Proverbs 31 Man
February 10th, 2011Son of Man, Can These Dry Bananas Live?
I have given up. I hate blowing money on things I should be able to make, but drying apples in my dad’s SUV is too slow, so I bought a dehydrator. I got a refurb Excalibur. It ought to do the job.
I put a dozen sliced apples in the SUV on a sliding door screen and gave it two days, but the apples just were not dry enough. Maybe it would work in the summer, but I can’t keep fooling around, trying to get it right.
I was looking at dehydrators online, and I felt stupid, but then I thought about all the stuff I throw out. Most of my peppers and bananas end up rotting because I don’t have any place to put them. I never eat my papayas, because they smell funny, but if they were dried, I think that problem would go away.
Bananas are fantastic. They keep you regular and they taste good. But what do you do when twenty pounds of them get ripe over three days?
Ooooh…pineapples. I wonder how hard those are to grow. Dried pineapples are great, and I have a special culinary use for the fresh stuff.
I guess now I can look into jerky. I don’t even know what cuts to use. It would sure beat paying tons of money for the protein bars I eat when I work at church.
February 10th, 2011 at 4:08 PM
I use round for jerky. Though a great believer in fat on meat, it just doesn’t work for jerky.
OOOO, you could make tropical fruit leather!
February 10th, 2011 at 4:12 PM
Is this the same as eye of the round? Down here the Cubans use it to make boliche, so it’s abundant and cheap.
February 11th, 2011 at 12:39 AM
1. Eye of round.
2. You use meat that is reasonably tender, because you will be chewing it at length later.
3. No Fat! That means no marbling at all. Dried beef lasts for months to years; unless there is fat in it, which will putrefy with abandon.
4. The old way of making jerky: http://historicaltrekking.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=148
Cheers
February 11th, 2011 at 8:29 AM
Steve,
What about donating your over production of produce? Organizations could include:
-> Drop in centers
-> Homeless shelters
-> Your church’s kitchen, to sell or include in baking
-> Your church’s staff, so they can distribute to the community
I lover pbird’s idea for tropical fruit leather, maybe a spiced version combined with beef!
Gad Bless,
Steve
February 11th, 2011 at 10:14 AM
I appreciate your good intentions, but when people tell me to donate my leftovers and excess produce and so on, it makes me wonder if they’ve ever tried it themselves. It’s very easy to give money to charity, and that’s what I prefer to do. Giving goods and services tends to be extremely difficult and impractical. Generally, charity providers won’t accept random, unsolicited donations, and apart from that, it makes no sense to waste several hours and a lot of fuel driving three dollars’ worth of bananas across town.
.
During the Haiti push last year, I saw people trying to make the public understand that their donations of goods were actually causing problems. Money, money, money. That’s what they needed.
February 11th, 2011 at 12:40 PM
Hi Steve
It’s been a while since I checked out your blog. We’ve moved to Miami now, so I can truly appreciate more of what you talked about.
As for giving stuff away, check out Miami-Freecycle http://groups.freecycle.org/MiamiFloridaFreecycle/description
seems like a decent group of people just helping each other out.
February 12th, 2011 at 1:27 PM
I am a long time reader and do not consider myself particularly religous. Yet the last few months I have felt compelled to start storing supplies so your advice/adventures in this area is timely and appreciated.
February 14th, 2011 at 2:26 AM
I think if you are careful you could use rump too.
February 14th, 2011 at 8:37 AM
Not surprised the SUV didn’t work – cars are too hermetically sealed for the moisture to go away.
–
Bananas freeze well for cooking purposes.
February 14th, 2011 at 9:10 AM
People dry apples in vehicles all the time. It works great when the sun is hot. Of course, my aunt used GM vehicles, and I used a Ford, so…well, I better not go there.
February 14th, 2011 at 11:09 AM
Steve,
My dad and I grow gardens each year, with any overabundance. He lives 5 minutes from me and he and I drop off any overabundance of vegetables to them on a drop in basis. We also give freely to local churches (literally across the street) and neighbors.
What those folks choose to do with it is squarely in the Lord’s hands. It probably helps that I don’t deliver in a GM OR a Ford……
Looking forward to you sharing your results on your dehydrating efforts!
God Bless,
Steve B
February 15th, 2011 at 1:34 PM
I remember Alton Brown’s show on jerky was that he put the meat inbetween furnace air filters (of course no fiberglass) and bungee corded them to a floor fan for a day or two. Looked very good to me. Just a suggestion.