TRAIL SNACKS
New wave DIY trail mix is tastier than ever
Hiking shoes? Check! Hat and sunscreen, backpack and water? Check! You’ve got nearly all the essentials for a glorious hike through one of our nation’s national parks, save for one: trail snacks.
Or rather, new wave trail snacks, because trail mix has gone modern with chia, flaxseeds, ginger and chiles. Dried fruit has been joined by chile-lime mango and dried pineapple with chai. Prepackaged jerky? Not when you can make your own tasty beef or salmon bites. And all this is easy to make at home, says Sara Dickerman, the Seattle author of “Dried & True: The Magic of Your Dehydrator in 80 Delicious Recipes and Inspiring Techniques” (Chronicle Books, $19.95, 168 pages).
A self-confessed fruit leather lover, Dickerman began experimenting with DIY dehydrating after seeing the way chefs are increasingly playing with dried elements on the plate — dusts, crumbles and powders. Now, she says, she is slightly obsessed with drying, or rather dehydrating, just about anything edible.
“Some foods taste amazingly great dried, and some foods are trickier to work with,” she says. Blackberries turned out a little tough. Turkey jerky emerged odd and pale until she added molasses to the mix. “Things that are too high in sugar or high in fat don’t dry completely in the way that you’d like,” she says. “Bacon is tricky. Dehydrated bacon sounds like an amazing idea, but I found I couldn’t come up with a stable version.”
If you’re hitting the trail, try Dickerman’s Seedy Nograin Granola. “It’s fantastic for nibbling on,” she says. “I also quite like a beef jerky. It has a much more vibrant flavor, and it is not so overloaded with sugar, like a lot of commercial beef jerky. And I have an Apricot-Raspberry Leather recipe that kids and grown-ups love.”
Tips and tricks
Before you start, here are a few helpful tips:
You don’t necessarily need a dehydrator to make these recipes; most can be adapted to a home oven. But either way, check on the dehydrating process often and be patient. Drying times can range from 4 to 24 hours. That’s because dehydration temperatures are low — 135 to 165 degrees. Just be careful that the food doesn’t start browning.
Start with the basics. Dickerman recommends drying apple chips or making fruit leather first. They don’t take as long to dry — only about four to six hours. The Bananas Foster Trail Mix is another great recipe for beginners, as are the dried Chile-Lime Mangoes.
In a hurry? Don’t raise the temperature to speed things along. “If you have something like a fig, it’s going to take a long time because of the moisture content,” Dickerman says. “If you are in a hurry, slice items thinner and make smaller pieces. The more surface area the quicker you can dry, so that’s a practical solution.”
Just because it’s dried, doesn’t mean it will last forever. Enjoy your trail mix, but store any leftovers in an airtight container in a dark, cool environment for up to two weeks, or freeze it.