Food Dehydrator - love it/hate it?

[llnmaw]

And why?

I have $100 birthday money and this is something I've wanted for a long long time so I'm going for it. I'd like to spend less than $100 as I also am looking into a canning water bath and want to put a little $$ towards this.

Ideally , I'd like to get a used one. It's just who we are. Bad idea? Good idea? I figure I might get one for a song since they are like bread machines- sounds good on paper and then it gets forgotten by most folks.

What brand do you have?

What are some features you love about your dehydrator? Hate? Wish it had? (more trays, bigger trays?)

Did you notice a jump in your power bill?

And finally...what do you make in your dehydrator besides the usual fruit and fruit leathers - would love to put this baby to work when I get it.

Thanks...
~L.

[jennlyn]

I have a large square dehydrator, it might be an Excalibur. It does a great job, but does run for some time. If you get one ( yes, you do see these regularly at thrift stores) you will notice that it's amazing how a great quantity of fruit can turn into just a small bag of dried fruit ( which is quickly devoured by small children!). I don't use it as often as I should, mostly because I don't have access to a farmer's market where I can buy in bulk. Unless you have lots of fruit that needs to be put up soon, it's just as easy to have the kids eat fresh fruit rather than dry it. Dried fruit isn't great for our teeth, so I try to limit it.

[Garden~Lover]

well ive had mine for ages, but ive never used it until this summer. Ive dried all my herbs from my garden ive also dried tons of apples ive got from apple picking this year. Dh wants me to make some jerky , thats the next step, im also going to try doing some orange rings and such for popouri for gifts this year. I think I bought mine for $34.

[BurtsGirl]

Ours came with DW and I'm not too fond of it. I can't recall the brand name but it's round and has about 5-6 trays. There isn't any adjustment for temp on it, just a timer. It's really old but we have dried pineapple, apples, and made jerky on it. I'm hoping to maybe look at getting a new one. We also set it on the back porch and plug it in there. It throws off a LOT of heat and in the summer in the south, we like to keep the heat outside.

I don't know how they make such yummy dried fruit at the market, ours almost always comes out leathery. It's good but not as good as the stuff you can buy.

[Phoenix_Rising]

We love ours. We have two "American Harvest" by Nesco. We bought both at garage sales for $5 - one had never been used. I wish they had more trays (there are 5 each). One of them has no way to adjust the temperature on it and I really wish it did. We have not noticed a jump in power bills when using them. This year we have dried apples, plums, peaches, pears, tomatoes, basil, oregano, and strawberries.

[thixle]

My MIL built a solar dehydrater that I'm so envious of... It's made of less tahn a sheet of plywood and a square of glass with an oven thermometer. She was drying onions when we visited last, and her entire property smelled like onions mmmmmm.
She loves it, and put little wheels on the legs so she can chase the sun through the day. The onions took 2 days to completely dry. No energy costs!

[Denvergirlie]

We have one, it's far from top of the line. I have to rotate the trays so the top trays dry as evenly as the bottom trays.

I want to upgrade to an Exclaibur thou, they are the mack daddy of dehydrators, but cost close to $200 brand new.

Have you checked Craigslist or eBay? Might be able to pick one up cheaper.

I just finished several trays of "Sun dried" tomatoes just last week and plan to do some more soon.

Last year I did cucumbers and once dry, I pulverized them into a powder and froze the powder. Now when I make salad dressings I add the cucmber powder in for flavor.

I've yet to master the fruit leather & jerky, but perhaps one day will.

We also built a solar dehydrator a few years ago, not the greatest design but it somewhat worked...

[llnmaw]

Thanks for the thoughts! I've seen the Nesco ones at my local ACE Hardware and was considering it (though hoping to find it used as I said.)

I'll start my research and begin keeping my eye out for the best buy on the one I want.

Last year I did cucumbers and once dry, I pulverized them into a powder and froze the powder. Now when I make salad dressings I add the cucmber powder in for flavor.

I love, love, love this idea!

My MIL built a solar dehydrater that I'm so envious of... It's made of less tahn a sheet of plywood and a square of glass with an oven thermometer. She was drying onions when we visited last, and her entire property smelled like onions mmmmmm.
She loves it, and put little wheels on the legs so she can chase the sun through the day. The onions took 2 days to completely dry. No energy costs!

What fun!

~L.

[His Own]

I have had the American Harvest dehydrator for many years. I bought mine elsewhere, but if I were buying one now, I'd just go to Wal-Mart. I have dried numerous fruits, made fruit leathers, made jerky, etc. Everything has turned out great! I highly recommend getting and using one. Kids love to help on this stuff, and every man and boy (and most girls and women) adore the jerky. You use lean ground beef, or elk, venison, etc., and the jerky is wonderful. The same company sells the jerky seasonings, and a jerky press thing that is really fun to use, and makes jerky-making much faster and easier. The kids will fight over who gets to use the 'gun'.

