Popularity: Author: Mary Bell Edition: Hardback 280 Pages Publisher: Morrow Cookbooks Language: English ISBN: 0688130240 Published: 1994

Mary Bell's Complete Dehydrator Cookbook

Far from being a fad, food deyhydrating is one of the most ancient, effective, and nutritious ways of preserving food. Now, at last, there is a book that teaches absolutely everything there is to know about using an electric food dehydrator to dry foods at home and gives more than 100 foolproof recipes for scrumptious snacks and meals made from dried foods.

With this extraordinary book, you can learn how to cross junk food and expensive shop-bought snacks off your family's shopping list -- and add to your cupboard homemade, preservative-free fruit leathers, candied apricots, beef jerky (and fish) jerkies, sun dried tomatoes, corn chips, banana chips, and so much more!

Mary Bell gives specific techniques and instructions for preparing every kind of fruit (from apples to watermelon) and vegetable (from asparagus to courgette). She also provides important shopping tips for buying an electric food dehydrator. The recipes for cooked meals (including mushroom soup, sloppy joes, pesto, and moist banana bread) will make this book a kitchen classic. Also, recipes for lightweight, filling trail snacks mean that the book will travel well, too.

Additional chapters explain to how make herb seasonings, granolas, celery powder, cosmetics, dried fruit sugars, potpourri and even pet treats!

Food drying is an excellent way for gardeners to preserve their produce. It is a great way to make healthful snacks for the kids. It's perfect for the new wave of thrifty consumers who can't bear to spend pounds at health food stores for treats they cold make for pennies themselves. And food drying doesn't use chemicals or preservatives - so it's great for you and for the planet, too!


About the Author

Mary Bell has spent more than twenty years travelling around the USA demonstrating food dehydrators and food drying techniques. When not on the road, she divides her time between Madison, Wisconsin, and Lanesboro, Minnesota, where she and her husband work at the Forest Resource Centre, an environmental education facility. She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and holds a master's degree from Saint Mary's College.

Review

The "Bible" for dehydrating foods - Wendy A. B. Whipple

This is the best basic book I've seen for preserving foods through dehydration. Not only does she tell you what you need to do *before* you dry it, but she tells you what you can do with the stuff after it's dried. Recipes that are useable, recipes for camping or holidays and some that will surprise you - this is a very comprehensive book.

This is a must-have for backpackers who want every ounce to count, since dried foods weigh so little. A must for parents who read the "Fruit Roll-ups" label in horror: make your own fruit leathers! She'll tell you how to make fantastic beef jerky, too. If you dry foods, you need this book.