Dehydrators

[Peanut]

Hi everyone! Sorry if this was posted recently...I couldn't find any in a search.

Anyway, I'm thinking about purchasing a dehydrator and was hoping for some advise. What are characteristics of them that are good, and why? Or maybe you have a particular one you like? Or maybe you can tell me what I should make sure my dehydrator doesn't have? What is effecient? Is one messier to clean up than another?

Thanks for any advice you can give me!

Happy trails,
Peanut :)

[Blissful]

I got this brand (http://www.nesco.com/category_449f7f01f1ea/) recently and love it.

[HeartFire]

The first thing I think of is some are square, and some have holes in the middle - I have an Excalibur, they are square, and I just find it easier to put stuff on the trays . Also, the excalibur has the heating element in the back with a fan to blow across the trays, the ones with holes have the heat on the bottom and it rises through the trays. Some dehydrators have a thermostat and timer on them. Excaliburs are generally more expensive, but are the 'cadilac' of dehydrators, so it may come down to how much you can spend on one.

If you can afford it I would certainly recommend the Excalibur 9 tray. When I was planning a thru hike, I would put one meal (dinner) on each tray, so I could dry 9 dinners (or breakfast or lunch) at a time.
Judy

[Serial 07]

from my experience, circle shaped ones are fine, trays provide a bit more versatility...

[Farr Away]

http://www.amazon.com/Nesco-American-FD-80-Square-Shaped-Dehydrator/dp/B00179DCCQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322847607&sr=8-1 I have this one, and really like it. Not very expensive either.

As for what to look for - make sure the dehydrator you get has a fan. In my opinion, this is non-negotiable. A temperature setting is good too, although not a deal breaker. I used to have a dehydrator that had a fan but no heating element. It worked exceptionally well, but I lost it in a divorce (sort of), and they're no longer made. :(

I like my fruit leather trays, but wouldn't waste money on the dehydrator mesh screens for drying small items. I just bought some craft canvas and cut it to fit for that.

-FA

[Bags4266]

I have the nesco and use the crap out of it. Great machine for the price. Nothing but great feedback on the excaliber as well. I just didn't feel like spending the extra.

[The Old Boot]

I ended up with a L'Equip after I did all my research both here and on sites for dehydrators. It's got the bottom heater so I simply rotate the trays every few hours.

A fan and a thermostat for setting the temperature are vital IMO. Meat needs to dry at high temp, veggies at a lower temp, herbs at an even lower temp again.

The things I like about the L'Equip is that I can add additional trays if I want to. I also like the oblong design and after using a jerky press the first time, having the the length as opposed to round trays sure came in handy for that job.

I experimented with the fruit roll up trays as opposed to using parchment paper and found that the pressed jerky dried much more evenly on parchment paper. I won't be bothered buying more of the plastic roll up trays.

The L'Equip 528 came with fine mesh inserts for each tray it came with so I didn't have to buy anything else to start with, but yes, the mesh is about the same size as craft mesh.

Oh, and I should add that one of the deciding factors was that I found it on sale locally instead of having to have it shipped to me, so it was in my price range as well.

The only thing I'm going to add is an in-line timer so that I can have it shut off by itself instead of me having to haul butt out of bed at 5 AM to turn off the dehydrator!

[wannahike]

As long as you have a thermostat and a fan it will work just fine. Years ago I had a round one, no fan and no thermostat, it worked OK as long as I rotated the trays. I did not dehydrate much but did make jerky. I bought a 9 tray Excaliber off of craigslist last year and it is great and the price was great too.

[Mother Natures Son]

I have a Excaliber for ten years now and I love it! It is one of few brands that sell parts for its machines. (Something to think about if your machine ever stops working.) Dried fruit and fruit roll up make great Christmas gifts too. :cool:

[gunner76]

Nesco FD-75PR 700-Watt Food Dehydrator. Motor on top so wet leaky stuff does not drip down in to it and you can add extra trays if needed,

[sarbar]

I have used most of the brands - Nesco is cheap, easy to use and easy to find. But my favorite is a Le'Quip. She is my baby - I happen to like the styling, what can I say ;)

[g8trh8tr]

Nesco FD-75PR 700-Watt Food Dehydrator. Motor on top so wet leaky stuff does not drip down in to it and you can add extra trays if needed,


Exact same model I have and it works great...Dehydrated ALOT of meals, sauces and jerky on it and they all turned out great.....

