Sunday 8th August (day 21)
We certainly didn’t expect to be here in Rosslyn Bay for all this time. However, given the COVID experiences of other states, and even in Brisbane, we are thankful not be subjected to lockdown.
While I have been periodically checking all the fresh produce to ensure we used what we needed before spoilage, I was very disappointed to discover that we lost several bags of home dehydrated carrots and zucchinis to mould.
I decided to check up on the dehydrated food we’d stacked away in mid July. I’d been checking in every week.
We lost 3/6 packs of zucchini’s and all but one of the carrots. Our dried bananas, capsicums, mushrooms, tomatoes, kiwi fruit, beans and peas are all good. I noted that the carrots and zucchinis cut into rounds did better than those cut into longer strips.
Bananas, tomatoes, kiwi and capsicums are dried to a more leathery than crisp condition and while the bananas have turned a bit black they taste fine.
Mushrooms, beans and the surviving carrots and zucchini’s are all very dry.
No blanching was done in the process – just air dried. I now know not to put the packs of dried products into zip lock bags but keep them in cloth bags inside paper bags – all the surviving produce was packed that way
I wrap batches in lots of paper towel and then place inside cloth bags with drawstring closure and then inside heavy paper bags and store in dark cool dry well ventilated locker
Other foods have held up well and as the days warm, I will have to be extra vigilant.
We anticipated using this food when we were far from supermarkets and towns, idling away either at anchor or on some lonely island, but now we will have to consider using some of this produce far before we expected.
Shell de Mer 