Preserving the holidays and the gift of dehydration

There are more techniques to preserving than just canning. Fermentation, dehydration, salting, smoking, and freezing are a few methods that master preserver Delilah Snell explores in her first book, “Beginner’s Guide to Preserving.” At the heart of preserving are tenets that Snell holds dear — sustainability, lack of waste, community, education, and the joy one finds in sharing abundance. Keeping food from spoiling is the common goal between the processes. Drying herbs in a paper bag is the easiest form of preservation. Flash freezing is another technique to preserve a fleeting fruit’s integrity, such as mulberries and boysenberries which have a short window of availability. Snell is the owner of Alta Baja Marketand suggests gifting a dehydrator for someone itching to get into the preservation game.