Has anybody ever dehydrated crab meat? If so, any tips?

A friend just gave me a HUGE supply of fresh crab meat, picked, cleaned and all. I could freeze the surplus, but I'm thinking of dehydrating some for the trail.

Seems like it should be a no-brainer, but thought I'd ask for tips, if any.

I have done shrimp for Gumbo, and it was a bit chewy when rehydrated.

Mmmmm! Chewy crab! Might make you craby!
Hey the Japanese dry little shrimp that come out good.....but they are the little guys.

I dehydrated shrimp once. They rehydrated to the consistency of old pencil erasers.

I'm told that I dried them too much.

Yes, I just did some this week. Cook as normal then dehydrate. Should not bend at all, should break nice and crisp. Simply rehydrate with hot water. Seal in food saver bags or similar.

If crab meat behaves anything like chicken, your best bet will be to cook it first and then freeze-dry it. Dehydration takes the moisture out too fast and makes the meat (chicken) tough. Dry the cooked meat with paper towel and spread it out in your freezer for a week or longer. When you rehydrate it, it will taste and feel like you just cooked it.

MRI -- My son's girlfriend used to use your method for freeze drying dead bird carcasses. I never thought of using it for edible foods.

After freeze drying using your method, how long will the meat last without refrigeration?

quote OBX2Kayak: "MRI -- My son's girlfriend used to use your method for freeze drying dead bird carcasses. I never thought of using it for edible foods.

After freeze drying using your method, how long will the meat last without refrigeration?"

How long do dead bird carcasses last? :-)

I don't know if the kitchen freezer method gets the meat as dry as the commercial methods, so I hesitate to say it'll keep as long as the store-bought stuff. But I feel confident that if you vacuum-seal it right out of the freezer it should keep indefinitely. I just packaged a cook-and-freeze-dried "Mae West" chicken breast to go with three dehydrated meals on my trip next week. It's in the freezer now but I expect it will keep long enough. If not I hope my nose knows first.