DRYHARVEST
Dry it, keep it: jerky, dried fruit, and the craft of food dehydrating.
From timing a batch and dialing in the right dehydrator temperature to estimating water activity, rehydrating dried food, and planning how much a batch will yield, DryHarvest pairs free hands-on drying calculators with practical guides and a richly illustrated museum. Dry it, keep it.
Food-Drying Calculators
Free tools for jerky, dried fruit, and herbs — drying time calculator, dehydrator temperature guide, water activity estimator, rehydration ratio calculator, and a batch yield estimator.
Drying Time Calculator
Estimate how long a batch of fruit, vegetables, mushrooms or herbs will take from slice thickness and dehydrator temperature: a planning range, with the doneness test that decides when it is done
Dehydrator Temperature Guide
Look up the tested dehydrator temperature for fruit, vegetables, mushrooms and herbs in °F and °C, quoted from NCHFP and extension guides, and check your planned temperature against it
Water Activity Estimator
Estimate the water activity of a salt/sugar brine or marinade from its water, salt, and sugar content, using the ideal-solution mole-fraction approximation
Rehydration Ratio Calculator
Work out how much a dried food will weigh once rehydrated, or how much dried product to start with for a target yield, using typical ratios by food type
Batch Yield Estimator
Project the dried-weight range a batch will produce from its fresh weight, using typical yield-percent ranges by food type, and estimate the trays you'll need
Food Drying Reference
Tested dehydrator temperature, drying time and batch yield for fruit, vegetables, mushrooms and herbs in one table, computed by this site's own tools
Museum of Drying & Preservation
Wander an immersive collection of how the world has preserved food by removing water — dried meats from biltong to jerky and dried fish, dried fruits, dried herbs and spices, and the drying methods and equipment cultures have built to do it, each in its own gallery. Every entry, image, and fact is drawn from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.
Tour the museum →From the Journal
Practical guides on drying, curing, and storing food at home — jerky, dried fruit, herbs, water activity, rehydrating, and planning a bigger batch.
How to Make Beef Jerky at Home: A Complete Guide
Home beef jerky, step by step: cut selection, trimming, marinating, the USDA heat-first step, curing salt cautions, and how to know when a batch is actually done.
Choosing the Right Dehydrator Temperature for Every Food
Why meat, fruit, vegetables, and herbs each want a different dehydrator temperature, what happens when you get it wrong in either direction, and how to pick a setting when your machine only gives you one dial.
Drying Fruit at Home: Best Practices for Apples, Bananas, and Berries
How to prep, pretreat, and dry common fruits for a chewy, long-lasting snack — slicing thickness, pretreatments that stop browning, and the texture cues that tell you a batch is finished.
How to Dry Herbs and Preserve Their Flavor
Air-drying, dehydrator drying, and the storage habits that keep dried herbs aromatic instead of dusty and flavorless — plus how to tell fresh-cut herbs are actually ready to store.
Understanding Water Activity and Why It Matters for Preserved Food
What water activity actually measures, why it's different from moisture content, how salt and sugar lower it, and why an estimate is not a safety test.
Rehydrating Dried Food: A Practical Guide for the Kitchen and the Trail
How much water dried beans, vegetables, mushrooms, and fruit actually reabsorb, the difference between a quick soak and a long one, and how to plan portions for cooking or backpacking meals.
Keep Learning
Plain-language explainers on drying methods and equipment, the science of water activity and safe drying temperatures, and the history of dried meats, fruits, and herbs around the world — everything you need to dry with confidence.
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