dehydrator?

[onetrumpeter]

How many of you have/USE? one of these? (And if you don't use it and are interested in selling - lmk - I'm in No. VA )

I've never seen it as an appliance I'd need/want. BUT, I want to make the crispy nuts (almonds, specifically) and our oven only goes down to 170F. The NT recipe says to use an oven at 150 or a dehydrator. I suppose the almonds would still benefit (or rather, I'd benefit) from a soaking, but I dislike the idea of then disabling(? is that the right word?) the enzymes with a too-hot oven. So, I looked at dehydrators online. Fairly pricy, esp if I wouldn't use it for anything else (and I've not needed/wanted one til now, but of course we're TF newbees...).

So, just wondering if it's worth it, or is there perhaps an alternative? (Cardboard box w/ a lightbulb has come up in googling it, but I'd like a bit more reliability/less babysitting...)

Thanks for sharing any thoughts about dehydrators!

[cristeen]

I use mine about every week... not for nuts though, we get more fruit than we can eat in our CSA box, so we dry it to keep it from going bad. If I was looking to buy one, I'd go for the Excalibur - you can get it at Cultures for Health.

[JoyMC]

i posted on Freecycle and actually got TWO! (i gave one to a friend.)

i use it for nuts and seeds, but also for drying fruit, making jerky, and next i want to sprout wheat berries, dehydrate them and grind my own sprouted flour!

it's also handy to set my bread on to rise during the winter when we keep our house pretty chilly.

[A&A]

We have this one:

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...set=ISO-8859-1

We've used it quite a bit. With the small dehydrators, it gets frustrating because you go to all this work and end up with just a little dried food.
With this sucker, we can load it full and get a lot of dried fruit out of it!

[onetrumpeter]

thanks, ladies! OK - so I guess I WANT ONE! lol

I actually did already try freecycle so have to wait another month before posting the same "wanted" (that's our area's rule) but WOW on having two people offer - very cool. I'll just have to be patient. The excalibar looks awesome but quite pricey. I TOTALLY want to dry sprouting wheat berries and then making bular flour - just was reading about that in NT. What a fun book. Maybe a Christmas gift for myself?

[onetrumpeter]

Whoa. A&A, that's definitely not in my price range but it looks awesome. It's too bad our kitchen space is so cramped, too. But the price rules it out pretty easily. Boy - you must have fun with that! Love your son's quote about dogs being like doctors. We don't have a dog, but it's so true!

[dogmom327]

Things you can do with a good dehydrator:

--Preserve produce (including making fruit leather, dried tomatoes for sundried tomatoes, etc.)

--Crispy nuts (this alone makes it worth it for me!)

--Drying sprouted grain to make sprouted flour (can be a huge cost saver)


If you get a cube-shaped dehydrator (Excalibur, Sausage Maker brand, etc.) it can also:

--Double as a yogurt maker (just set a canning jar with the yogurt mixture in there and set it at 110 degrees)

--Keep your cultured and fermented foods warm during the winter months when your house is a bit on the cold side.

[A&A]

Originally Posted by onetrumpeter

Whoa. A&A, that's definitely not in my price range but it looks awesome. It's too bad our kitchen space is so cramped, too. But the price rules it out pretty easily. Boy - you must have fun with that! Love your son's quote about dogs being like doctors. We don't have a dog, but it's so true!

Thanks!

This dehydrator is DEFINITELY not kitchen material--too big. (I can't even move it--dh has to move it.) We've had it on the back porch and used it a lot in the summer. (Dried banana chips are SOOO yummy!)

[onetrumpeter]

Originally Posted by dogmom327

Things you can do with a good dehydrator:

--Preserve produce (including making fruit leather, dried tomatoes for sundried tomatoes, etc.)

--Crispy nuts (this alone makes it worth it for me!)

--Drying sprouted grain to make sprouted flour (can be a huge cost saver)


If you get a cube-shaped dehydrator (Excalibur, Sausage Maker brand, etc.) it can also:

--Double as a yogurt maker (just set a canning jar with the yogurt mixture in there and set it at 110 degrees)

--Keep your cultured and fermented foods warm during the winter months when your house is a bit on the cold side.

OK - I'm feeling pretty convinced I need one lol but have to convince DH, too. Also have to figure out *where* one would go. I definitely want to be able to make crispy nuts - I suppose I could make nut "flours" from them, too? And we're looking at a CSA from which we could get wheat berries - ooh, la la! I could have sprouted flour! And we're hoping to get set up with raw milk - I'm having to be very patient. But then we could make yogurt, too? Wow. Can't imagine it! (This is all new to me, so I'm still quite excited! ) Thanks so much for all the tips!

A&A - yeah, I can see how it would do better on a porch. Sounds like you guys really get good use out of it.

Thanks again, everyone! I'm keeping my eye on Craigslist, and who knows, right?

[dogmom327]

A tip for getting one on Craig's List...set up an RSS feed so new posts go to your e-mail. That's how I got my first dehydrator.

