[WestCoastGal]

Granny, if you don’t mind can you tell me what you did with the dehydrator? I have looked at them and find them interesting, it would be good for herbs and fruit etc.

[DelaWhere]

I know you addressed your question to Granny, but wanted to just tell you that I use mine to do tomatoes. Dry them to crisp (just before they turn dark) and then run them through the blender. That powder works GREAT for soups!

Made a pot today and put in about 4 heaping tablespoons of tomato powder and whole family came back for more. Of course having fresh homemade bread helped too.

[Wneighbor]

I use my dehydrator for tomatoes, peppers and all manner of fruit. I’ve got it filled with strawberries, bananas and pineapple right now. Yesterday I did a batch of bell peppers and I often do jalapenos. Squash I have done. OH - and beef jerky!!! It makes the best beef jerky!!! I make jerky and send to my son-in-law’s brother in Iraq. Apparantly it’s a hit. ;-)

[nw_arizona_granny]

I used my dehydrator for squash, herbs, greens, all vegetables and would have done fruits, if I had it.

You can make fruit leathers, they sell a cloth type thing that goes on the tray. The instructions seem easy enough.

I did not do meats in it, I like my meat well done and do not like jerky.

There is something about eating dried out raw meat, that does not tempt me.

I discovered years ago that I like the taste of dehydrated spinach, better than regular.

I buy at Walton Feed.com dehydrated onions, celery, and mushrooms for soups. But it you had them, you could do them at home.

You steam them for a couple minutes, then rinse with cool water and put on the tray, for a lot of the veggies.

You could put the dried veg in a blender and make flour out of them, if you wanted to make fancy noodles, or put extra food values in your breads, etc.

I wore my small one out, but picked up another just like it at the thrift store for $10.00, I checked it out and it ran, the fan worked, so I saved over $20. on it.

Do not do as I did, set it on top of the microwave, almost touching the cabinet above it, as it simple got too hot and quit.

I have another one that was a gift, it does not have a fan, and is mostly used for making yogurt.

I like turnips/& greens, squash and or cabbage in a soup, so I toss what ever I have in and freeze part of it.

I have even done swiss chard and the pigweed leaves in it for soups.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

If you are interested in purchasing a dehydrator, I'd go with nothing less than an Excalibur brand. The design is heads and tails above anything else (especially the round, stackable ones) and they will stand behind it forever. A friend had one that a thermostat gave out after 15 years and with one phone call they shipped her another thermostat no charge. It doesn't matter if you bought the thing third hand on eBay, Excalibur will go a long way to assist you with outstanding customer service.

Excaliburs come in several different sizes. I have the largest model that is not commercial. I started with the smallest one and used it so much for so many different things that I upgraded within one year.

Cabelas also sells a very good dehydrator, but the price is a bit higher than an Excalibur. If I ever decide to get a slightly bigger unit, I will probably go with Cabelas.