Rhonda Matthews is a member of Clemson's Food Safety
and Nutrition Team, and she's based in Greenwood.
And she's coming to us with a new idea,
but it used to be something people did a lot, didn't it?
Oh, gosh.
This technique for preserving food is centuries old.
And since we've had that resurgence of grow your own,
eat your own, we're seeing folks doing
all kinds of food preservation.
Freezing and canning are extremely popular,
but number three with a bullet is going to be dehydration.
And it's really an easy, straightforward, and safe way
to make the end of your garden and the beginning--
right now, the end of your garden-- and those fall fruits
just last and last and last.
Well, let's find out exactly how to do it.
You going to start with the apples?
Yeah, we can do that.
So there's act--
Well, first of all, let's talk about these gizmos.
We can do that.
There's a couple of different types of dehydrators out there.
And it all depends on how much food
you're interested in drying.
An entry level dehydrator right here
is probably going to have the fan at the top or perhaps
at the bottom.
And it will circulate--
AMANDA: So the fan is an integral part of it.
RHONDA: It is.
Heat and flowing air removes moisture,
which prohibits microbes from growing.
It makes our food safe to eat and longer on the shelf.
So a dehydrator involves a heater--
a heating element-- and a fan.
That is correct.
All right.
But this is a simple one.
This is.
It's got a fan on the top.
This'll do a couple of pounds of food.
If you want to do pounds and pounds of food,
you want to move up to a little bit larger model.
This will do several pounds of food at one time.
Now, the oldest version of drying food of all time
is probably going to be just lay it out and let mother nature
do her job-- a little breeze, a little sunshine.
And there's plenty of folks that still
dry their apples outside on those screens, the way
Grandma used to do.
And just delicious.
But we're going to do it a little more modern today.
We are.
So we're going to take a look at how
do you actually prepare fruits.
So this is a porous screen here.
RHONDA: That is right.
And this is removable.
AMANDA: Oh.
RHONDA: And you can see it's perforated.
AMANDA: Oh, so you can clean.
RHONDA: Yes, absolutely.
Easy to use.
So what we've got here is just some apple slices,
sliced in uniform thickness.
And we're going to lay them out on the screen.
AMANDA: And you didn't even bother to cut the middle out.
RHONDA: I didn't.
A little bit more fiber.
AMANDA: You just whap, whap, whap.
RHONDA: That's right.
AMANDA: And you got the peel on.
RHONDA: That's right.
A little more fiber, a few more antioxidants.
So leave it all, all that good nutrition in there.
Then you just lay them out in a single layer.
AMANDA: Now, you had them in water.
What was in that water?
RHONDA: I did.
Now, in that water is a little Fruit Fresh.
Or if you don't have Fruit Fresh handy,
you can just crush up vitamin C tablets
and put them in the water.
And that will treat the apples and prevent them
from darkening.
AMANDA: Just like we put lemon juice on peaches and things.
Exactly.
And you can use lemon juice here.
So we've got these.
But you don't have to do that.
I mean, if you didn't have any of that, you can--
Absolutely not.
As a matter of fact, if you're going
to wind up adding brown sugar to these later when you cook them,
they're going to look dark anyway so you can totally
skip this step.
[LAUGHS].
Well, there you go.
All right.
That's right.
So all we do at this point is slide it in there.
We put our lid on and we turn it on.
And in about, give or take six or eight hours,
you're going to have dried apples.
Really?
So it's not like overnight or days or anything.
I load this before I go to bed at night, 10:30 11 o'clock.
When I get up at 6:00 the next morning, ready to go.
So here's what they look like once they're dried.
Wow.
OK.
Easy peasy.
Now, you'll know they're dry because they'll
bend very easily.
They'll have a leather-like consistency.
AMANDA: Yes, they do.
RHONDA: And that's it.
They're ready to go.
AMANDA: OK.
Now, does it use a whole lot of electricity?
Almost none.
It's no more than, uh, say, your blender or your microwave.
Really?
So it's not like you could run the power bill up by doing it.
Standard volt outlet.
So if you're-- I've got some different things in here
to show you.
There's lots of different types of food you can dehydrate.
Pears.
AMANDA: Now, somebody just let me
stand in his-- Hank Stallworth let
me stand in the bucket on his front end loader
and put me up in the air.
And I've got-- so it's old-fashioned pears?
I bet I could do that with those, couldn't I?
Those are the Kieffer variety.
It is.
They're excellent for canning.
Really?
But you can also-- they're actually
the preferred variety for canning,
but you can also dehydrate them.
AMANDA: OK.
RHONDA: Yes.
And this is-- I just cut these into rounds.
AMANDA: Uh-huh.
RHONDA: Easy as it gets.
I didn't even treat these to keep them from darkening.
AMANDA: You didn't even treat them.
But, you know, I think they look pretty.
I don't think it's unattractive, do you?
RHONDA: These are fantastic for an on-the-go snack.
I mean, all the flavor that you want of a fresh pear is there,
but, I mean, there's just no weight there.
AMANDA: It's kind of concentrated, isn't it?
RHONDA: Yes.
Apples with a little cinnamon sprinkled on them.
