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Wilson Portrait
I should dry some meats.

Wilson

The Drying Rack is a craftable Food Tab Structure. It requires 3 Twigs, 2 Charcoal, and 3 Rope to craft and a Science Machine to prototype.

The Drying Rack can dry most Meats and most Fish into Jerky, Small Jerky, or Monster Jerky. Dried food items take significantly longer to spoil and often provide better Health and Sanity compared to raw food used in the rack or their cooked versions. In Don't Starve, Meat, Monster Meat, Morsel, Frog LegsFishEel, Drumstick and Batilisk Wing can all be dried on the Drying Rack if they are uncooked.

Unlike the results of Cooking, the dried food created will always be completely fresh. This means a spoiled Morsel can be dried to get a completely fresh piece of Small Jerky. Dried food left on a Drying Rack does not spoil until collected.

Meat Dried Time required
Meat Jerky 2 days
Dead Dogfish Dead Swordfish Raw Fish 1 day
Monster Meat Monster Jerky 1 day
Batilisk Wing Small Jerky 2 days
Morsel Frog Legs Fish Drumstick Eel Fish Morsel Tropical Fish Poison Dartfrog Legs 1 day
Dead Jellyfish Dead Rainbow Jellyfish Dried Jellyfish 1 day
Seaweed Dried Seaweed 0.25 days
Flytrap Stalk Stalking Stick 1 day
Kelp Fronds Dried Kelp Fronds 0.25 days

Gift Icon Downloadable Content[]

In all DLCs (including DST), dried food left on the Drying Rack will spoil over time. Rain will prevent any items on the Drying Rack from drying, making it less effective in Spring in Reign of Giants (and the derived DST), Hurricane Season and Monsoon Season in Shipwrecked, and Humid Season in Hamlet.

In Shipwrecked, Fish Morsels, Dead Dogfish, Dead Swordfish, Tropical Fish and Raw Fish can be dried on the Drying Rack to acquire Jerky. Additionally, Seaweed can be dried into Dried Seaweed, while Dead Jellyfish and Dead Rainbow Jellyfish can be dried into Dried Jellyfish.

In Hamlet, the Flytrap Stalk can be dried to create a Stalking Stick. Poison Dartfrog Legs can be dried into Small Jerky.

Don't Starve Together icon Don't Starve Together[]

In Don't Starve Together, Kelp Fronds can be dried on the Drying Rack to obtain Dried Kelp Fronds.

Drying Rack (Hermit) Map Icon Hermit Drying Rack[]

Wurt Portrait
These belong to crabby lady, florp.

Wurt

The Hermit Drying Rack is a naturally spawning object exclusive to Don't Starve Together, introduced in Return of Them. Six of them can be found on the Hermit Island.

The Hermit Drying Rack works just like a drying rack, except that it cannot be destroyed or burned.

Prototype Tips[]

  • Drying Racks are very useful for storing Meats. Jerky and Small Jerky take 20 days to completely spoil, while Meat and Morsel will spoil in 6 days, and cooked Meat/Morsel will spoil in 10 days. Storing any kind of jerky in the Ice Box will give 40 days before they spoil, allowing the player to focus on concerns other than gathering fresh food.
  • It is a good idea to build some racks early on (i.e. before the first Winter). The player may then store meat on the Drying Racks ready for the Winter, which will easily last throughout Winter once picked. Additionally, the Jerky versions provide improved stats over regular and cooked Meats.
  • Drying a Fish, Frog Legs, or Drumstick will turn them into Small Jerky, which prevents it from being used as a specific ingredient for certain Crock Pot meals, such as Fish Sticks (which need fish) or Froggle Bunwich (which need frog legs).
  • All the meat listed above can still be dried during winter. This is a very useful method for restoring health and sanity.
  • Due to the fact that the food items prepared on a Drying Rack are still technically uncooked, Wagstaff still takes the -3 health penalties eating dried food items, dampening their healing effects.
  • One can dry a pair of Poison Dartfrog Legs on a Drying Rack to remove their poisoning effects and gain the benefits from a Small Jerky, while it can also used as a cooking ingredient in a Crock Pot.
  • In the Hamlet DLC, indoor Drying Racks are not affected by Rain.

Placeholder Trivia[]

  • Even though the Koalefant Trunk counts as meat, it cannot be hung on the Drying Rack.
  • The Hermit Drying Rack was introduced to Don't Starve Together in the She Sells Sea Shells update.

Mosquito Bugs[]

  • In Reign of Giants, Jerky left on the Drying Racks in the Caves may not continue to spoil while the player is in the surface world.

Blueprint Gallery[]

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