[noobmom]

I've been considering getting a food dehydrator, but I'm concerned about the plastic trays. Even the super nice Excalibur ones (with stainless steel bodies) have plastic trays. What are people's thoughts about that?

[dogmom327]

The Sausage Maker brand is stainless steel and my friend bought stainless steel cookie sheets to use as trays. I personally just use the Paraflexx sheets that you can get with the Excalibur or if I need something disposable, I use unbleached parchment paper.

[crunchy_mama]

I have heard over and over that you can use the dehydrator for yogurt but never understood how until seeing my mom's excalibur. That is just too cool! I think that settles it for what I want for Christmas! Then I can finally make some real crispy nuts as well(as my oven doesn't go that low and the cheap dehydrator I had died!).

[onetrumpeter]

Originally Posted by dogmom327

A tip for getting one on Craig's List...set up an RSS feed so new posts go to your e-mail. That's how I got my first dehydrator.

I'll have to have DH help me out with that - thanks for the tip!

Originally Posted by crunchy_mama

I have heard over and over that you can use the dehydrator for yogurt but never understood how until seeing my mom's excalibur. That is just too cool! I think that settles it for what I want for Christmas! Then I can finally make some real crispy nuts as well(as my oven doesn't go that low and the cheap dehydrator I had died!).

Hmmm... the only excalibur (photos online) ones I've seen look like a unit where the trays slide in on the side; I can envision how more of a Ronco style would keep yogurt at temp, but was thinking the Excaliburs *wouldn't* - are there different styles? Or does the main style (with the trays that slide in from the side) work for yogurt?

Originally Posted by noobmom

I've been considering getting a food dehydrator, but I'm concerned about the plastic trays. Even the super nice Excalibur ones (with stainless steel bodies) have plastic trays. What are people's thoughts about that?

Rats. Hadn't thought about plastic *there* grrrr. it's everywhere, right? We're trying to get away from it where possible. Thanks for giving me something *else* to think about lol! The cookie sheet/SS baking tray idea is good but it might be tricky to find the perfect fit.

[Mom'n it]

Originally Posted by onetrumpeter

I'll have to have DH help me out with that - thanks for the tip!

Hmmm... the only excalibur (photos online) ones I've seen look like a unit where the trays slide in on the side; I can envision how more of a Ronco style would keep yogurt at temp, but was thinking the Excaliburs *wouldn't* - are there different styles? Or does the main style (with the trays that slide in from the side) work for yogurt?

Rats. Hadn't thought about plastic *there* grrrr. it's everywhere, right? We're trying to get away from it where possible. Thanks for giving me something *else* to think about lol! The cookie sheet/SS baking tray idea is good but it might be tricky to find the perfect fit.

I would like to think (just a guess) that the plastic wouldn't "cook" into the food like, say, a microwave or stove top would because the heat is so low. It still keeps food raw, so it shouldn't affect the plastic. But this is entirely a guess. And, I too am obsessively looking for a dehydrator (good/decent brands etc) Keep 'em coming!

[tropicalmom]

My sister and I are going to get a dehydrator for my mom for Christmas. She has a small round one and wants something more substantial. Confused by the options. Looking at excalibur and sausage maker. Like the sausage maker for the plastic free side of it but it's more pricey. She mainly uses hers for vegetables now but could branch out with a better model. I've got to make a decision to get it ordered. Any other factors that would weight me toward either Excalibur or Sausage Maker?

[laohaire]

Originally Posted by onetrumpeter

Hmmm... the only excalibur (photos online) ones I've seen look like a unit where the trays slide in on the side; I can envision how more of a Ronco style would keep yogurt at temp, but was thinking the Excaliburs *wouldn't* - are there different styles? Or does the main style (with the trays that slide in from the side) work for yogurt?

Aha... I have an Excalibur and I never thought about this capability, but I can see how it could work. You just take out the trays and now you basically have a little oven that you can set at a low temp. You wouldn't use the trays at all, just remove them and put your yoghurt containers into the box. I'm also seeing how this could be used to defrost some foods (I don't have a microwave, so this capability is intriguing to me).

[tropicalmom]

Went for the Excalibur and bought from their website. They had a good link about their type of plastic and stainless steel. Also found a coupon for 10% off (MB09) and specials so can't beat it. Got the 5 tray with timer, 10 year extended warranty, 28 page dehydration guide, polyscreen pack, 2 paraflexx sheets and bag of jerky seasoning for $201



Mom is going to be happy.

[LianneM]

Oooh, yogurt making! I just ordered an Excalibur (coupon code for 10% off is BB89) and shipping is free.

[stilllearning85]

Originally Posted by LianneM

Oooh, yogurt making! I just ordered an Excalibur (coupon code for 10% off is BB89) and shipping is free.

Ooh, from where?

I am moving to Kauai and dunno if I should lug along my 9 tray excalibur dehydrator... maybe I could sell it here and then re-buy one in Hawaii if I can find a good deal.