by Diane Sagers

CORRESPONDENT

With harvest underway, gardeners are finding lots of ways to use and save the fruits and vegetables they have worked so hard to produce this summer. Fresh eating is the use of choice, of course. But if you wish to save your food, you have several food preservation methods to choose from.

Freezing is the newest method of food preservation. It has been available since the advent of the refrigerator/freezer during the 20th century. Bottling -- another tried and true method -- has been with us since the early 19th century, although the method had its first beginnings during the conquests of Napoleon, and canned or "tinned" foods were made available to the troops during the American Civil War.

Pickling has been a part of man's need to save food for centuries. Drying food goes back even further.

Drying keeps food from deteriorating because bacteria requires moisture to thrive and multiply.

Although it has been practiced for millennia, it is not antiquated. The process worked then and it works now. Properly treated, dried food retains most nutrients, flavor and color.

Although preserved food is most often marketed as frozen or canned, we still purchase a number of foods in dried form at the grocery store. Among them are raisins and other dried fruits, fruit roll-ups, potato flakes, dry soup mixes and dried chilies, etc.

To dry foods at home, begin with foods that are in prime condition. Although drying preserves foods, it does not improve it.

To dry fruits, wash and drain them, then cut them up before drying. Vegetables need to be blanched to destroy the enzymes that cause changes in color, texture and flavor when drying or storing.

Vegetables can be blanched in boiling water, but steaming or microwaving are preferred because they do not add extra water just before drying begins. Vegetables are blanched then dipped in ice water before freezing, but they do not need to be chilled after blanching when drying. Simply spread them on the drying racks and start the process.

Fruits tend to turn dark when they are dried. Dipping the fruits in unsweetened lemon juice, unsweetened pineapple juice or ascorbic acid (sold as Fruit Fresh) reduces the darkening. Those perfectly colored fruits you purchase are treated with sulfur before drying, but the sulfuring process is more complicated than most of us would care to do at home.

As I noted earlier, drying food requires few special tools. The sun that has dried foods for millennia still provides solar energy to dry food. Our low humidity and long periods of sunny weather make drying food more efficient than other places.

The key to sun-drying is air movement. Place fruits and vegetables on racks or screens so that air can circulate freely around them. A piece of clean, cotton cloth or cheese cloth stapled over frames makes a good drying screen. Window screens also work well.

Smaller frames -- about the size to fit in an oven -- work very well because they are a more manageable size.

Sun provides the heat. Food doesn't need to be exposed to the sun to dry. It will dry efficiently in a shed with good air circulation or it can dry well in a closed car.

Place foods on a tray, skin-side down so they won't stick to the tray. On dewy evenings, take the food inside so it won't moisten up.

Insects are unwelcome visitors who invite themselves to drying parties. If they become a problem, cover the trays with cheesecloth or another screen, making sure they don't touch the food.

Oven drying is a quicker way to dry fruits and vegetables. Set temperatures below 140 degrees if possible. If your oven does not go that low, do the best you can. Spread food on oven racks or place drying racks in the oven and prop the oven door open with a spoon to let the air circulate. It will take 12 to 14 hours to dry food in this way. Keeping an oven set to 140 to 170 degrees with the door open is not particularly efficient. Food dryers are much more cost effective if you plan to do much drying. Food dryers require less drying time and energy than oven- or sun-drying. Follow the manufacturer's directions for good results.

After the food is dry enough, get it ready to store. Spread it on a tray in a 175-degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes to pasteurize it and destroy any insects or eggs that may exist. Cool completely on other racks or dishtowels before placing in containers.

You can also put dried food in airtight containers and place it in the freezer at a temperature of 0 degrees Fahrenheit or lower for four days or more. Freezing destroys fewer vitamins than the oven method.

Airtight glass jars are the best containers for dried food, but zip-tight bags or other airtight containers are equally effective. Store packages of dried fruit in a cool, dark place.

Apricots, peaches and apples are among the most popular home-dried fruits, but many people dry tomatoes for tomato paste and reconstitute them for later use.

To reconstitute, place dried fruits or vegetables in a saucepan and pour enough boiling water over to cover food. Cover and leave over low heat just until water is absorbed. The food will look and taste much like its fresh counterparts.

Purees can be made in a blender and dried by any of the above methods also. Fruit leather is simply dried, pureed fruit with a tablespoon or two of honey or sugar added to each quart. Dry until the leather is pliable and not sticky. Tomato leather can be reconstituted for tomato sauce or paste.