Food Dehydrator

[Shellynfree]

Would like to know if anyone use a food dehydrator at home. I came across the Excalibur brand online but have not seen one in real before. Would love to know if there is a difference between the 9 tray and the 5 tray model too and how useful is it to have one.

Shelly

 

[syzygy314]

I had one years ago. I used it mainly for drying venison to make jerky. Other than that, I didn't get much use out of it and it took up a lot of space. I had a small kitchen then and still do! Unless you're planning on doing a lot of dried fruit on a regular basis, I don't think they're worth it. You can do the same thing in your oven on really low heat.

 

[cindi1]

I was experimenting with a raw food diet a while back and purchased a dehydrator (an inepensive one to just try out). I didn't use it enough and found it awkward to have out all the time - didn't really feel like it was worth the effort to dehydrate food vs. just cooking it. (JMHO)

I gave it to the church rummage sale after about a year.

 

[susandean]

I have the Excalibur 9 tray and love it. I used to have to throw out lots of stuff but now I dry it. Apples, pears, cherry tomatoes, strawberrys. I even dry onions before they go bad and then grind some in a little cheapie coffee grinder and make my own onion powder. When I buy fresh parsley and don't use it all I dry it and have dried parsley. Green grapes are really good dried. A pain to cut and slice stuff but better than throwing it out. It takes a few tries to get the right amount of drying and some fruits need dipping to keep them from turning dark. I slice apples and dip them in orange or lemon juice, sprinkle a little cinnamon on them and love them for snacking. I had one of the round dryers years ago and did not like it as you have to change the trays around but this one has the fan at the back and you don't have to switch them around. Really a nice dryer. You really need as many trays as you can afford as sliced fruit, etc takes more room than you might think.

 

[Shellynfree]

Thank you so much for the feedback. Guess if I really want to get one, I should go for the Excalibur 9 tray. I am doing quite a fair bit of sprouting so making dehydrated sprout cake may be good in addition to fruits and vegetables.

Shelly

 

[susandean]

Your welcome Shelly,

I got the 9 tray without the timer. I don't think the timer would be that accurate anyway.

Susan

 

[kathryn]

I also have an Excalibur 9-tray (no timer : I'm not sure if the timer actually turns it off, but I have a timer on my stove, and I can use that if necessary. Anyway, how long something takes to dry is dependant on the moisture content of the food, the humidity, the ambient temperature, etc.).

I use it for making raw, dried cookies, crackers and wraps; for heating up raw foods to about 115 degrees (so they are still 'raw,' but warm); for making fruit leathers (ripe bananas and any other fruit); for making kale and other veggies chips; for drying raw pâté to make 'burgers'; for marinating veggies (put veggies in a marinade in a covered container, and the warmth will make them marinate faster'; for making cultured nut milks (I add yogurt starter and put the nut milks in a sealed container to culture).

I also use it to dry nuts and seeds and buckwheat that I have soaked and germinated.

I highly recommend the 9-tray. You may not use all 9 trays at once (I do when I fix a few weeks worth of nuts and seeds), but there are times when you may want to put something larger in it, removing some of the trays, and a 5-tray model may not be big enough.

There are lots of recipes for raw food concoctions using a dehydrator.

 

[Shellynfree]

Yay, I got my dehydrator and had dehydrated sweet potato, tomatoes, fruits, nuts and some crackers. Thanks Kathryn for your suggestion of the 9 trays. It makes a big difference as I do use up all trays at one go. Can't wait to try out dehydrating other stuff. The timer does work well and is a breeze too.

Hope I can go the healthy raw way now.

Shelly

 

[Shadowpup]

I have the Excalibur 9 tray and love it. I used to have to throw out lots of stuff but now I dry it. Apples, pears, cherry tomatoes, strawberrys. I even dry onions before they go bad and then grind some in a little cheapie coffee grinder and make my own onion powder. When I buy fresh parsley and don't use it all I dry it and have dried parsley. Green grapes are really good dried. A pain to cut and slice stuff but better than throwing it out. It takes a few tries to get the right amount of drying and some fruits need dipping to keep them from turning dark. I slice apples and dip them in orange or lemon juice, sprinkle a little cinnamon on them and love them for snacking. I had one of the round dryers years ago and did not like it as you have to change the trays around but this one has the fan at the back and you don't have to switch them around. Really a nice dryer. You really need as many trays as you can afford as sliced fruit, etc takes more room than you might think.

Ditto the above for me - I have had the 9 tray Excaliber for several years now, and it is very easy to use. It does take up a fair amount of counter space, so after the first year I've begun putting it away during the winter/spring and then pulling it out in the summer/fall, when our garden is producing.

 

[Shellynfree]

i dehydrated potato and sweet potato chips because I had a craving for chips. i soak one batch of the sliced chips in apple cider vinegar and salt mixture and another batch in olive oil with lemon juice. Will know how they turn out in another 6 hours. Was told they are excellent like those you can find in the store.

There are so many recipes for dehydrating out there and I only found out today.

Shelly