Dehydrating

[puttgirl]

Our local Walmart only carries Oster. Wish I could find a used one, too.

[shelleybean]

I'm still really happy with the Nesco Snackmaster. I use it for all kinds of veggies and herbs from the garden and my husband makes beef jerky with it. It's not the easiest thing to store but that would be my only complaint.

[bluelacedredhead]

Originally Posted by tjg911

many people mentioned nesco from walmart but i doubt they'd have it in the store at this time of the year.

tom

Nesco has an online store as well.
I've had one for two years now and like Shelly, I use it to dry fruit, veggies and make small batches of jerky from ground beef.

It didn't cost much and it does the job.
http://www.nesco.com/category_449f7f01f1ea/

[peppero]

i bought a 5 tray unit in 2008 from heartland america for about 25 dollars and it has done well. harbor freight tools has one like it for about the same price. it is very basic with no controls; just load, plug in and wait. peppero

[Garry]

Don't mean to be a hijacker, but has anyone ever built thier own solar dehydrator? I just finished (sort of....) one and am testing it with a few tomatoes.

[rwsacto]

Originally Posted by Garry

Don't mean to be a hijacker, but has anyone ever built thier own solar dehydrator? I just finished (sort of....) one and am testing it with a few tomatoes.

Yep,

did it and it worked great during the day, however . . .

A better idea (IMHO) is to add a solar collector to an existing cabinet dehydrator, run it day and nite, get your maters dried and cut your electricity use in half.

Rick

[Jeannine Anne]

If cost was not an issue which would you folks consider the best one to buy please?

XX Jeannine

[lurley]

If money was no object, I'd get the excaliber dehydrator. The good thing about it is you can remove some racks and keep others to make the size rack (height wise) that you need for drying thicker things like whole peppers. Unfortunately, price is a concern for me, so I have two american harvest dehydrators, and when I dry whole peppers the unit doesn't close all the way between the different racks, even when I put weight on the lid, until peppers are about half dry. It takes longer to dry them than it would if the unit could completely close the whole time like the Excalibur can.

[Jeannine Anne]

Thank you, that is what I had before I went overseas for several years..good to hear it is the one to get again XX Jeannine

[nctomatoman]

We've gotten the dehydrator out and are making good use of it this gardening season! We did a batch of cherries (yum! Great in our granola)....a batch of Mexico Midget tomatoes (took forever, but I am testing it as a way to keep seeds to see if they grow better from dehydrated tomatoes than fermenting - MM is stubborn for me).

Then - we've done quite a few batches of zucchini and eggplant - quick, and came out great.

And tonight I made my own Paprika! I did a mix of mostly sweet bells with a few New Mexico type of Anaheims (brown, orange, yellow) - took part of two days, but just put the dried pieces into my food processor and ground them up - the most heavenly smell! Smells like the best roasted peppers I've ever had. Can't wait to use it! Wasn't ready for the conversion of a dozen big bells into a little bag of paprika - but I've got plenty of peppers, so I will do it a few more times!

[Ruth_10]

I have the dehydrator going right now. I just finished up a full load of Round of Hungary peppers. These are my new favorite--beautiful, sweet red cheese-type peppers. I eat them out of hand fresh and dried--they're like candy.

Drying right now is a load of de Arbol and Thai Bangkok (?) peppers. These will be used for pepper flakes (by themselves) and powdered in blends with some Aji Colorado and Trinidad Perfume.

Yes, the aroma of drying peppers is wonderful. I also like the aroma of roasting Anaheim types. We use a large Bunsen burner set up out on the deck.

[Silverstar7337]

We did tons of apples! My husband can eat them by the pound! I also dried some ginger because I can never use the whole chunk. It tastes great in homemade hot chocolate by the way . We also made two types of deer jerky. This weekend we will be drying some sprouted grain for making bread! Yum!

[Silverstar7337]

Any tips for drying them for hashbrowns, scalloped potatoes and such? We love to take store bought dehydrated potato meals camping because they are so easy but I would love to make my own!

[FarmerShawn]

When I dry apples, I toss the slices with just a bit of cinnamon-sugar first. They come out tasting remarkably like apple pie, which I am a fan of.
A couple of years ago, I dried some sweet corn. On the rare occasion that I make corn bread (another one of those things I like, but she doesn't care for) I grind some of that dried sweet corn up to add to the regular corn meal. It really adds a noticeable flavor and sweetness. Nice.
Dried red Jalapenos, ground to a powder, grace my eggs every morning, however I fix them.
I've also found that, after simmering much of the water out of pureed tomatoes, the dehydrator does a wonderful, fragrant, safe, burn-free job of finishing off a nice thick tomato paste.
And dried applesauce makes a great apple leather or fruit roll-up.

I purchase dehydrated (sun dried supposedly) tomatoes in cellophane packages frequently at the market. The package wrapping is barely air tight if it is at all. The instructions for home dehydrating tomatoes almost always end with instructions to freeze or refrigerate for a few weeks only.

Is a good preservative available which would allow storage for long periods at room temperatures without affecting the tomatoes flavor?

Ted