Drying (food) - Food Types

Food Types

Many different foods are prepared by dehydration. Good examples are meat such as prosciutto (a.k.a. Parma ham), bresaola, and beef jerky. Dried and salted reindeer meat is a traditional Sami food. First the meat is soaked / pickled in saltwater for a couple of days to guarantee the conservation of the meat. Then the meat is dried in the sun in spring when the air temperature is below zero. The dried meat can be further processed to make soup.

Fruits change character completely when dried: the plum becomes a prune, the grape a raisin; figs and dates are also transformed in new, different products, that can be eaten as they are or else after rehydration. However, in dehydrating a grape into a raisin, antioxidants (Vitamin C, E, ORAC) and B vitamins are depleted, making the dehydrated fruit nutritionally inferior to its original source. Home drying of vegetables, fruit and even meat (to produce jerky) can be carried out in the home employing sun drying or using electrical dehydrators (household appliance). Preservatives such as potassium metabisulphite, or BHA, BHT for meat may be used. These preservatives are not required, however dried products without these preservatives may required refrigerator or freezing to ensure a long period of storage.

Freeze dried vegetables are often found in backpackers food, hunters, military, etc. The exception to this rule are bulbs, such as garlic and onion, which are often dried. Edible and psilocybin mushrooms, as well as other fungi, are also sometimes dried for preservation purposes, to affect the potency of chemical components, or so they can be used as seasonings.

For centuries, much of the European diet depended on dried cod, known as salt cod or bacalhau (with salt) or stockfish (without). It formed the main protein source for the slaves on the West Indian plantations, and was a major economic force within the triangular trade. Dried shark meat, known as Hákarl, is a delicacy in Iceland.