food dehydrater question

larry@stinescorner · Jan 13, 2012

I am thinking of getting a food dehydrator for next season of garden to dry some fruits and vegetables,have any of you on the site here done it? I know I could post on other sites,but I would like some opinions from this site if anyone has tried it or does it, My daughter likes dried fruit and vegetable chips,I would like to try to make them for her, Thanks in advance,, Larry

Anonymous-0 · Jan 13, 2012

if you've got an electric oven with a fan, you don't need to buy the dehydrator.... Even without the fan you can make jerky and I imagine dehydrate fruit just as well.... I set ours to about 130 degrees and crack the door a little to make jerky... Takes about over night.....

I threw a handful of dried carrots and some potatoes in a soup once and it was almost as good as fresh........

GordoSD · Jan 13, 2012

No, you need the American Harvestor or something like it, With the 12 inch circular trays. And then get 4 more trays. I fill up 8 trays with venison and it makes about 1 1/2 pounds finished jerky.

Paul from MI · Jan 13, 2012

Kids got us an American Harvestor for Christmas several years ago. Made tons of jerky with it, also fruit leather, dried apples, peppers, tomatoes, etc. Been a great unit, no problems at all.

Anonymous-0 · Jan 13, 2012

(quoted from post at 17:18:52 01/13/12) No, you need the American Harvestor or something like it, With the 12 inch circular trays. And then get 4 more trays. I fill up 8 trays with venison and it makes about 1 1/2 pounds finished jerky.

Hey.... them look pretty slick.... How long does it take to dry a load (meat or vegies)?? I could maybe see one in the future here to use up a bunch of the fruit we have rotting on trees......

Errin OH · Jan 13, 2012

We used those little round jobs for a few years but got tired of uneven drying. So I got one of these and never looked back. If you seriously want to process food, and it turn out right, its the way to go. You can adjust the heat for different stuff and the setup gets the air evenly across the trays without feeding it from one tray to the next.
Excalibur

DownSouth · Jan 13, 2012

Larry,
We have one of the cheapies, don't recall the brand now but it works great. I have tried different things and some were good and some were not so good. Worst was tomatos. My favorite is peaches, apples, pears and bananas. Just cut up the fruit into slices, place on the trays (don't overload, leave space so the air gets through) and turn it on for about a day. Makes the house smell wonderful while running too!

Anonymous-0 · Jan 13, 2012

I think your electric bill having your oven on with
the door open all night would throw away savings
over buying jerky.

TomH in PA · Jan 13, 2012

I once read an article about drying food by setting it on a tray inside a car with the windows closed on a hot day. Never tried it though.

oldtanker · Jan 13, 2012

We have one. No I've never tried drying veggies with it.....I make jerky with it....the wife dries veggies! Veggies is what my food eats! Just a round cheapy but we've had it for years and it works well.

Rick

ShadetreeRet · Jan 13, 2012

I bought one some years ago. It was square like the one in the ad. Wife never used it much due to space problems, but it did a good job. You just need some dedicated counter space while using it,

johndeeregene · Jan 13, 2012

have 4 american harvest dryers, love them, 12 trays each. did somewhere around 100 lds of meat into jerky this year. we do alot of fruit in the late summer an fall, lots of vegetables. send me a email an i will help with any questions you have. have been drying stuff for years now.
[email protected]

johnald · Jan 13, 2012

I have an excalibur brand dehydrator. More pricey than the round styles but it can handle a lot at once and works great. I did lots of tomatoes last year. Took a little longer than the recomended time because our humidity is so high here. I would definately recomend it for veggies.

Rick Kr · Jan 14, 2012

Some have temp controls built in now. I have an old round model, no controls, just plug it in. It works, but is uneven in drying. Works for now, but I plan on upgrading soon.

If you daughter is use to store-bought dried fruits, you will find you may want to sprinkle a little sugar on lightly to get a similar taste to store-bought.

Rick

food dehydrater question

larry@stinescorner

Well-known Member

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

GordoSD

Well-known Member

Paul from MI

Well-known Member

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

Errin OH

Member

DownSouth

Member

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

TomH in PA

Well-known Member

oldtanker

Well-known Member

ShadetreeRet

Well-known Member

johndeeregene

Member

johnald

Member

Rick Kr

Well-known Member

Similar threads