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Archives for April 2020

Dehydrating Food 101

April 11, 2020 by pbryant Leave a Comment

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Stocking up for the Zombie Apocalypse.
Left to right, top to bottom: salsa leather, black bean & salsa bark, mushrooms, sauerkraut, hominy, wild black raspberries, cinnamon apples, tomato sauce leather, scrambled eggs & polenta

With having less commute time and more at home time I’ve been catching up on my dehydrating. This is not my body dehydrating (bad) but food dehydrating (good). Preparing your own meals for backpacking trip is more work than picking up some Mountain House bags at the store, but you know what ingredients are going into your body and how your supper is going to taste. Your choices are only limited by what you want to make.

Rice pudding. Break up clumps as it dries.

What to dehydrate:

Because dehydrating is the process of removing water, you can dehydrate most food, though oily foods don’t dry as well. Don’t limit yourself to only fruits and vegetables. Cooked meats, sauces, breads, and even complete meals can be dried. Keep in mind, dehydrating and rehydrating is not magic. You have to start with good food to end up with good food.

Mushrooms

Sauces and liquids turn into “leather” (think fruit roll-ups) or “bark” that can be used in soups, stews or puddings. Fruit leather is also great for just snacking. When dried properly, leather will tear and bark will break or crumble.

Chunky salsa ready to become salsa leather.
Blended black beans and salsa, ready to become bark.

When dehydrating full meals, there are a couple of things to consider. The ingredients may not dry evenly or at the same pace. While preparing the meal you might also need to cut the pieces smaller than you normally would to help with the drying process.

Green bell peppers, skin side down on parchment paper, ready for the dryer.

Dehydrators:

Home food dehydrators range from $40 to several hundred. Any will do, but having an adjustable temperature is nice. A timer would be nice as well when you want to go to bed but don’t want it to run all night, but mine doesn’t have one. You could also use an outlet timer.

Two types of dehydrators: Left, a 6 tray Weston with temperature control. Right, a basic 4 tray Oster (no temp control).

Drying:

Cut fruits, veggies and meats into small, uniform pieces. Thinner pieces dry faster. Lay pieces on the dehydrator with a bit of spaces between them for air flow. Depending on the size of holes in your tray, parchment paper should be used to line the trays for smaller pieces. Parchment paper should also be used for liquids such as blended fruits or salsa. Spread the sauce into a thin, even layer on the paper for drying.

Wet scrambled eggs and polenta.

Drying times vary depending on the type of food, how much is being dried, and the temperature setting. I tend to rotate my trays a few times throughout the process to ensure even drying. Most drying is done at temps between 125 and 155, and is completed in 4 to 10 hours.

Dried scrambled eggs and polenta.

Storage:

Dehydrated foods are generally stored in zip-top bags or jars, if you are going to use them in the next several months. If I’m keeping them longer term, I will vacuum seal them to pull out all of the air. I also vacuum seal and freeze anything that is naturally oily, like cheese or andouille sausage (jambalaya!). These oils are hard to completely remove in the dehydrating process and they equate to moisture. Moisture is bad if you are trying to store food for long periods. For most dried foods, a jar or zip top bag is fine.

Some storage options: vacuum seal, jar, zip top bag, and fully assembled meal (2 servings of unstuffed peppers).

Tips:

  • Mix bread crumbs with raw hamburger before cooking the meat. This will help it rehydrate and not be crunchy.
  • I try to avoid vacuum sealing fruits and leathers as this will turn them into one lump that won’t come apart easily on the trail.
  • Scrambled eggs rehydrate better when mixed with cooked polenta before dehydrating.
  • Just about any fruit combination you can think of (for example, banana-mango or pear-sour apple-banana) when blended and dried, becomes a delicious leather for snacking or turning into a desert pudding.
  • Most of what I have learned about dehydrating has come from trial and error, or from Recipes for Adventure by Chef Glen Mcallister. This book has great tips and delicious trail recipes.
  • For convenience, dried and package foods, as well as trail-ready soups and stews can be purchased from Harmony House and shipped to your door.
Part of a Harmony House vegetable package.

Campsite Spotlight: Buffalo River – Dillards Ferry/Loafer’s Glory, AR

April 5, 2020 by pbryant Leave a Comment

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Morning, camping on the river.

Scale is 0 to 4.

Time of year visited: April

  • View 2.0 Camped on the wooded bank of a slow flowing river, but better views come before and after when the trail runs along the bluffs.
  • Water 4.0 You’re on a river.
  • Accessibility 3.0 This spot was about 7 miles from the Loafer’s Glory (near Morning Star) and about 4 miles from Dillards Ferry (highway 14 junction). There may be another access point somewhere in between.
  • Solitude 3.0 Though our camp was not far from the trail, we did not see another hiker during our entire 11 mile overnight journey.
  • Comfort 3.0 Sandy, soft and shaded. No wind and no bugs in April.
  • Coolness. 2.0 River camping is always kind of neat.

Of note: The Buffalo River was the nation’s first national river. The park contains over 95,000 arces. This section of trail runs high on the bluffs and low on the banks so there are spots for pictures and for fishing. For hiking trails and tips in northern Arkansas, check out the Arklhoma Hiker at arkokhiker.org.

Breaking down camp.

Top 10: Outdoor Movies to Watch While Under Quarantine

April 4, 2020 by pbryant 2 Comments

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Trapped in your house and can’t get to the backcountry? Rather than watching Game of Thrones over again, here are some outdoor movies to binge on. 

