My wife wanted to get something useful as a wedding gift for our son and his bride. They are planning a huge garden for next Spring so she figured they could use a food dehydrator. My wife then ordered one from QVC and found out that they were out of stock. So, she cancelled the order at QVC and decided to call the factory and ordered one from there. Well, for some reason, they both came within a day of each other, so my wife got one for herself, too. It does a good job of fruit and she decided to make another batch of strawberries and bananas. Just before sitting down to write this, I opened the dehydrator, pulled out three of the many trays, and snapped this picture:
Some stuff comes out chewy and some comes out crunchy.
I looked out the window and at first glance I thought I saw a mouse on the railing of the porch. Now wait a minute, it is green. . . if it were a mouse, it must be a really sick mouse.
OK, so it is only a leaf. Can't see a mouse there? Hey, there is nothing wrong with my imagination, grin. Of course, the tail is too short, right?
I don't have anything else to say, except, you all have a great day, you hear?
I used to have two dehydrators and dried a lot of foods to use on my backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail. I didn't have the patience then to deal with dehydrating them on the trail - I would need to add liquid in the morning for cooking in the evening and I always forgot to do it! I'd be better at it now, but I got rid of the dehydrators long ago.
ReplyDeleteEven in the electric dehydrating unit it takes hours and hours, If you cut the stuff thin enough it only takes 8 to 10 hours for fruits and a lot longer to make jerky.
DeleteWhat you said is true enough DD but I think Gypsy was trying to say re-hydrating while on the trail. I guess she could have had a solar dehydrating unit with her on the Appalachian Trail but I thought you took dehydrated food with you.
DeleteI love the dehydrated trail mix made with fruit. Yumm! I'm sure the dehydrates suck a good bit of juice or I'd probably have one. How long does it take to dehydrate the fruit?
ReplyDeleteThat depends on how full it is and what all you are putting in it. For thin sliced stuff maybe as low as 4 hours but like I said above, usually 8 to 10 hours. For some things it may take from 20 to 30 hours. It only heats up to 130 degrees so out there that wouldn't take long, but there is a fan that blows a gentle flow air across the trays.
DeleteNo, it does not use much electricity. I have one. I cannot tell you right now, but it is very economical to use. Get the figures from the internet on how much electricity it uses and then multiply that times the cost from your electric company.
DeleteI will be dehydrating lots this fall and winter. The little bit of heat keeps the kitchen a little less than the frigid it usually is.
I have the same dehydrator. Why do you have the white paper/cloth under your strawberries and bananas? That is probably why some things are soft and others quite dry.
ReplyDeleteI'm off grid so don't have a lot of power to spare. Could only use it during the day. There isn't a lot of fruit that I don't like dehydrated though.
DeletePractical Parsimony, my wife says she puts parchment paper under them because it is neater and nothing gets on the trays, so it eliminates cleaning the trays all the time. Also it absorbs moisture and prevents the smaller pieces from falling through the grate.
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DeleteDD, I have thought about building a big wooden box frame and covering it with screen with glass on the top. Too many bugs here to just leave it out to dry. Might work pretty good. I also like sun dried tomatoes.
DeleteDavid, my wife said I was all wrong in my comment to you, so I deleted it. The dehydrator will go up to 165 degrees (for what we were doing, 135 degrees was all that was needed) and there are nine trays, which allows 15 sq. feet of space for drying food.
DeleteDavid, sun drying out your way is a great way of preserving foods. The humidity is way too high here where I live to do that.
DeleteSoon it will probably be too cool/cold for that so if I try it it will probably be next summer.
DeleteDizzy, if you read my last post, you can tell your wonderful wife the joys of "dry canning" all that food - as long as ALL the moisture is gone. That looks like an Excalibur dehydrator. Is it? That's what I want for Christmas. God knows I'll only use it like a madman at first, then use it to store sheets of typing paper. lol
ReplyDeleteLotta Joy, yes it is an Excalibur and the only one we know of that is made in the U.S.A. She got it from the factory and all you have to do is call them and order it. Look up "Excalibur Dehydrator" on the Internet and you should be able to find it, they have a website.
DeleteOUCH! went to the site and after looking at their prices that solar dehydrator sounds mighty good. ;)
DeleteExcalibur - thought so. Mine, a black 9 tray. Best investment I ever made. Yay, made in the USA.
ReplyDeleteWe gave a black one to our new daughter-in-law and then my wife got a white one. I don't think the color has anything to do with the way they work. . (grin)
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