Feel free to experiment with your recipes. Single fruit flavours will work just fine, but
there are lots of various fruit combinations that combine to make flavourful snacks. These include:
• Strawberry-Banana
• Strawberries-Rhubarb
• Pineapple-Peach
• Apple-Cinnamon
Dried meats are best when made for upcoming camping and backpacking trips. When reconstituted they yield
a tasty meat, somewhat like fresh cooked.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Except for jerky, cooking of all meats and fish before drying is required to ensure safety.
Do not store dried meat, fish or poultry longer than two months.
Use only very lean meats and cut away as much fat as possible. Meat should be marinated before drying to
add flavour and also to tenderize it. The marinade should contain salt, which helps extract water from the meat
and also helps preserve it, but it should not have any oil. Most marinades contain some sort of acid (like tomato
sauce or vinegar) because the acid breaks down the fibres making the meat more tender.
Slicing meat while partially frozen will be easier, especially if you want very thin slices. A food processor or a
specialized meat slicer can do a great job. You can also tell your butcher that you are making dried meat or jerky
and they will be glad to thin slice it for you.
When drying meat or game for stews, soups, etc., remember that these types of meats must be cooked prior
to drying. Cook, cut into small cubes and place in the dehydrator. Dry until all moisture has been removed,
approximately 2 to 8 hours. When ready to use in your favourite stew, simply rehydrate by soaking in water or
broth for at least 1 1/2 hours, or until tender and about the size they were before dehydrating.
BEEF: Choose lean cuts. Beef flank steak, round or rump are better than chuck or rib.
POULTRY: All poultry MUST be cooked before drying. Steaming or roasting are the best methods. Chicken
breasts are leaner than dark meat.
FISH: A good idea is to steam the fish before dehydrating or, if you chose to bake it, preheat your conventional
oven to 100°C and bake for 20 minutes or until fish is flaky. When drying fish, sole and flounder are good
choices.
21
• Honey-Cranberry-Orange
• Pineapple-Orange
• Pineapple-Apricot
• Raspberry-Apple
Meat and Fish Dehydration
• Raspberry-Banana-Coconut
• Mixed Berry
• Apple-Blueberry