Midweek Chat

“Hi all. I thought I had made it through the winter without a bad cold, but not so lucky. Good thing I have lots of tea and kleenex. Just pray that my kids and hubby don't get it, thanks.

I went into a new nearby asian grocery and it was so cool. I bought a ton of veggies there yesterday, and have been dehydrating like crazy. I bought "The Backcountry Cookbook" by Teresa Marrone, last spring, and it has some cool ideas for girl scout camp cooking and some dehydrating helpful info. I'm stocking the freezer with dried food in hopes of getting out to backpack more this year.

Does anyone want to talk about dehydrating? I know there are old threads, but I was just looking for a new discussion. I've dehydrated bananas, tomato pieces, pepper slices, corn, carrots, #&%!$ake mushrooms, rosemary, and white rice. I was going to do scallions, leeks and celery. Maybe some ground beef and turkey. I know that some of these have to be soaked for an hour or two before cooking. Any tips? Does anyone take a small septic pack of whole milk backpacking for cooking?”

“I usually just dehydrate my dinner leftovers. I figure if it's good enough to eat at home, it's good enough to eat out on the trail. But I'm just getting started with dehydrating so I'm trying to start simple and work my way up. I made some jerky for last weekend's trip that turned out delicious and didn't make anybody sick. I'm very proud of that!”

“I made beef jerky but it came out too salty. I could barely eat it. I'm going to try again, when the veggies are done.

It is funny that the censor changed my asian mushroom name because of a word within a word.”

“I want to get farther into dehydrating.. I really do.. but so far my trips to the salvage groceries have been fruitful.. so I haven't persued it much yet.. other than to dehydrate my meats..”

“Yeah, I thought the new mushroom name was pretty funny to. I used the low salt soy sauce for my jerky and then regular worchestershire sauce. It turned out great. I also left out the liquid smoke. I posted the recipe on a jerky thread.”

“I'd rather do anything but work today, but.....”

“Your salvage grocery idea is good, but packaged food has lots of chemicals, and I'm trying to get away from that. My salvage store had a great price on freezer ziplocks which was really helpful.

By the way, the cookbook I mentioned is The Back Country Kitchen. It is mentioned in the ad on this site, so I don't know why I couldn't type it right.

I dehydrated the rice before, and it rehydrated fast at the campsite, and was good with peas, mushrooms, onions and spices. I'm going to try other whole grains and various beans cooked and mashed, and see how they work at rehydrating.”

“I hear ya, Pathman, I'm supposed to be working too, although I'm not paid unless I work....;)”

“My work doesn't go away, it just stacks up.”

“but a little TT banter and Taj Mahal sure help.”

“I hear ya splash... but hey.. I have to crawl before I can walk.. etc..”

“One grain that works without any dehydrating is Kashi. It comes dry, put some hot water and dried fruit, close it up and let is sit overnight. mmmm..mmmm... great breakfast. beats instant oatmeal any day.

I've also used dry polenta in camp. I works good too.”

“Can we get a video of that, TD? With a few twizzlers in the mouth for artistic color balance?”

“Buckwheat? Just put water in at night and then how long do you have to cook it in the morning? I have some in a little tub in the fridge. I also have brown basmati rice (great smell), wheat berries, millet, corn grits or polenta and spelt. I cooked a little of everything, and then added it to Maryphyl's lentil soup recipe with some sherry and it was awesome.

I printed the Jerky thread a while back. I'll have to find it and try Scully's recipe.”

“Has anyone here dried apples? I want to try that but I'm afraid that they will look nasty. Any tips?”

“I've done apples several times, dip them in lemon juice before drying and the look...well, less nasty anyway. Taste great!”

“I want to make pemmican. I found a web site with a bunch of recipes.

Pemmican Recipes”

“Thanks, bpbaby, I'll try the lemon juice. We have lots of beautiful apple orchards in my area, so if I can get the hang of this, I'm going to have apple dessert on all my trips.”

“Nothing you've ever consumed can prepare you for the horror that is clam jerky.”

“Way to go Skullcap on no one getting sick off your food ya made.

8)

I am also very proud of ya.”

“dehydrated granny smith apples are awesome! dip in lemon juice first as suggested above....
they are like potato chips made out of apples...yumba!
Pineapple (fresh one) is also tasty and fruit roll up made from mango puree. (or peach).
i puree onions, peppers, tomato, spinach ,parsley and basil and a clove of garlic and a dash of liquid aminos or miso and dehydrate it to make a vegi roll up...i tear off bits and add it to boiling water for a cup of broth or use it as soup base/flavoring.”

“Om, that soup base sounds like a good idea. Do you cook/saute those veggies before pureeing them?”

“Oh well, now the whole family has my cold. Tea and more tea.”

“Hungry Hikers Book of Good Cooking
by Gretchen McHugh

Its a great one, published in 1982 and still around.”

“Thursday is over. I'm out of here (work) till tomorrow.”

“splash....raw everything.
to me, cooking before destroys flavor and some of the nutrients , it gets heated enough when you use it.
tho, that is personal preference. might be yukky to some, but i even chew on the veggie leather for a snack.....i like raw veggies, instead of vitamins from a bottle.”