I'm using my oven to dehydrate. Sally Fallon recommends keeping the oven below 150 F, but other resources seem to indicate you should keep it below 120. I read one reference that mentioned "dry heat" vs. "wet heat", seeming to mean air temperature vs., say, heating something in liquid. Ok, I understand that the rate of heat transfer between air and a food medium is much slower than between hot liquid or oil and the food. But, when you're talking about an item in an 150 degree oven for 12-24 hours, it's still going to hit 150 through and through. So, what's the dealio? How hot can my oven be to dehydrate things and still have them be "raw"?
I have some raw granola in there at the moment. I used some sprouted, dehyrated buckwheat that I bought, some NT crispy pecans and walnuts, dried fruit, granola, raw honey and raw butter, and cinnamon. I made the crispy nuts. I believe my oven may have gotten over 120, but nowhere near 140 - I was able to lay my hand on the baking sheet for a few seconds at any time during the process. But, out of curiousity this time, I laid my meat thermometer on the cookie sheet with the granola this time. I turned the convection off and cracked the door briefly when it hit 120. I closed the door again, and the temp continued to rise. It got up to 132, and I opened the door again.
So, is a meat thermometer an inefficient gauge of dry air temperature? I don't think the temperature of the cookie sheet was that high - I could touch it for several seconds. Now I can't figure out if I ruined the "raw" nature of what I'm making. So much confusing, conflicting information!