[JAK]

I dehydrated some sardines last night, using the convection oven set at 170F. They seemed very light when I took them out after 4 hours, and tasted great. I will have to do a full can, and weight them before and after.

I wonder how long they might last on the trail, prepared in this way and stored in ziploc. It isn't neccessary, or desirable, to get rid of all of the oil they contain and are canned with, except that too much oil might interfere with the dehydration process. They were still fairly oily after drying, which is good, but I am not sure how much water was removed, and how much was oil dripped off. Maybe I can catch the drips to account for the oil, and assume all the rest of the weight loss is water. Or maybe I could dehydrate at a higher temperature, like 220F, to drive off more moisture.

Ideas?

[Bags4266]

I think that the higher temp might be a bad idea it would start to cook at that temp. my dehydrator only goes up to 180 degrees

[sarbar]

With dried foods as long as they don't contain heavy amounts of oil or dairy and are meat free you can get a year in storage in most cases. Meat meals should be used up within 3 months, same with those heavy in fat or dairy.

As well, keep your meals tightly sealed (freezer bags rolled tightly to keep air out) and if using ones with the above items, stash in the freezer till trip time.

Higher temps are not needed - you can end up desert blasting your food which is similar to getting freezer burn - you lose flavor. As long as your dehydrator goes up high enough for meat all is good! (and 165* is plenty high enough!). The key is spread the food thinly and get it dry as quick as it can.

PS: On the sardines your enemy is the oil - although the heavy salt content will offset that. Oil goes rancid in long term storage so be wary, use them up quickly. This applies to both veg and meat sources of oil in dried food - make sure to rotate it quickly in hiking.

[atraildreamer]

Check out yard sales. I got 3 dehydrators that way. Paid $10, $3 & $1.25. All are working fine.

[Ladyofthewoods]

I am totally new to dehyrating and trying my first recipe right now! Cooking a vegetable/rice soup that I want to dehydate and dehydrating hamburger meat that I will add to on the trail. I have the Excalibur. I bought wax paper to line the mesh screens with for the soup. Is that okay? But what temperature and how long do I dehydrate the soup? Same question for the hamburger? Thanks!

[vamelungeon]

I have two, one with a fan and one without. Both are the round type and the trays are interchangeable. I like the one with a fan better.

[The Old Boot]

I am totally new to dehyrating and trying my first recipe right now! Cooking a vegetable/rice soup that I want to dehydate and dehydrating hamburger meat that I will add to on the trail. I have the Excalibur. I bought wax paper to line the mesh screens with for the soup. Is that okay? But what temperature and how long do I dehydrate the soup? Same question for the hamburger? Thanks!

I'd be very leery of using wax paper for dehydrating. The wax will soften with the heat and infiltrate the soup and the meat.

Use parchment paper instead.

The best way to learn how to dehydrate ground beef is to google 'dehydrating ground beef'...you'll find all kinds of instructions. There's a thread around here too - someone used the pressure cooker to cook the ground beef and found that it worked better than traditional methods of browning the g/b, rinsing it to get the fat off and then dehydrating it. My instruction book recommends doing meat at the highest setting which is 165.

Soup - I'd let the soup simmer until it's really really thick before trying to dehydrate it. You can always thin it back out to soup consistency on the trail. Starting it from 'soup' consistency will take wayy, wayy too long in the dehydrator.

[rocketsocks]

My father used to heat,bend wood for guitar making in a box with two 250 watt light bulbs...worked pretty good.I'm wondering how it would do as a dehydrator?

[sarbar]

Yes, use parchment paper. BTW, Costco sells massive rolls of it for the same cost of one tiny roll at the grocery store.....and you can reuse the paper a couple of times if drying non-oily or wet items.