Last week I was
on holidays. So, the first thing I had to do Monday morning was sort through
the mail that arrived in my absence. Among the items piled on my desk, though
no longer a big pile thanks to digital mail, was a new book. My first thought
when I saw it was, ugh, another self-help book that doesn’t help. Then I opened
the package to discover Teresa Marrone's, "The Beginner's Guide to Making
and Using Dried Foods" (Storey, $16.99) and proceeded to lose a good
portion of my morning delving deeper into its pages. The book is not only
well-written but interesting.
Each section
offers a food-by-food guide with clear preparation instructions - whether you
choose to use a fancy schmancy dehydrator, a home oven or the sun. It all
starts with the basics of drying foods and then moves on to cover a variety of
topics organized according to food type and equipment. Each chapter contains a
pantry of information on everything from turning fresh fruits into wholesome
baby food purees to instructions for drying fresh pasta and making vegetable
snack chips and all-grain crackers. How about a DIY plan for building and
assembling their own dehydrator?
What I love about
the idea is being able to pick blueberries in July that can be used for a
lemon-blueberry muffin recipe, come a snowy day in December?
Beef jerky?
Naturally,
there's a section on that, which is probably the first thing people think of
when it comes to dried foods. Also known as "Ch'arki" a word derived
from the Quechan language of the Incas that translates into "dried
meat" the discovery of jerky not only served as food that could be stored
for long periods of time but as a source of nutrition that could be packed in a
saddlebag for easy transport. Every kind of meat - except pork - can be made into
jerky. By adding dried berries and fat one can also make a variation of jerky
known by Native Americans as pemmican.
As Marrone points
out, jerky also can be used as an ingredient for stew and she provides the
recipe to do it. There are also recipes for while-muscle jerky, which is made
of strips of lean meat that have been marinated in a flavorful liquid or
sprinkled with a salt mixture. In some marinades, the salt comes from a
condiment such as soy sauce or teriyaki sauce. What's also nice about Marrone's
book is all of the recipes can be made without the use of curing compounds or
chemicals perceived by many researchers to be possible carcinogens.
Why practice the
ancient art of food preservation?
As Marrone notes
in her book: drying food from your garden or bought in bulk is less expensive
than buying prepared products, saves on the space that canned preserves take up
(four-times less) and is considerably lighter. That can make a huge difference
to those packing it for a trip or hike in the woods.
It's also healthy
alternative. "Drying preserves more nutrients than canning or freezing and
offers variety to raw food diets," according to Marrone. "Cooks who
dry at home can also better control the amount of sodium and gluten in their foods."
Lastly, it could
be a lifesaver. Dried goods are a recommended source of emergency supplies in
case of adverse weather, power failures and other catastrophes.
For those of you
excited to start the process the following is Marrone’s recipe for muffins.
Lemon-Blueberry
Yogurt Muffins
Makes 12 muffins
INGREDIENTS
1 cup dried
blueberries
1 cup lemon
yogurt
2 teaspoons lemon
juice
2 cups
all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking
soda
1 teaspoon baking
powder
½ cup sugar
4 tablespoons
butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 tablespoons
honey
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs, lightly
beaten
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven
to 375 degrees. Grease a 12-cup muffin plan or line with paper liners. In a
bowl combine, dried blueberries, yogurt and lemon juice. Set it aside. In a
separate bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and set it aside.
After 15 minutes, add the sugar, butter, honey, salt and eggs to the blueberry
mixture. Give it a good stir with a wooden spoon. Then add the flour mixture
and gently stir until moistened. NOTE: Do not over mix the muffins. Spoon the
batter into the greased muffin tins or paper liners and bake for 15 to 20
minutes (until golden brown). Serve with lemon curd and a hot cup of Earl Grey
tea.
Gina Joseph is a
multimedia journalist and columnist for The Macomb Daily. Send comments to
gina.joseph@macombdaily.com. Follow @ginaljoseph on Twitter.