When you talk about outdoor movies it becomes a little confusing on which too include and exclude. Are you talking about hiking movies? What about climbing movies? Include anything set outdoors and the list grows greatly. I decided to divide and conquer. I’ve divided them into the following categories: Climbing, On the Trail, Nature as Best Supporting Actor, and Outdoor Survival. I’ve only included movies that I have a good idea what they are about, and I’ve only ranked ones that I’ve watched. 

Climbing Movies

I’ve only ranked the seven that I’ve seen, and they are all very good to fantastic.

7) 180 Degrees South. 2010. Jeff Johnson

6) Touching the Void. 2003. Brendan Mackey, Nicholas Aaron

5) Everest. 2015. Jake Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin 

4) Valley Uprising. 2014. Narrated by Peter Sarsgaard

3) The Dawn Wall. 2017. Tommy Caldwell

2) Meru. 2015. Jimmy Chin, Conrad Anker

1) Free Solo. 2018. Alex Honnold

Not seen:

The Summit. 2012. Christine Barnes, Lochlainn O’Mearain.

Vertical Limit. 2000. Chris O’Donnell, Robin Tunney, Scott Glenn

The Eiger Sanction. 1975. Clint Eastwood, George Kennedy 

The Climbers. 2019. Wu Jing, Jackie Chan

Cliffhanger. 1993. Sylvester Stallone, John Lithgow

On the Trail

These films are more about hiking. Again, I’ve only seen three of them so that’s all I ranked. Those three are worth a look but Wild is my favorite.

3) A Walk in the Woods. 2015. Robert Redford, Nick Nolte. Buddies on the Appalachian Trail.

2) The Way. 2010. Martin Sheen. Disillusioned man finds solace on the Camino de Santiago trail. 

1) Wild. 2014. Reese Witherspoon. Disillusioned woman finds solace on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Not seen:

Tracks. 2014. Mia Wasikowska, Adam Driver. Girl walks across Australian desert.

Southbounders. 2005. Documentary of the Appalachian Trail.

Mile… Mile and a Half. 2013. Documentary of the John Muir Trail.

Only the Essential. 2014. Documentary of the Pacific Crest Trail.

As It Happens. Documentary of the Pacific Crest Trail.

Tell It on the Mountain. 2013. Documentary of the John Muir Trail.

Appalachian Impressions. 2015. Documentary of the Appalachian Trail.

The Long Journey to the Start. 2015. Documentary of the Appalachian Trail.

Nature as Best Supporting Actor

The plot of these vary, but nature plays a big role in the films. Some really great movies here and I’ve watched them all. I realize now that I need to watch several of them again because it’s been a looonng time for many, so I won’t try to rank them. But then again, why not. 

10) The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. 2013.  Ben Stiller. Disillusioned man finds solace in nature.

9) Jeremiah Johnson. 1972. Robert Redford. Disillusioned man finds solace in nature.

8) The River Wild. 1994. Meryl Streep, Kevin Bacon. Bad guys no match for good rafting skills.

7) Legends of the Fall. 1990. Brad Pitt. Anthony Hopkins. Sibling rivalry in the mountains.

6) Grizzly Man. 2005. Documentary about Timothy Treadwell. Bear eats man. 

5) Brokeback Mountain. 2005. Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal. Man eats man.

4) A River Runs Through It. 1990 Brad Pitt, Craig Sheffer. Sibling rivalry in the mountains.

3) The Last of the Mohicans. 1992, Daniel Day Lewis. Colonists are bad for Native Americans.

2) True Grit. 2010. Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld, Matt Damon. Bad guys no match for determined teenager and drunken lawman.

1) Dances with Wolves. 1990. Kevin Costner. Disillusioned man finds solace in nature.

Outdoor Survival

The name of the game here is surviving mother nature and/or wild creatures.

Honorable Mention) The Edge. 1997. Flight of Phoenix. 2014. The Mountain Between Us. 2017. 

10) The Grey. 2011. I’m not sure how realistic this one is, but some very large and extremely hungry wolves chase some oil refinery workers (Liam Neeson) through the Alaskan wilderness. 

9) The Way Back. 2010. Set during WWII, prisoners (Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Colin Farrell) escape from a Russian gulag and must travel by foot from Siberia to India. Based on an incredible true story.

8) Backcountry. 2014. The story of a persistent bear in the Canadian woods and Missy Peregrym as a more persistent hiker. This one claims to be based on a real event and might keep you out of the backcountry for a while.

7) Arctic. 2018. This film starring Mads Mikkelsen is pretty bleak and not big on dialogue but makes you wonder how long you would survive.

6) Alive. 1993. Based on the true account of the Uruguayan rugby team’s plane crash in the Andes mountains. Ensemble cast led by Ethan Hawke.

5) Castaway. 2000. Okay, it’s not the backcountry, but island survival nonetheless. And it’s got pre-coronavirus Tom Hanks so you have to like it.

4) Deliverance. 1972. Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty.  Pals go on a weekend canoe trip in the backcountry. It goes bad. Classic. I haven’t watched this one in a very long time, so I’m taking a chance at giving it the number 4 spot, but it obviously left a mark. And no one is going to read this anyway.

3) 127 Hours. 2010. James Franco. Great film that makes you wonder if you could do that same thing Aron Ralston did.

2) Into the Wild. 2007. The now well-known story of Chris McCandless. It stars Emile Hirsch, is directed by Sean Penn, has music by Eddie Vedder, and is based on the fantastic book by John Krakauer. What’s not to like? 

1) The Revenant. 2015. Leo and Tom Hardy. Awesome cinematography. I think that means filming stuff, right? The fight scene with the Indians and the bear attack are so realistic. At least I think they are. Thankfully, I’ve never been involved in either. Tom Hardy gets my Oscar nod.

This are my top ten lists. Post a comment or send an email and let me know what made your list that wasn’t on mine.

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