Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 27, 1995 TAG: 9509270012
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALMENA HUGHES FOOD EDITOR AND JILL WENDHOLT SILVA/KANSAS CITY STAR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Noreen Thomas routinely fits 76 fresh tomatoes into a 1-quart container, and Mary Bell often pulverizes a 2-pound, 8-inch zucchini ``torpedo'' to fit a pint jar.
How do they do it?
With a food dehydrator - a small, electric counter-top appliance that removes water from food by circulating hot, dry air through plastic mesh drying trays.
Dehydrators remove 90 percent of the moisture, reducing foods to about one-fifteenth of their original bulk. Sucking out the water inhibits the growth of mold, bacteria and microorganisms that cause food to spoil, while retaining most of a food's original nutritional value.
Gardeners, backpackers, health-food enthusiasts, penny pinchers and people on special diets or who have allergic reactions to food additives are among the folks favoring dehydrators as an inexpensive way to preserve food.
And far from stereotypical flat, dry, tough trail snacks, dehydrated foods can be incorporated into dishes ranging from appealing appetizers to succulent main dish soups and stews to delicate, sometimes even decadent desserts.
Bell, a 20-year veteran of food dehydration and author of ``Mary Bell's Complete Dehydrator Cookbook'' (William Morrow and Co., $15) favors vegetable flakes and powders for easy storage. She remembers a call-in radio show she was listening to some years ago: "Someone asked for ways to get rid of excess zucchini," she writes. "The answer: `Find an unlocked parked car!' - a silly, and not very practical response. My response: Dry them! Dry everything!''
The availability of inexpensive dehydrators to control temperature and air flow opens this age-old method of food preservation to modern consumers who don't have the time, energy and often the expertise to safely can, pickle or freeze mounds of ripe fruits and vegetables.
DeLong also has 20-plus years' experience in dehydrating foods. Her book, "How to Dry Foods" (HPBooks, $15), which covers dried foods' history, various methods, equipment and recipes, is in its 27th printing. She also has recently hosted an instructional video, "How to Dry Foods Easily" (Preservation Pantry Inc., $24.95 + $3 shipping & handling), in which she demonstrates step-by-step drying and cooking techniques for fresh and canned foods, including how to salvage mistakes. Book and video are available from Preservation Pantry Inc., 3450 SW 108th Ave., Beaverton, Ore. 97005-1831; (503) 641-1916.
DeLong says that food drying - from tempering Socrates' and Plato's hunger pangs to sustaining Christopher Columbus and his crew - actually enabled history to happen. Human beings, after all, have been drying food since the Stone Age.
Today, most Americans eat dehydrated foods on a regular basis - whether they actually think about it or not. Raisins (dried grapes), prunes (dried plums), dry pastas, soups and mashed potato flakes are a few of the most obvious examples. And that's before you consider more recent food fads - fruit leathers, sun-dried tomatoes and beef jerky - which point up a growing market for shrinking foods.
It was Ron Popeil's taste for beef jerky that initially got him thinking about food dehydrators 14 years ago. The originator of the Veg-O-Matic, Popeil also developed the Ronco Food Dehydrator, a five-tray unit that sells for about $60.
Sales of the dehydrator have quadrupled in four years.
Some offshoot entrepreneurs also have emerged. Todd Gray and Debi Belske started out making jerky at home using a Ronco Food Dehydrator in 1991. Soon they were inundated by friends asking for samples. Last month they opened Jerky, etc., a dried foods store in Olathe, Mo.
Gray says their jerkies, dried fruits and vegetables appeal to a young, health-conscious crowd. Two ounces of dried apricots are $2.50. Two ounces of dried strawberries are $3. Apple pieces and banana chips sell for 69 cents an ounce.
Thomas, a rural Minnesota mother of three and author of the self-published ``Dehydrator Delights'' (G&R Publishing, Waverly, Iowa, $7.95; (319) 352-5391), says, ``It's hard to get kids to eat enough fruits and vegetables. But I've found that with the natural sweetness of dried I can get my kids to eat more nutritious snacks."
Although dried foods may taste sweeter because the sugar is more concentrated, there is no caloric difference between fresh and dried produce. Fruits and vegetables, which are naturally low in fat, retain their fiber, carbohydrates and minerals after drying.
Most commercially dried fruits are treated with sulfites, a compound that extends shelf life but which can cause severe allergic reactions in some people. Sulfite can easily be eliminated during home drying.
"Plus," Thomas says, "it's the ultimate finger-food-on-the-run and we're all so busy these days.''
Thomas has also found that dehydrated food lets her preserve her own garden produce and also stock up on, say, dozens of bunches of bananas when they are on sale.
A dehydrator also provides a safer, quicker way to preserve food than canning.
``With small kids, I can't be committed for two hours,'' Thomas says. ``It just doesn't happen.''
Thomas' book focuses on quick, easy, low-fat recipes and includes nutritional analyses.
Bell advocates the use of dehydrators for some less obvious reasons. She says dehydrated foods cut down on unnecessary store packaging and produce less waste from uneaten food gone bad. By promoting the use of locally grown produce, consumers lessen their reliance on produce shipped long distances.
``The reason that food dehydrators are coming back is that they dry faster and retain more nutritional value. It takes hours, not days, and requires no pot watching,'' says Steve Giambruno, executive vice president of sales for American Harvest.
The 19-year-old company, based out of Chaska, Minn., sells four basic styles of dehydrators ranging from $29 to $149. Although Giambruno would not release sales figures for the privately owned company, he did say sales ``are growing nicely'' thanks to American Harvest's jump onto the infomercial bandwagon.
John Jiambalvo, executive director of the portable appliance division at the Chicago-based Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, says last year's housewares industry trade show program listed 20 manufacturers offering food dehydrators, many of which were new to the category.
``I think people are into natural foods and foods that stay fresh longer,'' Jiambalvo says. ``If you look at the snack-food aisles and how little of it is natural, it's a grass-roots movement to take nature by the hand.''
But Wayne Barnett, vice president of the consumer products group at Waring, has yet to see this ``sleepy category'' wake up. ``[Food dehydrators] have been around a long, long time. There's nothing new about them. It's the same product that has been out there for several years,'' he says.
Dehydrated foods can be stored in jars and plastic bags. To further protect from spoilage, dried foods can also be kept in the freezer or vacuum-packed. As a rule of thumb, dried foods should be replaced annually. If mold develops, the food should be thrown away.
Recipes for:
STUFFED PORK CHOPS
APPLE-LEMON GLAZE:
COUNTRY SAUSAGE AND EGGS
SCRAMBLED EGGS:
PINEAPPLE DOUGHNUTS
THERMOS SOUP
ZUCCHINI BREAD
by CNB