AMANDA: Oh, don't that look pretty?
RHONDA: Just like eating apple pie.
AMANDA: Uh-huh.
OK.
RHONDA: Yummy.
Next tray.
AMANDA: Ah, look at that.
RHONDA: Those tomatoes that are still struggling
at the end of the year?
AMANDA: May I see how it feels?
RHONDA: Absolutely.
It's very much like leather.
That's the consistency you go for.
AMANDA: But wouldn't-- now, if I-- to me, when I make pizza,
I like to use fresh tomatoes, but I feel like sometimes
they're kind of [INAUDIBLE].
How would you treat that to use those on a pizza?
You could easily put that on as is and make sure
they're nestled down in the sauce.
And that would be very good.
Oh, then they would just-- they would rehydrate slightly
from that sauce.
RHONDA: That's right.
That's right.
Another way to do this is you can drizzle or cover them
in olive oil and let them rehydrate that way.
AMANDA: Ooh.
They really look so pretty.
They are good.
The last one is probably the most popular thing to dehydrate
and that's make your own beef jerky.
AMANDA: Uh-huh.
OK.
RHONDA: So all the hunters like that beef jerky.
Because they can use deer and things like that.
Oh, absolutely.
So one of the common questions that we
get is now that I've dehydrated it, how do I store it?
Yes.
Is there anything special to do with it?
Really not a big trick here.
Since we've removed the moisture here,
we want to prevent moisture from getting back to it
and being reabsorbed during storage.
OK.
So we're going to recommend a moisture vapor-proof container.
Freezer bag, not sandwich bag.
Freezer bag excludes--
Oh, the heavier--
That's correct.
The heavier one.
Will exclude the moisture just in the ambient air.
OK.
And we recommend choosing the size that
is appropriate for how much you're
going to need for the recipe you intend to cook.
If you've got a family of three or four, for heaven's sakes,
don't use a gallon bag.
Use a smaller bag.
OK.
All right.
OK.
That's right.
And that way, you use a bag a time.
So you just pop it in?
That's it.
Shall I just pour these in and see here?
That's all that it takes.
AMANDA: OK.
RHONDA: Now, when you get ready to do fried apple pies,
open that up.
AMANDA: Or if I'm going somewhere,
I can make my own trail mix using this, can't I?
You bet.
Now, where do I put-- where do I store this?
This can go on the shelf or in a cool place in your home.
At 60 degrees Fahrenheit, the fruits will last up to a year.
Vegetables will last up to six months.
If you're a little bit warmer than that in your house, about
80 degrees--
AMANDA: That's my house, is.
It's ambient because we don't use air conditioning.
You get about half as much time.
But the wonderful thing about dehydrated foods
is they taste so good.
They're so concentrated with their flavor rarely
do they last very long.
The family's constantly in them getting a snack. [LAUGHS].
AMANDA: Well, what if I wanted to put it-- could
I-- is it safe to put it in the freezer
if you want it to last longer?
RHONDA: You can.
And that's very common, especially for those folks--
AMANDA: Because it takes just such a little bit of room.
It's very small.
And a lot of folks do that.
When they invest the-- if they pick the apple tree
and they're dehydrating all those apples,
very common for them to not take any chances.
And they'll put those tightly packaged bags into the freezer.
Well, it's such a space saver.
You said that this might have been five pounds of tomatoes
to start with.
That is correct.
That's a miracle.
And people really take for granted how much
our food is actually water.
But once you remove that water, you've
still got all the flavor, but, you know.
AMANDA: So if space is a consideration--
Yes, it is.
--this really might be better than the traditional canning.
RHONDA: It's certainly easier and less effort to go into it.
Now, if people want to get some "expert advice,"
then you've got some books you recommend.
We do.
The two books that brought-- "So Easy to Preserve"
and "Putting Food By"-- are excellent.
And they have plenty of science-based and research
information on drying and all types of food preservation.
Of course, your first line of defense
really does need to be to call your local extension agent
and tell the person that answers,
I want to talk to the food safety and nutrition person.
We'll jump on the line and we'll be
glad to offer you any kind of food preservation information.
So that number that we tell people
to call for gardening information also
is the same line you use for food information as well.
You bet.
That Home and Garden Information Center, that 1-800 number,
they've got a person there that's happy to talk
with you about food safety.
From 9:00 to 1:00.
That's right.
But if you want that 24 hour access, gobs of those fact
sheets available that you can click on.
And there's probably the primer, the beginner's version
of how to dehydrate foods.
Just to get-- just to figure out exactly how to get
it started.
That's right.
That's exactly right.
Wonderful.
Well, we're going to come back a little bit later and find out
websites and things like that because I think people
are going to want to do this.
And I think you can go to the market
now and find some of these late, end of the season things.
You're right.
It'd be a perfect time to get started.
Bargain time at the farmer's market.
It is.
And if you rehydrate that with some beef
broth or some bottled tomato juice, kapow with the flavor.
Great.
Thanks.
OK, thank you so much.
Yes, ma'am.
We'll talk to you again later.
All right.
And now we're going to go back to Terasa
and hear a little bit more from the chat room.