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This article will answer: how long will dehydrated food last? Plus, everything else that you have to know about freeze-drying fruits and vegetables that’ll help you save money, lessen food waste, and fast-track your cooking preparation.
Another fascinating thing about dehydrating vegetables and fruits is that it’s an excellent method to make nutritious snacks for long-term food storage while preserving flavorful products. So, do not toss them away just yet and conserve money and food.
Now, when talking about the process of freeze-drying food, a food dehydrator’s drying method eliminates moisture gradually while keeping nutrients and flavor. Because of this, dehydrated meals are superior to pre-packaged foods in flavor and nutrition.
Let’s go over all of the other facts you need to know about dehydrating food and the benefits you’ll get from it.
How Long Does Dehydrated Food Last?
To finally answer this pressing question right away, dehydrated foods with the lowest moisture content stay the longest and may be stored up to five years or more if adequately prepared, dry, and stored.
Cooking veggies before dehydrating them will extend the storage duration.
In fact, according to some research, adequately cooked and maintained dehydrated veggies may live up to ten years. And that is compared to canned food, which has a shelf life of fewer than five years, which is incredible.
Just make sure your product is prepared correctly, dried, and stored.
If you don’t know how or maybe want to learn more, this article will give you the details you need about proper food prep, dryness requirements, and storage ideas.
Food Preparation
Now that you know how long dehydrated food can last and make it so, we can now talk about the “how,” beginning with the preparation.
For starters, keep in mind that dehydrating your ingredients will cause them to shrink dramatically. It’s also going to look different. For example, a cup of dried apple slices will come from around 450 grams of apples.
Next, you should thoroughly wash all fruits and vegetables and allow them to soak in the water for around 10 minutes. The purpose of this step is to make sure you’ve removed any waxes and pesticides.
After that, if desired, you can remove the cores, seeds, stems, and skins.
And then, you can begin to cut the vegetables and fruits into a thickness of roughly 3 mm, which is typically the optimal size.
After cutting them, spray some lemon juice to help them prevent oxidation and kill any germs that may linger on the skins.
It’s even better if you give your fruits and vegetables a boost of ascorbic acid. Ascorbic acid is a powdered form of vitamin C found at most health food shops.
Lastly, you can finally remove the pieces from being soaked using a slotted spoon.
Temperature Check
When we say dehydrating fruits and vegetables, it involves freezing or heating your goods. But don’t just do it without proper precautions and the correct temperature levels.
You can dehydrate fruits and vegetables at temperatures between 50 and 57 degrees Celsius. But let’s not be tempted to blast the meal with a high-heat setting as this might cause the outer skin to become rigid.
Also, you would need to consider the food’s water content. If the fruits or veggies have a high water range, start dehydrating at a high temperature and gradually lower the temperature. You will need to do less of this on low water content foods.
To give you more precise temperature check estimates, you may refer to the below chart.
Dryness Level
Knowing if the food is on the right dryness level is by checking if it has a leathery feel and can bend without shattering into pieces. Pretty easy, right?
When the fruit and veggies meet those criteria, you can now place your food in a plastic zipper bag on the counter overnight. If you think it’s ready, you can also leave it in your dehydrator and turn it off.
This step will ensure that the moisture is distributed uniformly and eliminate wet areas. It’s referred to as conditioning your product.
Long Term Storage
Now that you know the proper preparation, temperature, and dryness, you would have to know how to store them for a long time. It’s another critical detail that you need to have the best results.
Vacuum sealing is good because it slows the oxidation rate and preserves the vitamins and minerals in the food. Because moisture will always find a way, investing in oxygen absorbers is a good idea. They will absorb the free oxygen, extending the life of your product.
It’s better to keep foods with high moisture content in airtight glass jars since plastic absorbs moisture and odors over time.
Effective Food Dehydration and Preservation
You don’t have to do everything manually. There are trustworthy and quality food dehydrators that yield the best results you can purchase in the market. Still, you need to be conscious of the proper temperature and dryness.
All of these won’t work in preserving taste and nutrition if you don’t clean your fruits and vegetables thoroughly.
Also, make sure to dehydrate food that is in season. This way, you’ll be able to get it in with a good deal and save cash and have the best flavor too.
Mason jars are your best option for storage, as mentioned above. Besides its moisture-sealing feature, it is also available in all groceries and supermarkets. With this, try to invest in some high-quality mason jars or any glass jars.
Lastly, dehydrate produce at its optimum maturity to acquire the maximum flavor, vitamins, and minerals.
Last Words
If you take the proper precautions while choosing, preparing, and drying dehydrated food, it may survive for years.
Spending a little bit of money on a dehydrator would be excellent as it allows you to store food more compactly, and having supplies on hand in case of an emergency is always a good idea. Plus, it is also beneficial to your health and immunity.
After all, food dehydration is a cost-effective strategy to save money and reduce food waste. So you’ll eventually have your money back.
You can find and look into these articles interesting and helpful:
- Canning 101 for Beginners To Learn to Preserve Food
- 10 Ways to Prevent Food Spoilage Easily
- 11 Food Storage Myths You Should Know ASAP
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I really appreciate all of the tips and responded to the “how long does dehydrated food last” question! I intend to keep my food in the freezer for the long term. It seems like a lot of money between the seal bags, the sealer, and the oxygen observing packets. I wonder if it would be more cost-effective to buy the food storage outright for storing long term. I really appreciate the advice you provided! I got myself a food dehydrator after reading this!