Thread: Anyone of you use a food dehydrator?

... Or is it just an other gadget that is going to end up in the bottom of the kitchen cabinet with the icecream/yogurt machine, sandwich maker, Culinar robot, etc, etc, etc.?

Cause I'm thinking of purchasing one. My other half and I like dry fruits and veggy snacks but the commercial ones are usualy full of sugar or salt and other additives.

But also, I was thinking that is could cool to prepare my own fine herbs, dry tomatoes, mushrooms, etc. for cooking all year long.

My favorite cereals has dry slices of straberries and dry blueberries, I love it and maybe it would be nice to homemake it without the extra sugar.

Anyone to convince me?? ..g.:

Qamar

my hubs bought a dehydrator years ago. it hasn't been out of the cupboard since we moved...l;,

now, it worked ok. he tried making jerky. i tried drying fruits. the tedious part is slicing things evenly, if you have a mandolin that part should be easy. i think we would have used it more if we copious amounts of meat or fruit that needed to be eaten! as it is, we don't have cows or fruit trees so everything we dehydrated was bought at the grocery store.

also, i found that whole foods grocery stores sell dehydrated fruit with no added sugar. so, the dehydrator continues to sit in the cupboard.

I echo this. Have one and it works great, but for the amount you end up with the dehydrator is pretty much running non stop to end up with enough food for snacks, etc,. The slicing is tedious, but once you get the hang of it it's not so bad. You'd just be forever filling the trays with food to dry to end up with a substantial quantity of finished product.

I use to have one, until I got a new convection oven. I use that now. My dehydrator was really small and it took forever to dry stuff out (I did use it for herbs, lavender, etc).

I don't dry as much stuff now, since I can buy more in bulk when I need it (who has time anyway for all the prep?) and I don't garden anymore.

You will have to weigh how much prep is involved vs. the amount of product you will gain. If you are able to set aside a weekend for dehydrating then you might be able to justify doing it perhaps maybe once or twice a month and go whole-hog (large batches). Be sure you get a good one that runs well, and is easy to clean.

If you get one, I def. recommend getting the one with the mesh trays, those making the berries clean up much easier.

I use mine mostly in summer and fall. I mostly dehydrate fruits that I purchase in bulk while in season. Dried cherries are an awesome snack and you buy them on sale, they're steal.

Dried watermelon is pure candy. Blueberries are bit more tedious because youhave to dunk them briefly in hot water to get rid of the bloom, but it's worth it to have real good blueberries to toss in your muffin mix or cereal in the dead of winter.

Pears and apples (between 50 and 75 cents a pound in season) you can process on multiple trays in one shot and have lots of good, cheap snacks during the winter.

Like anything, usually there's some sort of work involved with "Saving money" or "eating something that's good for you". If saving money is not your priority, don't bother. But if you care about where your fruits come from, if you want to reduce your added sugar intake and you get a kick out of having summer fruits in the winter, then step right up. *g*

(Although, I would recommend getting a food sealer as well. Dehydrated food only stays so if it is sealed shut. However, properly dehydrated food will keep forever. I had forgotten a bag of blueberries from 3 years ago in the cellar... As good as new. No kidding. We had them in muffins and cereal a few months ago.)

Top of the line, best ever dehydrator is the Excalibur. It has rectangular trays, and the fan blows from the back forward so you don't have to rotate the tray. It also has a temperature adjustment. I love mine. I may marry it.

Cut fresh strawberries in half, roll them in Nestle' Quik powder and dry for yummy snacks.

I love to use my dehydrator for the ends and bits that usually go to waste. Like the last few stalks of celery that are getting limp, or a few mushrooms/slices or over-ripe banana into banana chips (which you can rehydrate and make into banana bread), grapes (raisins, anyone?). I grow and dry "Principe Borghese" tomatoes that are fab for drying. Zucchini slices are like eating pringles...nom nom nom.

As far as storing it, I store my dried food in mason jars with the rings and lids. You can get the oxygen/moisture absorber packets to put in the jars from online food preservation stores. I store mostly in quarts, because if something gets moisture in it or goes bad, I've only lost a quart that way and not more.

You can get the silicon or teflon liner sheets for the trays which make cleanup easy for anything (even fruit leather).

If you dry herbs in it, I always recommend putting the finished dried herbs in a large plastic bag and freezing for a week to kill any insect eggs or larvae that may survive the drying process. Otherwise they can hatch in your lovely container of dried herbs and start multiplying, munching, making webs & poop, etc.

