Interactive lesson

Storing dried food, step by step

Interactive lesson: what spoils dried food, packing in jars, where to keep it, moths and mice without poison, the monthly check and re-drying.

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The whole lesson as text

1. What spoils dried food

Dried food isn't dead: it takes up moisture, draws insects and mice, and slowly loses colour and aroma.

Dry as long as it stays dry — Dried food is safe only as long as it stays dry. Everything you do in the larder is about keeping it that way.
Moisture and heat — Best is 5–15 °C (40–60 °F) and air humidity below 60 %. Moisture makes it soft and sticky, and heat robs it of colour, aroma and vitamins.
Light and air — Light bleaches ground paprika, herbs and mushrooms within a few weeks. Air darkens fruit, so fill jars to the top.
Insects and rodents — Moths and beetles lay eggs, mice chew through bags. Glass and metal protect it, a bag doesn't.

Why: A summer and autumn of drying can be lost in one winter. A store that was well dried but badly kept goes in the bin in March. Six enemies spoil it: moisture, heat, light, air, insects and rodents.

Put a room thermometer with a humidity reading on the shelf with the dried food.
If the humidity is regularly above 65–70 % (common in older houses in the UK and Ireland), find another place or check the jars more often.

2. Packing

Pack only once the food has been conditioned for 7–10 days and frozen.

48 hours in the freezer — Before storing, the food spends 48 hours at −18 °C (0 °F). That is the best protection against moths.
Warm up before opening — Let a bag from the freezer warm up to room temperature closed. Otherwise condensation forms on the food.
Small and large jars — Every opening lets in moisture. Keep a month's small jar in the kitchen and leave the large ones closed in the larder.
Label, one batch — On every jar: what, batch, when dried, when to use by. Don't mix batches: if one wasn't dry, it spoils the other.

Why: The freezer is the best protection against moths: it kills eggs that may already be in the food. A glass jar keeps out moisture, smells and insects, and you can see what's inside.

Keep herbs in large bags in the freezer for 3 days.
Don't put silica gel sachets from shoes and electronics in food, only food-grade silica gel.