[dogmom327]

I have a Nesco dehydrator but I recently acquired a used Excalibur on Craig's List and I'm completely in love. The Nesco will have to find a new home! Totally worth having. I've made fruit leather with left over applesauce from canning last year, I've dried tons of tomatoes for sundried tomatoes, I've also been drying pears and apples for snacks.

[kedwards313]

I love mine! My DH bought me an Excalibur for my birthday and I use it almost constantly. It has really helped me free up freezer space and build up my food storage.

Kim

[mercy589]

Ok, so what's good about the Excaliber?

Jerky- I need to find out more about this! You can get the seasonings at WalMart? I have an OLD Ronco brand one and its not very clear about how to do things with it.

I just started using it and have done tomatoes - cut cherry tomatoes in half and dry them for sun dried tomatoes. (I'd love to hear what all you guys put these in, pasta, soup, stews...?) I'm thinking of doing some apples and I did left over celery the other day, I only use celery in soups and I never can use up the whole thing so this way I have it dried to put in soups.

I'm putting my tomatoes and celery in the freezer after drying them just to be sure they won't mold or anything since I'm never really sure when they're completely dry - any tips on this?

What else do you dry? I'm thinking of doing bananas for snacks for my girls.

subbing...

[Denvergirlie]

Originally Posted by mercy589

Ok, so what's good about the Excaliber?

subbing...

The Excaliber dries from the sides, not just from the bottom like 90% of the other products on the market. It is a superior design and product, but it also is priced accordingly.

Just like VitaMix is the king of the blender market, Excaliber is the king of the dehydrator market.


http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com

[dogmom327]

The Excalibur holds more, is easier to work with (no rings to stack and unstack) and is more efficient.

[mercy589]

ooooooh! I see! Now I want one, thanks alot. lol

[2 in August]

I hate mine but only because it's cheap and the heat only blows in from one point so the food over the heat source tends to burn while the rest is still raw. If I had a decent one, I'm sure I'd love it.

[mamadelbosque]

We have one, its circular and blows air from the top down. It works really well - there's a thermostat on the top that you can set for different things. Mostly I do veggies & fruit and we do deer jerky on it too. Its been in more or less constant use for the past several weeks drying peaches & tomatoes & peppers.

[CarrieMF]

I have a cheap one from walmart. I don't use it often enough to warrant the cost of a better quality one.

I've dried apple cinnamon slices, onions, peppers, garlic, dill, tomatoes, strawberries & jerky

For jerky I use a sirloin roast that I slice. I marinate the slices in soya sauce with garlic, steak spice & whatever other spices I feel like throwing in. I marinate them overnight, then drain them for an hour or so & dry it.

[llamalluv]

Originally Posted by mercy589

Ok, so what's good about the Excaliber?

Jerky- I need to find out more about this! You can get the seasonings at WalMart? I have an OLD Ronco brand one and its not very clear about how to do things with it.

I just started using it and have done tomatoes - cut cherry tomatoes in half and dry them for sun dried tomatoes. (I'd love to hear what all you guys put these in, pasta, soup, stews...?) I'm thinking of doing some apples and I did left over celery the other day, I only use celery in soups and I never can use up the whole thing so this way I have it dried to put in soups.

I'm putting my tomatoes and celery in the freezer after drying them just to be sure they won't mold or anything since I'm never really sure when they're completely dry - any tips on this?

What else do you dry? I'm thinking of doing bananas for snacks for my girls.

subbing...

Instruction manual for the Ronco (That is the one that I have, too)

[His Own]

Jerky

Mercy,

You can make jerky the traditional way, by slicing, etc. But you can also make it using any lean ground meat. No kidding! It's easier to make, cheaper (generally), and frankly, I think it is much better. It firms up wonderfully, and no one would ever guess that you had started with plain old ground meat.

And, yes, Wal-Mart carries the packets of spices that you need, usually right there in the small appliance aisle, beside the dehydrators. They tell you to just hand mix in the seasonings, but I find it easier to first add some water to the seasonings, mix in well, and then add the now-liquid seasoning to the meat and make the jerky. In this way the spices blend in much more easily and thoroughly. I know, you are adding water to something you plan to dry, but I have made this stuff MANY times, and it doesn't seem to slow down the drying by any noticeable amount of time.

(ps - Mercy, are you a new resident of Cheyenne? If so, I think I know you.)