How a Meals Dehydrator Can Assist You Scale back Kitchen Waste

I discovered a ton of kitchen abilities once I was a prep prepare dinner at a from-scratch restaurant in Windfall, Rhode Island. Earlier than coming into a industrial kitchen, I’d by no means damaged down a hen in my life; after my time there, I relished the act (sure, I notice that is a bit of bizarre, however it was so satisfying!). Different methods I discovered included tips on how to whip up mayonnaise with an immersion blender, ferment pickles, make scorching sauce, and sous vide carrot strips in carrot juice—the works. 

However one factor that actually struck me was the restaurant’s frequent use of a giant, boxy dehydrator. Whereas at house most meals scraps had been destined for the compost bin, on the restaurant, little bit of what I had at all times thought of future dust was saved and dehydrated. The sous chef, Benjamin Stroud, would dehydrate leek tops and even mushroom stems, and as soon as they bought good and papery, we’d blitz them in a powerful Vitamix blender to make powders for seasoning every kind of dishes.

“After I was working as sous chef at Bayberry Beer Corridor in Windfall, I used to be tasked with constructing a pantry for the kitchen to make use of, and a dehydrator was one among my major instruments for that,” says Stroud, who at present works because the prep prepare dinner (and unofficial pastry chef) on the Eddy bar in Windfall. “We dehydrated so many issues that our spice shelf was overflowing with powders of various colours. Leek tops turned an incredible substitute for onion powder whenever you needed one thing a bit of extra herbaceous. Fennel fronds turned a ravishing mud that would go on a plate as a colourful base for steak tartare or be folded into pasta dough. Woody and in any other case unappetizing mushroom stems, as a substitute of going within the compost, turned one thing we might use to up the umami in a dish.” 

It was the last word type of decreasing meals waste—and it’s additionally one thing you are able to do at house.

What Is a Meals Dehydrator, and How Does It Work?

A dehydrator works by blowing heat, dry air over meals, slowly eradicating moisture and drying them out. 

“A dehydrator is a good software for any prepare dinner, so long as you will have some area to dedicate and a bit of persistence,” Stroud says. “Dehydrators can run at temperatures a lot decrease than your oven is ready to, and with a relentless fan they will dry issues with out ‘cooking’ them, permitting you to protect shade and taste.” 

They’re typically made up of a number of trays you’ll be able to layer with meals after which stack or slide collectively earlier than you begin the machine. 

“Dehydrators are sometimes very straightforward to make use of: load the trays with no matter you’re drying, set the temperature, and wait,” Stroud says. For greatest outcomes, he recommends solely dehydrating one sort of factor at a time, since completely different substances require various temperatures (e.g., herbs are higher dried at decrease temperatures, whereas meats want greater temperatures for food-safety functions). 

One more reason to separate your leek tops out of your potato peels is that, as Stroud explains, “aromas are inclined to marry.” You don’t need your chives tasting like mushrooms (or perhaps, you do). 

He additionally recommends spacing issues out in your trays, since cramming them collectively will impede airflow, and “issues may get gross as a substitute of dried.”

How Can A Meals Dehydrator Assist Me Scale back Meals Waste at Dwelling?

Whereas it would look like a flowery restaurant factor to dehydrate, say, smoked onions to season pastrami carrots (which Stroud has achieved), dehydrating has its sensible, waste-saving (and space-saving) purposes at house, too. 

“Waste minimization has at all times been a giant a part of my cooking profession, and dehydrators might help not solely scale back waste but in addition area,” Stroud says. “How typically have you ever purchased a bunch of parsley or dill for a recipe after which ended up throwing out the remaining? Some individuals save vegetable scraps within the freezer to throw into shares, however there are solely so many scraps or a lot inventory an individual can retailer except you will have an enormous quantity of freezer area.”

So as a substitute of freezing baggage upon baggage of frozen leek tops, Stroud says to think about the dehydrator.  

“You possibly can toss a few of these veggie scraps within the dehydrator after which grind them right into a powder. The veggie powder can be utilized to fortify shares, season meats, add taste to sauces or dips…the listing goes on and on. Better of all, powders take up a fraction of the area in your pantry, releasing up your freezer area for higher issues (ice cream).” 

Have some tomatoes which are trying a bit unhappy? Save them from the compost bin by creating your very personal “sun-dried” tomatoes—minus the solar. 

“The easiest way to do that is to chop them in half and lay them lower aspect up on the trays, that method you don’t lose any of the juices, they usually all get concentrated again into the tomato,” Stroud says. “Take note some tomatoes undoubtedly work higher than others; pastier ones like Roma, San Marzano, or, my private favourite, Canestrino tomatoes, have a decrease moisture content material in order that they dry rather well.” 

What Else Can I Do with a Meals Dehydrator? 

Along with serving to you scale back meals waste, there are a number of different makes use of for a dehydrator in a house kitchen—which additionally, admittedly, scale back waste(!). 

“It is not all simply powders,” says Stroud. “You may make your individual fruit roll-ups or beef jerky; there is a vary of various purposes and textures you’ll be able to obtain. And whereas not every thing is a winner (typically you attempt one thing and also you simply get dry trash), typically you get one thing actually enjoyable and attention-grabbing. For instance, dill, garlic, and bay leaves left over from fermenting dill pickles make a cool, herbaceous, and daring spice that you need to use on popcorn, potato chips, or you may use to make dill pickle ranch dressing.” 

In brief, with a dehydrator, the choices are really infinite. 

Which Meals Dehydrator Ought to You Purchase?

In our testing of meals dehydrators, our favorites had been the Samson “Silent” Dehydrator, and the larger-capacity Excalibur 9-Tray Electric Food Dehydrator, which is the model Stroud used within the restaurant to make his many powders. You possibly can learn extra about how we examined meals dehydrators and the way we picked our winners in our review.

FAQs

How do you clear a meals dehydrator?

Many meals dehydrators have dishwasher-safe trays—however it’s greatest to test your consumer handbook earlier than you set something within the dishwasher. If you happen to discover out the trays should not dishwasher-safe, one of the best plan of action is to clean them with heat, soapy water, spray them down (in case your sink has a twig nozzle), and ensure they’re totally dried earlier than utilizing. 

What’s a meals dehydrator good for?

As we talked about, a meals dehydrator is an effective way to mitigate meals waste. You need to use it to dehydrate all method of meals scraps—leek tops, potato peels, mushroom bottoms, parsley stems—to create seasoning powders for amping up the flavour of your cooking. You may as well use a meals dehydrator to protect substances which are on their method out (for instance, you may make sundried tomatoes) or to make snacks like fruit leather-based or jerky. 

Are you able to dehydrate meals in an air fryer?

Sure, you’ll be able to dehydrate meals in an air fryer. To take action, simply set it on the bottom setting (some air fryers even have a dehydrate perform) and let it run for just a few hours. Nevertheless, whereas you need to use an air fryer to dehydrate, the outcomes won’t be pretty much as good as these from a devoted dehydrator.