This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 at 8:49 am and is filed under Dehydrating, Food Processing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Your food dehydrator will both dry and dehydrate foods.
Likely, there are many who read that brief sentence who will say to themselves, “Now wait a minute, when you’re dehydrating foods you’re drying foods, so that statement makes no sense.”
Yes, it is true that today those two terms tend to be intermingled, but, in reality, there is a difference. With dried foods moisture is removed. When done, that food will have lost approximately 75% of its water content. The end product remains soft and pliable, and, under proper conditions, will store well for 12 to 18 months. Dehydrated fruits and vegetables, however, will have that moisture content reduced to 2 to 3%. The product becomes shriveled and very brittle, but the shelf life is also extended by a considerable amount.
Which is best? Well, that depends upon what your goal might happen to be. There are advantages to both. Dried foods generally make better snack foods. Dehydrated foods may be more appropriate for long term storage. Whatever the case, your food dehydrator will both dry and dehydrate. The choice is yours.