill to get t hem into a fine powder. Without that last step -- grinding them into flour grade -- the rehydrated self-made eggs will be lumpy and uneven. But if you can grind them small enough, then they work okay in baking mix as a binding agent, for French toast, or scrambled just a bit in a dish such as fried rice, but rehydrated PRE-COOKED eggs scrambled and eaten -- home-dehydrated or commercial -- are always a bit of a disappointment just the way that rehydrated powdered milk is. You will need to specially store unpasteurized, dehydrated egg powder as pathogens are always a "thing".

Don't bother cooking eggs and then dehydrating them, however, unless you are putting together your own hiking MRE's as dehydrated pre-cooked eggs just aren't all that good in-bulk. They're okay if you make a fried rice stir-fry (broken into small pieces) and then dehydrate it for trail food.

Again, if you need to store eggs from your own chickens, its probably more cost efficient (once you calculate the cost of electricity) to learn how to "water glass" store your eggs. Unwashed, fresh eggs will store for several months if properly limed, and will taste just like fresh eggs for at least the first few months of storage. If you have your own chickens, planning around the winter solstice slow season + water-glassing will usually get you through the slow season, no dehydration required.

there are a number of various systems out there but they get pretty pricey, i looked at a vacuumfreeze dry system a few years ago and they were in a range from 2 to 5 k and a couple extreme cases 10k+ . issues with them tho they are no quiet and the cost to operate can vary massive depends what you are drying. not to mention an all in one "small " unit is still pretty heafty for weight.

 

[Scottish_Maiden]

there are a number of various systems out there but they get pretty pricey, i looked at a vacuumfreeze dry system a few years ago and they were in a range from 2 to 5 k and a couple extreme cases 10k+ . issues with them tho they are no quiet and the cost to operate can vary massive depends what you are drying. not to mention an all in one "small " unit is still pretty heafty for weight.

I've got two different friends with freeze dryers, and while they love them, their machines keep breaking down.

Its one thing to make a huge investment if you're going to use it, another thing entirely if that pricey new gadget is not RELIABLE.

At some point more vendors will come into the market, and then hopefully the price will come down, and reliability will go up.