Mold grew in my dehydrator overnight, anything I can do?

[sbhikes]

I have a circular tray dehydrator, not one with a fan. I put some mashed sweet potatoes on parchment paper on the trays yesterday afternoon. I guess there wasn't enough air circulation and this morning I noticed a very light white growth of on some of the potatoes on some of the trays.

I've washed the trays and set them outside in the sun to dry and put the parchment paper with the potatoes in the oven at 200 degrees but I'm not sure if that will do the trick or if the food will end up tasting funny or if it's just a total loss and I should just toss everything out. What do you think?

[Wise Old Owl]

Really dangerous - dump all the trays into the dishwasher and dump the food out... White mold is far more serious unidentified than black.

[Semodex]

I would not eat them either and I would probably throw a little bleach (capful) in the dishwasher before turning it on.

[Feral Bill]

You also might use vinegar as an anti-fungal.

[Half Note]

Luckily sweet potatoes are like 75 cents. Clean trays in ways mentioned above and start all over.

[Feral Bill]

Depending on your climate, you may need a different dehydrator.

[Rocket Jones]

I have a circular dehydrator and the central motor is both a heating element and a fan. If yours isn't circulating air, it might need replacing.

[sbhikes]

Thanks guys. I threw it all out, washed the trays and dehydrator and have left it all out in the sun. I think it was because all 5 trays had parchment paper and sweet potatoes. Normally I don't have so much to dry at once and stagger the trays with empty trays.

[Wise Old Owl]

SB - I had a Ronco without the fan - Best thing was to jump to Nesco... Hands down... the best...


http://www.walmart.com/ip/Nesco-Prof...-75PR/10982697

[Deacon]

If you want the "best", then go with the Excalibur dehydrator. These have a ten year warranty. Considerably more expensive, but a better unit.

http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/d...FWNgMgodnxoA3A

[Wise Old Owl]

Deacon so I am not arguing... but $60 vs $400? yea

[atraildreamer]

Check out yard sales. I got two Nescos for $5 & $1.50.

* * *

The aim here is to keep everything as clean as possible.

Before I dehydrate anything, I soak the trays and sheet inserts in a sink of hot water in which I have put about 1/2 cup of bleach. I then rinse the trays and inserts and reassemble the unit. I let it run empty until all the water has dried.

When prepping food for dehydration, wear disposable plastic food-prep gloves.

While the food is drying, prep the containers in which you will store the finished product, prior to bagging and sealing, with bleach and hot water, and dry thoroughly.

After the food has been bagged, store in the refrigerator until you need it for a hike. This will extend the usable life of the food.

[Pedaling Fool]

If you want the "best", then go with the Excalibur dehydrator. These have a ten year warranty. Considerably more expensive, but a better unit.

http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/d...FWNgMgodnxoA3A

I agree, definitely worth the money if you do a lot of dehydrating. It's like comparing department store bikes against bikes you get at your local bike shop -- if you do enough cycling you know you need to go to a store that specializes.

I think it was because all 5 trays had parchment paper and sweet potatoes. Normally I don't have so much to dry at once and stagger the trays with empty trays.

I started out with one of them circular dehydrators from walmart and I seem to remember that you had to use a minimum number of trays to facilitate air circulation; even if that meant having empty trays.

Also, something I learned to do, even with my Excalibur, is I open the door frequently in the beginning. Many times (depending on what I'm dehydrating) I'll have such heavy condensation on the door that it starts pooling at the bottom. So I wipe all that away and it just helps in reducing time. Also when you open the door you can just feel all the warm moisture bellowing out, that also helps. But I don't keep open too long, that's hard on the motor.

[Pedaling Fool]

I have a circular tray dehydrator, not one with a fan.

I just noticed you don't have a fan. I would definitely invest, even if at a department store, in a new dehydrator with a fan.

[Deacon]

Deacon so I am not arguing... but $60 vs $400? yea

Well, the stainless models are $400. The regular models are around $235. They are worth the cost difference if one cares about good quality. Air is circulated from side to side rather than blowing bottom to top, and having drippings fall on a motor at the bottom. The square trays are much larger too.

[grayfox]

If your dehydrator doesn't have a fan then you should get a new one--one with an adjustable temperature as well.

How did you prepare the potatoes and how fresh were they? Some foods do have molds and such from the soil in the garden but washing them and blanching or cooking them should kill all that. Also if you can start the dryer out at the high end of an appropriate temp range and then lower the temp as the food looses some moisture the food will retain more of the nutritional content than using a high temp throughout the process and spoilage will be discouraged.

