Dehydrating food for a kayak fishing expedition

Author: Holger

Category: Equipment, rigging & preparation

Published on Wednesday, 02 December 2009 22:39

Written by Holger

Dehydrating (drying) food is probably the oldest way to preserve food, and the perfect way to preserve fruit, vegetables and meat for an outdoor or kayak fishing adventure. The benefit is that the dried food occupies much less space (volume ), is very lightweight, but retains all the vitamins and minerals. Properly stored, dried food will keep for several months.

You can dry almost any sort of fruit, vegetable, herb, fungi or meat, as well as whole meals and sauces. The only stipulation is that the food you wish to dry must not contain any fat. Fat can not be dried, and will turn rancid, spoiling the whole meal. Cheese, for example, can't be dehydrated. For the best possible results, it pays to use only the freshest & highest quality food you can get.

You can dry food in a warm, dry and well ventilated space out of the sun, in the oven at home, or in a dehydrator. In the oven you have to use the lowest settings and leave the door a crack open to let the humidity escape. By far the best and most consistent results are achieved with the help of a dehydrator. They cost between 100 and 300 A$, and consist of a fan driven heat element and several mesh type trays stacked on top of each other. I use a Sunbeam Dehydrator ( 100$ / 'The Good Guys' ) with 5 trays and 3 temperature settings ( 35, 55 & 75° C ).

Dried fruit makes an excellent trail snack, is delicious and nutritious when added to your muesli or pancakes, and contains heaps of vitamins, minerals, fibre and different sugars. You can eat fruit dried or rehydrated. To dry fruit, cut into about 5mm thick slices, put it onto a mesh-type tray (so that the air can circulate around it), and dry at about 50°C to a 'leathery' consistency. My personal favourites are apples, pineapples & strawberries.

Vegetables are an essential part of the main meal. It is impressive how small and light dried vegetables become, and how little the difference in consistency and taste after rehydrating is. To dry vegetables, cut them into thin, even slices, or dice, and dry them at around 50°C until completely dry. Frozen 'vegetable mixes' from the supermarket are also suited for drying. 'Hard' vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower or potatoes should be precooked for a couple of minutes before drying. My favourites are broccoli, capsicum, onions, tomatoes & carrot.

Herbs & spices should be as fresh as possible and are dried at lower temperatures, around 35°C.

Meat is often made into Jerky, or dried as minced meat. Pay particular attention to hygiene when preparing meat and use the leanest meat you can get. Go to your butcher and have a talk to him. He will be able to advise you about which meat to use. For beef jerky I get about a kilo of lean beef, and remove any visible fat. Then I slice it into 2-3cm thick fillets and marinate them over night in a marinade containing Soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, chilly and some other spices. Keep it in the fridge while it's marinating. Then I slice the fillets, across the fibre, into 5mm thick slices, put them on the trays, crack black pepper over them and dry them at 75°C for 6-8 hours ( or until it breaks when bent ). Yummy!

To make dried minced meat I buy the leanest 'premium' mince from the butcher, or I get him to mince me a nice super lean piece of beef. Then I crumble it into a pot with boiling water and boil it for a couple of minutes. The boiling helps to get any remaining traces of fat out. Then I drain it, sprinkle the boiled mince in very small pieces on the trays, and dry it at 75°C for about 5-6 hours, until completely dry.

A dehydrator will also allow you to make fruit leather or to dehydrate sauces.

After drying (that applies to what ever you used), let it cool down, and then either pack in resealable plastic bag, or vacuum pack it. Store in a cool & dry place. If any humidity condensates on the inside of the plastic bag the food was not dried long enough and has to go back into the drier. I have yet to have any food that I have dried go bad. But it does lose some taste over time. Therefore it pays to dehydrate your food as close to the time of departure for your trip as possible.

To rehydrate food (and save on fuel ), put the amount you need in a pot and cover it with water. Let it soak prior to cooking. Fruit rehydrates relatively quickly, while mince or hard vegetables take longer.

A dehydrator also opens up the possibility to precook whole meals at home (as long as they are made without fat or oil ), dehydrate them, and take them readily packed & prepared on tour. All it then needs, come meal time, is some hot water on top, 10mins to soak, and you are ready to go.Another version is the so called 'freezer bag cooking', where you pre-prepare and mix dry ingredients in freezer bags, to later create amazing meals on tour. From cakes to puddings, or salad to soup, the possibilities are endless. All you need is hot water. There are heaps of recipes available on the internet. A good place to start your search is here.

Dehydrating food is an integral part of kayak touring for me. It allows me to go lighter, longer, and to take foods which normally wouldn't keep long enough to be taken on a tour longer than, let's say, 3 days. So if you plan a kayak expedition in the future, explore dehydrating your food, and enjoy.

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