Food Dehydrators

llama momma wrote:Just now tried to join fb page, can't see any posts until membership is accepted. So it's in pending mode for now.

I think mine just took a couple minutes, LM. Can you go to their Facebook page while you're waiting, just to look it over?

I couldn't see anything till I was accepted. You're right it only took a few minutes and now I can see!  Looks interesting.

CapeCoddess wrote:I don't, TD. Do you have Facebook? If so just type in Dehydrating Divas & Dudes into the fb find friends box and it should take you there. If not let me know and I'll see if I can get the link.

I was able to get to Dehydrating Divas & Dudes using Mrs TD's facebook account but can't see the posts until joining the group as mentioned. I don't want to join the group on behalf of Mrs TD and I'm not too keen on having my own facebook account in order to join the group.

LOVE that fb page! The owner also has a website:

http://www.21stcenturysimpleliving.com/?subscribe=success#blog_subscription-2

I've learned a lot and I TEACH dehyrating...

Thanks for the great link! I have used my dehydrator for a few things but this is full of great ideas.
We dried a bunch of mango slices this year, turned out yummy.
Craig

Have you tried watermelon? Yummmmmmm.....!

Thanks!  Great site!

I bookmarked the site.

I decided to try dehydrating some cucumber slices. They are in the machine as I write.

  

Taking Atlanta Marie's advice. Picked up a nice melon while helping set up my wife's green market booth. So now I have a watermelon in the dehydrator. Looking forward to a sweet treat.
Craig

Craig, they stay very sticky, but, oh.... so good!

Excalibur dehydrators having a sale,  plus take another 15% off of the sale price with a code, plus free shipping.  Yup, I just ordered one. Didn't my husband get me a great Christmas gift?
  
http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/shop/dehydrators/dehydrators

You must have been a very good girl!

Newbeone-
Not necessarily !

newbeone wrote:You must have been a very good girl!

+1

llama momma wrote:Newbeone-
Not necessarily !

 Not sure which way to read that one .....

Mae West   style ... " When I'm good , I'm very very good but when I bad I'm even better "

 or
That I now understand the female mind game rules of using subliminal auto suggestion , by letting the poor lad think it's his dehydrator .

 or

 Both .

Actually I think I'm pretty simple.  Finally getting the darn dehydrator, and it's being delivered this Monday despite I'm probably not all that worthy either!  So there, I think I'm simultaneously  bad and good.  Ha ha ha

llama momma wrote:Newbeone-
Not necessarily !

Dang, girlfriend!  

Scorpio Rising wrote:

llama momma wrote:Newbeone-
Not necessarily !

Dang, girlfriend!  

We have these ongoing friendly arguments.  For example, I  want a dehydrator and new kitchen knives and excellent knife sharpener .  This is met with No! Those are not real Christmas  gifts! Me -- I am so mad at you. This is what I want dammit.  Then I receive the gifts I want. Some silly ritual, Eh? lol. This is how it works. p.s. we're married 35 + yrs......

We went Christmas shopping in a large engineers tool shop .....

Alison flinched when I put eight metal work files in the shopping trolley , a hundred or so arc welding rods, a set 14 of high quality engineering twist drills and a rather expensive ( $ 240 or so )  18 volt battery operated hand power drill + a large size spare battery .  " They are Not Christmas presents " , she said .

" OK love " , I replied as she wheeled the trolley round the corner & stopped where I was standing .....
I really struggled to put that  £1800 ( $ USD 2,400 ) special metal arc , co2 , & TIG combined  welding set & associated bits on the trolley .

 Her face was a picture I can tell you .

However all was well , for a day or so earlier we had been discussing how I could modify her trestle mounted Bonsai display racking to make it so we could run 2x 20 foot long shelves in a set place at 36 inches from the ground & still have room to move about .
Cutting it and re-welding it was the only answer but my 40 year old welding set was just not up to the task .

I was able to logically justify to her as to why we should do it ourselves and save about £ 500 , even if we purchased the welding set & stuff ourselves , so I was told I could get a suitable multi mode quality welding set up .  ( Been after one for 45 years )

 Once I've finished the Bonsai shelving project it looks like I'll be making stainless steel shelves for our home made food dehydrator .

plantoid wrote:We went Christmas shopping in a large engineers tool shop .....

Just how big are those "large engineers" anyway? 

Nice score on the welding equipment.  I would never get away with that. 

I am buying a dehydrator.  Need to research.  Advice?  Or should I check archives?  I am not a good summer cooker.  Can I operate these things in my basement?  It is cool there.  I would think so.  

How long does a batch of whatever take?  Clean up?

Scorpio Rising wrote:I am buying a dehydrator.  Need to research.  Advice?  Or should I check archives?  I am not a good summer cooker.  Can I operate these things in my basement?  It is cool there.  I would think so.  

How long does a batch of whatever take?  Clean up?

There are lots of good ones out there. I've got a Nesco "pro", and I like it. It's been very reliable so far. I love that the fan and heating coil are on top of the tray stack, instead of on the bottom. That makes it easier to keep food crumbs from falling into the fan unit and also makes cleaning the dehydrator easier. Cleanup involves hand-washing all the trays (you can run it with up to 12 max), since they are too large to fit in the top rack of the dishwasher, but that usually goes pretty quick because I don't have much problem with anything sticking to them much - mostly just crumbs.

Highly recommend one with a temperature control. Mine doesn't have a timer, but it would sure be nice if it did. As such, I try to start the drying as early in the day as possible. I mostly run it on weekends when I'm home more. I've run it overnight on a few occasions, but I prefer to be able to kinda keep an eye on it while it's running.

As for the drying times, there are a few variables. How thick the pieces are cut, how much water they contain, etc. I'd say an average drying time for most things I dehydrate runs between 6-8 hours. I've had some things take more like 10-12 hours (like jerky that I cut a little too thick), and some things that run more than 24 hours (some basil leaves I dried in it once - this is why I do herbs in paper bags now).

I've got the big Cabela's commercial-type and 3 Nesco's. I'm very happy with all of them. Yeah, you could operate in the basement...

I agree with Kate that temp control is important.

On my Nesco's - the Gardenmaster is the loudest, but it can expand up to 30 trays. (The others expand to 12.) And it's really NOT that loud. It's just louder than the others.

On smelly stuff (onions, garlic), it's better to do them either outside or with ALL the windows open!

Drying times - don't forget ambient humidity in addition to what Kate listed. (And basil leaves are horrible for drying - SEEMS like they take forever!)