Crops & Breeds

🌬️ Dehydrating

5 goods · what's in each, ready windows and shelf life, from the app's own pantry clock

Goods

• Jerky · keeps 14 days — Two weeks at room temperature is the honest figure — a couple of months refrigerated, a year frozen. The step everyone skips is heating the meat to 160°F (poultry 165°F) before or after drying; a dehydrator alone doesn't get there.
  What's in it: Lean meat sliced 1/4-inch with the grain, marinated overnight (soy, Worcestershire, salt, pepper), dried at 145–160°F for 4–8 hours — and heated to 160°F (poultry 165°F) at the start or the end.
• Fruit leather · keeps ~6 months — Rolled in paper and sealed, six months in the cupboard and a year in the freezer. Tacky is dry; sticky is not.
  What's in it: Fruit puréed with a squeeze of lemon (and a little honey if it's tart), spread 1/8-inch on a lined tray, dried at 135°F for 6–8 hours until tacky, not sticky. Rolled in parchment.
• Dried herbs · keeps ~1 year — Whole leaves keep their oils far longer than crushed — crumble them into the pot, not into the jar. A year before they fade to green dust.
  What's in it: Whole stems rinsed and patted dry, dried at 95–115°F (or hung in a paper bag) until the leaves crumble. Stored WHOLE in a sealed jar out of the light; crumble into the pot.
• Dried mushrooms · keeps ~2 years — Cracker-dry, then a jar with a tight lid — two years easily, and the flavour concentrates rather than fades. The soaking water is stock.
  What's in it: Sliced 1/4-inch and dried at 110–125°F for 6–10 hours to cracker-dry. Tight jar, dark shelf, two years — and the soaking water is stock.
• Tomato powder · keeps ~2 years — Powders clump before they spoil. Two years dry and dark, with a desiccant packet if your summer is humid.
  What's in it: Tomato slices or skins dried at 135°F until brittle, blitzed to a powder, sieved, and jarred with a desiccant packet. A spoonful rebuilds into paste.

Shelf life runs from the READY date, not the day it was made — a kraut started in August and ready in September keeps its months from September.