Keeping seasonal produce all year long

solar food.jpgThe Solar Food Dryer describes how to use solar energy to dry your food instead of costly electricity.
Seasonal produce is easy to find in your local farmer’s market, but what happens if you want blueberries in February or tomatoes in the winter? Easy: Solar food dehydrators are being used to store produce up to a year, with many nutrients locked in place for months.

Apparently, when produce is out of season in your area you can now pull it from your storage cabinets. All it takes is two whole days of intense labor to build one (seems like a lot of work!).

Eben Fodor, engineer and author of, The Solar Food Dryer: How to Make and Use Your Own Low-Cost, High Performance, Sun-Powered Food Dehydrator, and insisted that anyone can build a solar-powered food dehydrator. Who’s up for the challenge?

I know several people who dry their own fruit, but that definitely doesn’t last as long and it often tastes a lot like cardboard. Plus, the sun tends to soak up all the nutrients, which defeats the whole purpose.

Some foods will hold better than others when placed in the food dehydrator. They suggest starting with tomatoes. If you’re really daring, go for the strawberries or apple slices – they hold flavor the best.