Any FReepers use a food dehydrator??

[djf]

I wuz at a yard sale and bought a couple do-it-yourself type handbooks.

Gal had a Ronco food dehydrator but I didn't get it then... after driving around a bit I went back and got it.

Hitting it with bleach and all the cleaning stuff now.

So! Any FReepers use a dehydrator? Experiences? Good things to dehydrate or not-so-good?

Manual says you can use it to make jerky. Anybody tried that?

All ideas welcome!

[Titan Magroyne]

Hmmmm, lots easier than making jelly with a small crop!

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I wonder if any Freepers here could answer a question about the LEM dehydrator I use. It is almost identical to this one.

The unit came with a cover and precious little in the way of directions for use. I have tried it with the cover on and the cover off and have gotten mixed results.

Does anyone know if the cover should be on during use or off?
I don't know if the cover is a functional piece during operation or simply included for storage purposes.

Any input would be helpful.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I have a 5 tray Excalibur

Ping to post my #122. Yours looks a lot like mine. Any thoughts? How do you use yours?

[ncpatriot]

I seal it then freeze it....homemade beef jerky is great

[4everontheRight]

Yes,that is exactly what mine looks like...minus a few trays! I used it yesterday to make sweet potato treats for the doggies and also used it to make some leftover grilled chicken into treats for the dogs....my dogs think that dehydrator is awesome :)
I buy large quantities of apples, etc. when on sale and use my dehydrator to make good snacks....bananas brushed with a bit of honey (with a sprinkle of water to thin) are delish!!

How do you like yours? I had another brand previously and when I got serious about using one, I bought a Excalibur and am glad I did...mine works great

[yorkiemom]

I bet you made your own dehydrator ;)

[yorkiemom]

Alton Brown did a “Good Eats” or two about dehydration without using a dehydrator.

AB is awesome! A wonderful source of the science behind cooking.

However, I've discovered there is a reason that all of his shows involve little or no cooking (Good Eats has the most). Almost all the recipes I've tried from his GE shows have been just awful. An exception is pretzels. Otherwise, following his procedures and rationale is great - but I always double check the recipes with similar ones that get many stars by reviewers.

[JRandomFreeper]

I did make one for sun-drying tomatoes, but I scored my nice dehydrator for a dollar bill at a yard sale. It was still new, in the box.

/johnny

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I like mine fine. But it doesn't seem to get the job done quickly. Mushrooms did fine in about 12 hours. So do herbs like basil. Other more moist things like tomatoes take a very long time. Maybe I didn't crank the heat up enough.

But my main curiosity and the reason I pinged you is...do you use yours with the provided cover ON the unit while running? There was nothing in any paperwork it came with that said to put it on or off. To me, more airflow is more effective so I tried it with the cover off.

But it seems it takes just as long as with it on.

[4everontheRight]

You know, I never thought of running it without the cover in...just always assumed it was needed. I don’t seem to have an issue with drying time. Mine seems to do fine. Is your machine backing up against anything? I do know that fan in the back of the unit needs to get good circulation....is that a possibility?

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

No. It sits on our kitchen island with airspace all around. Thanks for the tip on the cover. I honestly never knew which was correct. There were no directions with the unit and I could never find any online. All it came with was a chart that specified temperatures and drying times.

I'll run it with the cover on and play with the heat settings...once the 'maters start coming in. Yummo.

[4everontheRight]

You know, let me see if I can find my instructions...I will let you know

[Stegall Tx]

... I always double check the recipes with similar ones that get many stars by reviewers.

Very wise advice. Thanks.

[4everontheRight]

OK...I found that booklet...it is about 30 pages...but under Operating Instructions it does say “carefully slide trays loaded with food into position. Once the trays are in place, place door and set the thermometer to the correct temperature. Now it does have a * next to that statement about replacing the door...”turn to age 28”. So onto page 28 it says “Be sure there is an even space between the door and the side of the dehydrator and the bottom of the door does not hit the sides. This allows moist air to exit”

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Awesome! That is the info I've been seeking. Nailed it ya did.

I'll try it out this weekend and see what happens.

Now...where did I put those bananas?

[djf]

OK!

Report on my progress so far.

I have dehydrated:

mushrooms
lemons
strawberries
peppers

My first food was sliced mushrooms purchased at a local supermarket. My problem with mushrooms is that I’ll buy a dozen or so, use two or three, and the rest turn to mush in the fridge. I carefully placed the mushrooms on the trays, allowing space between them, and fired it up.
Checking a few hours later, they were starting to shrivel a bit.
Next morning, they were done, after being in the dehydrator for ten hours or so.
The mushrooms completely retained their scent. If anything, it was a bit enhanced. The smaller pieces were somewhat crumbly, the larger pieces had almost the consistency of leather.
They went into a jar and I have been using them in various dishes ever since.

I would rate mushrooms as an AAA+ food to dehydrate.

My second food was lemons. I often buy lemons as much for the peel as the fruit itself, love a few thin slices of lemon peel in a green salad.
I peeled the lemons and broke up the peels into squares about 1 in per side. I then separated the actual fruit into the natural lemon sections.
This one took longer, almost a day. The peels dried somewhat unevenly, becoming very dry around the edges, but still some moisture in the center. The fruit dried pretty nicely.
I jarred it up. One thing: The scent is AMAZING!
It is TOTAL, ONE HUNDRED PERCENT LEMON!

I would rate lemons an AA+

My third food was strawberries. Kind of a pain to slice them, and they required a couple of turns to some out even.
It’s nice to have dried strawberries, but there is a LOT of shrinkage. They are edible, certainly, but not wheres near as good as fresh. Even freeze dried is a better option.

I would rate strawberries as a C

Lastly, I did peppers. Local store had bags of little sweet banana type peppers on sale.
I sliced them up and put them in, being careful to get all the seeds out, etc.
Results were good, I would say quite good. As with strawberries, there was quite a lot of shrinkage.
The dried peppers have the consistency sorta like celery when you eat them, if you are just munching one.
Not sure they would be very good in say an omelet, but would be fine for soups, stews, etc.

I would rate peppers as a B+

Currently, I am trying it out with ginger root. I rarely use ginger because it’s again one of those foods if you don’t have it, you can’t use it, but why buy it and see most of it go to waste? But ginger slices dried would be a good addition to any spice rack.

I’m open to all suggestions on more foods to try!