I used my dehydrator all the time when I was in college. Mine has ... 5 or 6 trays that I can stack, so I ended up with a good amount. I would mostly dehydrate apples (either plain or sprinkled with cinnamon) and bananas and stick a bag in my backpack- and snack all day. Especially on days when I didn't have time between classes for lunch. If you really like jerky- commercial jerky is insanely expensive and it's cheap to make. But I'm not a big jerky fan. Nowadays, I use it once a year, when I'm making my final harvest of the year from my herb garden- and then I have my home grown herbs to cook with for the rest of the year. I did use it once a few months ago to make snacks for the kids- but they weren't really into them- they'd rather have fresh fruit. The 5 year old was really excited about the fruit roll-up, though (I don't buy commercial fruit roll-ups), which was just dehydrated applesauce. It does stay good pretty much forever, and I can see using mine maybe 2 or 3 times a year, but that's about it. Once it goes (it's about 15 years old), it won't be replaced. Had a ball for the first year or so when I got it- used it all the time, and I ate more fruit as a result.

I agree with kemintri regarding the mesh trays- mine is round- harvest master or something? & you can purchase extra mesh inserts to put over the trays which I think is a lot easier to clean. We use it a lot in the fall with discount/almost free fruit and for the final step in smoking salmon. I LOVE dried apples in midwinter! If you spend a lot of time USING dried herbs/fruit/meat & don't mind spending large chunks of a given season dealing with this stuff, it can be very rewarding. I like mine a lot & it gets a lot of use, but we spend a lot of time in the garden & kitchen as a family anyway.

Thank you for all your aswers and advices! Now I have more to make a wiser decision. I going to take a look on eBay for the Excalibur, will see!



Qamar

We have one but haven't used in a while. My husband used it to make beef jerky--quite tasty without all the horrid junk commercial stuff has (hunters in the family got it as gifts and loved it).

Yes I 2nd the mesh trays, I still use them in my oven (not all ovens can be used for drying but mine has a low enough setting). I do occasionally make a batch of stuff, mostly apricots for my mother-she is allergic to sulpher (the sulfites in dried stuff can kill her).

I pop them in the canning jars when they are dried and they keep a long time (or they would if she wouldn't eat them up so quickly!).

And a meal-sealer is awesome, you can use it for more things as well. I use it to keep my flatwear from tarnishing (I only bring it out once a year and after it's cleaned and polished I seal it up with a piece of silver cloth-it stays tarnish-free because there is no oxygen).

Originally Posted by TailaDances

And a meal-sealer is awesome, you can use it for more things as well. I use it to keep my flatwear from tarnishing (I only bring it out once a year and after it's cleaned and polished I seal it up with a piece of silver cloth-it stays tarnish-free because there is no oxygen).

That's awsome! I already have a food-sealer and use it very often. I'll try this. ,r:;

Qamar

I also use it to seal up other things:
-first aid kit for my truck
-wipes, snacks, in my backpack (small batches)

I think I've used my food sealer more than anything else (except my microwave & vacuum! LOL)

Now they have that new system that uses the zip bags (in the grocery store). It looks interesting and I'm tempted to try that (it would be good for camping as well, when you have to pack everything back up, things NEVER seem to fit in the same amount of space).

I found an Excalibur distributor in Québec's province and the cost is reasonable compare to the sellers on eBay.

But we need a new garage's door... So maybe I'll wait a little, or sell some other stuffs of mine ..g.:

Anyone interested is a juice extrator and/or ice cream/yogurt machine??..l;,..l;,..l;,

Thanks again!

Qamar

Not sure of the price you found in Quebec, but Upaya Naturals also sells them and has them on special right now:

Upaya Naturals - Specializing in organic, raw, vegan, food and health products.

I bought some stuff from them at the most recent Total Health Show and they provided amazing customer service.

Same price from this distributor in Trois-Rivières (Qc): $158.00 including shipping.

Déshydrateur Excalibur Simplement le Meilleur NutritionCrue.ca L'Alimentation Crue et Vivante au Canada

But i'm keeping your link in my faves just in case.

Thanks

Qamar

I use mine to make dried apple chips (I have one of those crank-handle peeler/slicer/coring machines which slices them into nice thin rounds and then all you do is break them up and place on the trays, sprinkled with lemon juice to avoid browning and some cinnamon - yum!)
And semidried tomatoes are yummy, too.

The other thing I do (with their own dedicated trays! No mixing with the fruit!) is make dried liver chips for dog treats. They cost $5 a bag at the shops, but $2 of liver makes about 4 bags worth!

I loved using the dehydrator to make cookies!

Originally Posted by Azhia

I loved using the dehydrator to make cookies!

OK now I'm conviced: I NEED one! ..l;, ..l;,

Well, Mrs. Governement still owes me money, so as soom as the check is in, the shopping will start


Qamar

Originally Posted by Qamar60

OK now I'm conviced: I NEED one! ..l;, ..l;,

Well, Mrs. Governement still owes me money, so as soom as the check is in, the shopping will start


Qamar

What kind of juice extractor?

This one:



I will send you an email a bit latter!

Ciao!

Qamar