Food Dehydrators

I had 2 full quarters left so it was easy to core them. I tried to slice them thin, 1/8'1/4". They are now warming up in the dehydrator.

After 3 hours. Smells so good.

plantoid wrote:Probably they are  dipped in a strong sugar solution  & run on a conveyor belt in a 15 mtr long drying tunnel
 that uses precise directed hot air like the latest Pizza cooking ovens .

etc. etc.

Thanks for that, Plantoid.  Sounds horrible. But then they could not do it our way as it would be too expensive for them and people would not buy them anyway  as they are so used to cosmetically treated food.

Sulfur is a common preservative here. My bag of dried peaches indicates sulfur dioxide was used with the "Sweet California sun-dried peaches".

I see sulfur mentioned repeatedly in my dehydrating books. I refuse! There are folks who are allergic to sulfur. My mother is one. I'm not willing to take the chance... I'd rather they turn a bit brown.

Dehydrating a second box of sliced mushrooms. The pineapple is gone!

anderson wrote:Dehydrating a second box of sliced mushrooms.  The pineapple is gone!  

So was it worth the effort to make the pineapple.  Inquiring minds want to know what you thought of it.

Delicious. The painter asked if I would dehydrate one for him if he brings me a pineapple.

I'm tellin' you - TRY WATERMELON! Love pineapple too... but, oh that watermelon!

Slice the whole thing into about 1 inch thick slices, cut around the rind to get the meat out. De-seed, cut into strips & dehydrate at 130-135 till very sticky and "dry." You're looking for about 20% moisture, less if possible...

If the strips are 1" wide, how thick do you cut them? Have to wait until summer for watermelon so there is time. Do you store them in seal-a-meal bags, glass jars, or freeze them?

I cut them 1 inch as well.

I use seal-a-meal bags. But, again, they're very sticky! You'll have to either dip them in powdered sugar or put parchment paper or waxed paper between the layers.

I used my 'new to me' dehydration yesterday and made apples, bananas, dill, basil and lemon. I loaded the fruit on bottom trays so the herb flavors wouldn't combine. I have no picture cause my boys snuck into the kitchen and ate all the apples and bananas. I only got one slice of apple and none of the bananas when I was emptying the trays. The boys love them. My herbs smell amazing and I'm excited to use them in tomato sauce and such. The only down side to the dehydrate is that it gets very warm to borderline hot so I'm only going to run it during the day. Thanks for all the insight into the grand new adventure for me.

Mschaef, Dehydrating can be addicting!

Yes, it is!

Does yours have adjustable temps on it, Mschaef?

Herbs need to be run at no more than 110 degrees. Preferably lower as you'll start losing the essential oils that make up the taste.

Adjustable temp control, with the produce and temp in *F clearly marked, is something I would recommend when shopping for a dehydrator.

That's the downside on the "cheap" second hand dehydrator I bought recently. It does not have a temperature control which can be problematic. So I agree with sanderson on getting a dehydrator with adjsutable temp control.

Bummer. Does it at least have hi-med-lo dial?

Not even that sanderson. It worked well but I would like to have temperature control. May have to relist it for sale and go for something better.

I am sure I posted this yesterday.  Perhaps I forgot to SEND.

My dehydrator has the following temperature range:

85F to 145F (29C to 120C)

The one I got, for free mine you, only has an on off switch. I think the lemons sliced actually burned cause inside the rinds looks black and has an overall smell of something over done with a hint of lemon. I'm thinking that I will just past it on to someone else and add a decent dehydrator back to my wish list.

mschaef wrote:The one I got, for free mine you, only has an on off switch. I think the lemons sliced actually burned cause inside the rinds looks black and has an overall smell of something over done with a hint of lemon. I'm thinking that I will just past it on to someone else and add a decent dehydrator back to my wish list.

  What is the heating source ?

If it is a light  bulb see if you can get one at about half the rated wattage to reduce the amount of heat .
OR

 Put it on a mechanical  plug in time clock ( one with the dial that you push bits in or leave them out ) . set it 15 min on , 15 min off for the whole time period and see how that works out .  If it's still too hot and it is a bulb set up  put the new bulb in and use the time clock in the same manner .

Or

 I do have a programmable  device that has a decent thermostat  & programmable electronic control system that has a temp sensing /control range from 10 oF up to 250 oF that I set up to run my office  LED lit hot bed Cost about £ 18 in total ( $ 25 USD  --- ish ) .

It is a fairly cheap way of setting  the heat very accurately  . However it is a perfect BTD   to set up unless you read standard international Chinese or can convert their translation into workable engloish

From the SFG Foundation FB page: http://www.tomatodirt.com/food-dehydrators.html

Very timely. Doing some research. Not ready to can. Need a tutor. Ready to dehydrate.

SR, feel free to PM me with questions. Or ask on here. We do a LOT of dehydrating and teach a class on it.

Bump.
Would you folks with dehydrators that you love mind listing  the make and model number please? For those of us who'd love to try our hand at it?

Thanks so much
CC