Some Dried Food Basics

• Finding ways to keep foods safe and edible for extended periods has been one of the primary uses of human ingenuity, since before the dawn of recorded history. Drying is one of the oldest techniques, and it's still a good one. Unlike salting or pickling, it doesn't load your produce with sodium, and it doesn't require the concentrated sugar used in sweet preserves. Instead, dried foods prevent spoilage by simply depriving microorganisms of the moisture they need to survive. The foods' texture and nutrient content can be affected, but they remain healthful, nourishing and in some cases, improved by the concentration of their flavors.

What Blanching Does

• Your winter squash won't darken or turn mushy when it's cut, like apples or potatoes, so you might be excused for thinking they require no special preparation. That's not entirely true. Their thick shell of tasty flesh was designed not to feed humans, but the bundle of seeds packed into its interior. Like most other plant foods, winter squash contains enzymes that break down its sweet and starchy flesh so it can nourish the seeds when they sprout in the spring. Blanching your squash deactivates those enzymes, preventing the slow but steady deterioration they would otherwise bring to your dried squash.

How to Do It

• Start by filling your largest pot with water and bring it to a boil. The water should stay boiling at all times, and the more water you have, the less its temperature is affected by the pieces of squash. Peel the squash with a paring knife or sharp peeler, and cut it into 1-inch wide pieces. Cut those pieces in turn into 1/8-inch strips, and drop them into the boiling water in small batches. Blanch the squash for three to four minutes, dip them out with a slotted spoon and transfer them to a bowl of ice water to chill them instantly. Drain the pieces and blot them dry before dehydrating.

Finishing the Job

• If your dehydrator has adjustable temperatures, turn it to a moderate setting of approximately 140 Fahrenheit. Lay your pieces of squash on the trays in a single layer, with room between them for air to circulate. Depending on the variety of squash and the dryness of your climate, it can take 10 to 16 hours for the slices to dry completely. They can be stiff and leathery or even brittle when finished. For best results, pack all the pieces into a bag or sealed jar for a week or two. This provides opportunity for the moisture level to equalize between pieces, giving a more consistent storage life. Then divide the squash slices into airtight packages, and store them in a cool, dry place.