Oodles and Oodles of Information About Drying Food

I wrote about the art of drying food today. It contains details about pre-treating foods before drying, the best temperature, hanging versus dehydrator methods, prepping the food to be dried, and tons of recipes for drying specific fruits and vegetables and meats. In addition, it contains ideas for using dried foods. For more information visit, "How to Dry Foods."

Raw Food Nut and Seed Butter Recipes

Throughout time, people have eaten seasonally from necessity. There are health benefits to eating foods that are in season. Energy consumption from storage is reduced. Transportation costs to transport food to areas where it is not currently in season is avoided. There is also data that suggests our bodies crave and benefit from eating foods that are in season. To learn more about eating seasonally visit: How to Eat Seasonally

A favorite seasonal food of winter is nuts and seeds. This is because nuts and seeds harvested in the fall can be stored without energy consumption throughout the winter. The native Americans had a process for harvesting, storing and using acorns that I find fascinating. Acorns are the fruit of the oak tree and are abundant in many places. To use acorns the tannins must be leached from them.

To use other types of nuts, raw peanuts, raw black walnuts, or any other raw nut your heart desires, I suggest making raw nut butters. The are created by adding a small amount of raw honey to the nuts in a food processor and processing well. Yum!