Preserving The Harvest – Recipes From Around The World

09.18.20

Recipes from around the world (Italy, USA and Middle East) on drying and preserving foods to help store summer’s harvest all year around.

There is a deeply rooted ancestral desire to have access to the proper nourishment all-year-long and the great joy of filling your pantry with all kinds of preserved foods that come with it. The practice of keeping all sorts of ready-to-eat foods in the house, that was once adopted primarily for survival, is probably less necessary nowadays, yet still can bring a sense of wholesomeness and comfort to one’s life. Besides, the variety of food choices is proven to be a crucial factor to the overall health, where plant fibers play a significant role. This truth was understood by our foremothers long ago and, unfortunately, is now partly lost in the fast-developing countries focusing on processed foods.

Maria Dokshina shares with us three simple recipes from Italy, USA and the Middle East on preserving some of summer’s bounty by drying foods to help reserve them for year round consumption.From Maria,

Dehydration is the one of the oldest methods of food preservation that was used by prehistoric people for sun-drying plant’s seeds, and it preserves fiber perfectly as well as most of the vitamin and mineral content. This is particularly important for people in colder climates where access to the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables is not steady throughout the year.

Let’s discover a few different methods of preserving foods by drying that are practiced around the globe.

Sun dried tomatoes from Italy

Around the year 700 AD, the Aztecs were already salting and drying their tomatoes to preserve freshness. And of course, later, as we know, Italians discovered that their ceramic roof-tops serve perfectly for a long-hour under-the-sun drying process for their rich harvests of tomatoes that thrive in a Mediterranian hot climate.

Not only the final product is covered in olive oil that further prevents the spread of bacteria that already can’t develop without the removed water, but it is also extremely rich in taste and flavor. It can take up to 15 kilos of fresh tomatoes to make 1 single kilo of dried tomatoes as they loose about 90% of their water content. No wonder they carry such a concentrated taste. The finished product is so unique on its own that it only asks for a simple piece of freshly baked bread or a plate of a plain al dente pasta served with some mild-tasting cheese such as mozzarella, to be enjoyed. It is both sour and sweet, as well as rich in the fifth taste that they call “the savory taste” – umami. And the width of applications are endless.

Make tomato sauce and enrich it by adding chopped sun-dried tomatoes soaked in extra virgin olive oil.
Add a few halves to your basic plate of alfredo pasta.
Top the guacamole toast with it.
Push into the dough and bake focaccia with them.

The method:

Wash and slice in half 1 kilo of cherry tomatoes.
Spread evenly (cut side up) on a baking tray covered with parchment paper, or dehydrator trays, with some space in between halves. Sprinkle with some freshly cracked pepper (black or rose), fresh thyme leaves or other herbs of your choice.
Bake for 4-6 hours on the lowest heat of your oven (80-100C), or 8-10 hours on 60C in a dehydrator. Keep an eye on the tomatoes – you are looking for the rich jam-like consistency – not watery, but also not a completely dried.
Let them cool down, put in a sterile jar of appropriate size, top with a high quality extra virgin olive oil.
Store in the fridge for up to 3 months. Although, they never last that long.

Kale chips from United States Of America

While exploring the subject of kale chips origin I accidentially found an inspiring heart-warming story of a chef falling in love with a nutritionist, which led not only to their marriage but kale chips were born as a product of their union around the year 2005. Before that kale was one of the most popular green vegetables already 2000 years ago, reaching the peak in the Middle Ages. While around 19th century traders brought the Red Russian variety to US market all the way across the Atlantic Ocean.History parts like this remind us of how connected we all are and that boarders although healpful and protective in many ways, will never truly be able to separate people who share the same Earth and survive of its precious gifts.

Warning! Kale chips are just as addictive as potato ones. However, the homemade chips can be made will less oil and salt, and kale is much denser in nutrients than the potato is, that makes it a worhty substitution perfect for ocassional treat or a football night snack.The method:

Wash and dry 6-8 big kale leaves (go for the curly variety if you find it, as it cruches more gentle and satisfying). You want to end up with about 300gr of just the leafy part.
Remove the stiff part of the stem from each leaf. Rip the leaves to same-size pieces, about 3-4cm in diameter.
Transfer the leaves to a big mixing bowl and add the oil. Give them a proper massage by rubbing the oil in with your hands for 2 minutes.
Mix in 2 Tbsp of nutritional yeasts. In a food processor grind together a tablespoon of each: cashews, sunflower and sesame seeds, then add the mix to the bowl. Add salt, pepper and lemon juice to your taste (yes, you can eat them uncooked too).
Prepare two baking trays by covering them with parchment paper. Evenly spread the leaves between the trays so that each piece is placed individually.
Put into a pre-heated 90-100 C oven, bake first for 10 min, then carefully toss around to ensure that they cook evenly and then finish by baking until they turn slightly golden (takes about 10-15 min more). Remove from the oven, let cool completely. Or alternatively, if using dehydrator, dry for 5 hours on 70C. Whichever way – enjoy the blissful crunch!

Fruit leather from the Middle East

The Middle East, Persia, and Armenia might have been the first ones who discovered that abundant summer fruit and berry harvests can be cooked, pureed, poured into muslin sheets, and hung in the sun to dry, to then be preserved for the whole year in glass jars.“Bastegh” is how Armenian housewives would call apricot, plum, or grape-based rolled sheets – a favorite kids’ treat that would be offered to them by a grandmother on the way home from church on a Sunday morning. The texture depends on the pectin content of the fruit and varies from gummy and chewy to a more hard-to-break one. The best part is that by making fruit leather at home, you can actually mix your favorite fruits or even add some chopped nuts and seeds inside.The method:

Mix 1: Kiwi + melon leather: 200g of peeled kiwis, 200g of peeled yellow melon (makes 3 sheets)
Mix 2: Pumpkin + orange leahter: 200g of cooked pumpkin puree, 200g of peeled orange (makes 2-3 sheets)
In a high-speed blender combine each mix separately.
Pour into your dehydrator trays by abour 2mm thick.
Dehydrate for about 10 hours on 60C.
Store in an air-tight glass jar in a dark cool place.

From the very ancient to the most recent modern technics, drying is still an important part of our food preservation methods practiced by people from all over the world. Japanese dried rice and fish, American Indians preserved sliced meats, people from Israel dry dates, Armenian persimmons, Indians spices, Chinese herbs, in Russia we dry sliced apples and mushrooms.

Anything that can be dried is dried and it seems to be a clear manifestation of collective survival mastery and exquisite creativity of ours.