Two other thoughts--some foods have a high salt content, either natural or added by the cook, that will dry in fine flakes on the surface of the food and may look very like mold... Also, some foods have a sap or moisture that is like latex, I don't know what it is really just that it appears milky and may dry on the surface if the vegetable is dried raw. Sweet potatoes have this.

People have been drying food for storage for eons so I wouldn't worry too much about toxic results if you have kept everything clean during prep.

[Dogwood]

You could have a brother who owns a $400 Excalibur food dehydrator that lets you borrow it!

"Also, something I learned to do, even with my Excalibur, is I open the door frequently in the beginning. Many times (depending on what I'm dehydrating) I'll have such heavy condensation on the door that it starts pooling at the bottom. So I wipe all that away and it just helps in reducing time. Also when you open the door you can just feel all the warm moisture bellowing out, that also helps. But I don't keep open too long, that's hard on the motor. " - Pedaling Fool

Good observation. I do the same.

"If your dehydrator doesn't have a fan then you should get a new one--one with an adjustable temperature as well.

How did you prepare the potatoes and how fresh were they? Some foods do have molds and such from the soil in the garden but washing them and blanching or cooking them should kill all that. Also if you can start the dryer out at the high end of an appropriate temp range and then lower the temp as the food looses some moisture the food will retain more of the nutritional content than using a high temp throughout the process and spoilage will be discouraged.

Two other thoughts--some foods have a high salt content, either natural or added by the cook, that will dry in fine flakes on the surface of the food and may look very like mold... Also, some foods have a sap or moisture that is like latex, I don't know what it is really just that it appears milky and may dry on the surface if the vegetable is dried raw. Sweet potatoes have this.

People have been drying food for storage for eons so I wouldn't worry too much about toxic results if you have kept everything clean during prep." GrayFox

ALL good advice!

That sounds like a shame wasting all that psychedlic inducing mold by throwing it away. Seriously, like GrayFox said it might not have been mold. I've seen the exact same thing on dehydrated food that he described and it wasn't mold! I ate it but then again.....I sometimes.... I forget things and see streaks of light trails....Uhh, what was I saying....

[Pedaling Fool]

You could have a brother who owns a $400 Excalibur food dehydrator that lets you borrow it!

"Also, something I learned to do, even with my Excalibur, is I open the door frequently in the beginning. Many times (depending on what I'm dehydrating) I'll have such heavy condensation on the door that it starts pooling at the bottom. So I wipe all that away and it just helps in reducing time. Also when you open the door you can just feel all the warm moisture bellowing out, that also helps. But I don't keep open too long, that's hard on the motor. " - Pedaling Fool

Good observation. I do the same.

"If your dehydrator doesn't have a fan then you should get a new one--one with an adjustable temperature as well.

How did you prepare the potatoes and how fresh were they? Some foods do have molds and such from the soil in the garden but washing them and blanching or cooking them should kill all that. Also if you can start the dryer out at the high end of an appropriate temp range and then lower the temp as the food looses some moisture the food will retain more of the nutritional content than using a high temp throughout the process and spoilage will be discouraged.

Two other thoughts--some foods have a high salt content, either natural or added by the cook, that will dry in fine flakes on the surface of the food and may look very like mold... Also, some foods have a sap or moisture that is like latex, I don't know what it is really just that it appears milky and may dry on the surface if the vegetable is dried raw. Sweet potatoes have this.

People have been drying food for storage for eons so I wouldn't worry too much about toxic results if you have kept everything clean during prep." GrayFox

ALL good advice!

That sounds like a shame wasting all that psychedlic inducing mold by throwing it away. Seriously, like GrayFox said it might not have been mold. I've seen the exact same thing on dehydrated food that he described and it wasn't mold! I ate it but then again.....I sometimes.... I forget things and see streaks of light trails....Uhh, what was I saying....

Dogwood, been meaning to ask this for a while. Why don't you just hit the "Reply With Quote" function (or the multi-quote funtion if you want to quote multiple people).

It makes it much easier to read your posts, especially when I haven't had my first cup of joe in the morning.

[FarmerChef]

+1 on getting a dehydrator with a fan. It is muuuuch faster than drying with convection and produces a more uniform and better result. You can find these quite cheap used. Mine was $30 and had a bunch of extra trays, fruit rollup inserts and other goodies.

And I've dried quite successfully with only one tray on. Never heard about a minimum number of trays.

[sbhikes]

I've got slow-cooked chicken in there now and it's going to come out great. It might have already been dry enough this morning but I'll let it go the rest of the day. I feel no need to own an expensive $400 dehydrator. This one has served me well for a decade.