Sun Drying Food Techniques

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PHOTO: FOTOLIA/FEDERICOFOTO
A surprising variety of foods can be sun-dried especially produce, which should be chosen for top quality, picked over, and washed well.

Sun drying works best in areas such as the southwestern states and the central plains of the U.S. and Canada where dry, clear weather is normal at the height of the produce harvest. Indoor dehydration is the rule for cloudy or highly polluted localities. In regions like the Southeast, where strong sun is offset by moist air, evaporation can be speeded by the use of the solar dryer a vented, glass-covered box like a cold frame, which produces higher temperatures and hence lower relative humidity.

Sun Drying Food Techniques

A surprising variety of foods can be sun-dried, especially produce, which should be chosen for top quality, picked over, and washed well. Juicy fruits are usually halved or quartered, and vegetables — which are low in acid and spoil more readily — cut into small pieces for faster dehydration.

Many folks then dry their produce without more ado, and enjoy good success. Some experts on food preservation, though, hold that vegetables should first be blanched in scalding steam to stop the action of enzymes that cause deterioration in storage. Another pretreatment — exposure to the fumes of burning sulfur — is often advised for fruits such as apples, apricots, peaches, and pears, to preserve color and vitamins A and C (which are otherwise destroyed, although most nutrients are well retained).

Treated or not, the foods are spread without crowding on paper-lined trays or — preferably — cloth-covered wooden frames, protected with cheesecloth if insects are a problem, and left in the sun to dry with the aid of occasional turning. The trays should be moved under shelter and guarded from dampness at night. If wet weather sets in, the batch can be saved from spoilage by oven-drying.

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