buying dehydrators

im going to buy a deydrator in the next paycheck or two and was wonderning which ones people recommend...or at least which ones to stay away from.

stacked vs. drawers, excalibur vs. open country or cabelas, tips on jerky, and lessons learned the hard way, etc.

...or even point me to a thread thats been beat to death as im sure this topics been around.

i did see something a few weeks ago about rotating dried food stock every 6-8 months and that zucchini is good when you leave it in longer.

I have one that is heated by a light bulb, and the operator still needs to pay attention. Maybe I'll get it right someday.

Sue

We have the 9-tray Excalibur from Cabales and it is nice. We got it cheap two years ago from the Cabales Bargain Cave as it was originally a display model. There wasn't anything wrong with it which suggests high durability.

-Blast

I've tried the cheapo Popeil plastic ones (no fan), the round plastic stackable tray versions (with a fan), and the more expensive drawer types. The best bang for the buck (Blast's great deal being the exception to the rule), are the round plastic stackable tray models with a fan. They are small enough for the counter, but enough capacity for reasonable production. They are usually less than $50. They clean up easily. I've used mine for everything from jerky to zuchinni and mushrooms to cherries and bananas to fruit leather. You need a model with a fan to move the air and significantly shorten the drying time as well as consistently dry all the product.

If I had the money, I would get another big drawer version like what Blast has again, but what I have now works well enough that I can't justify putting out the $200 for not that much greater production capability. Here's what I have now. I got it at Target.

aroma food dehydrator

Great Youtube dehydrating videos

-Blast

I don't know about large scale dehydration of general fruit/vegetable product, but the method I use for making beef jerky is one I learned from Alton Brown's "Good Eats" show and it works amazingly well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUu9goMp7EI

(skip to around 2:15 for discussion on dehydrator technology, or skip to ~4:15 to see the method)

Basically, new (clean) air filter cartridges filled with the food. These are strapped to a box fan and the fan runs until the food is dried. Basic, cheap, and simple.

The advantage is that no heat is used, which keeps the food out of the "danger zone" where bacteria grows.

The heat for the type of dehydrator I use keeps the air at about 75 degrees, but more importantly dehumidifies it a bit before it gets in the chamber.

Exactly. 75F is right in the middle of the danger zone, not the best place to keep the food for hours at a time if you can avoid it:

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/a2z-d.html

It's a trade off. At 75 degrees (relative to a house temp of 65 degrees), it is drying faster than at 65 degrees, much faster. Most fruits and vegetables have a brief resistance to spoilage that permits them to be dehydrated at that temperature. The key is to get the moisture out of them as quick as possible without catalyzing the breakdown process with too much heat. If you can dry the air out more at 65 degrees then it is even better, but I am usually using ambient air, and so a slight temperature differential helps reduce the moisture in the air enough to make a noticable difference. For spoilage to occur, you need three things, food, moisture, and temperature. Unless you are doing your dehydrating below 40 degrees, the difference in temp from 65 to 75 is not as significant as the difference in rate of moisture loss in the food.

As for meats and such, I don't try and dehydrate any meat or other food that contains animal products (especially raw animal products)that isn't cured first. That is bad mojo. Either you cure it, or you get the temp up to 165 degrees internal. If I am going to dehydrate food that cannot be cured and contains animal products, then I do that in the oven at a suitably high temp.

Room temperature is usually okay for most fresh fruits and vegetables for long enough to dehydrate them. The bigger concern is oxidation and/or enzymatic decay, which turns the product brown once it's meat has been exposed (as with a peeled banana or a sliced apple sitting on the counter). To counteract the browning process, I like to use everfresh. Bascially Ascorbic Acid. The application of a little sweetener helps the flavor as well, as some things like Bananas loose some of their sweetness when dehydrated.

I would love to have a freeze dryer, but that is an expensive piece of equipment.

wow! i appreciate the time you've spent on advise. noting beats lessons from the tried and true.


...thanks all

Ben, what are your thoughts on the specs on this one?

http://www.target.com/dp/B000FFVJ3C/

I've been thinking on getting one, and this one comes pretty highly recommended. Also thinking of ordering this book to go with it, as I have zero experience with dehydrating food.

http://www.target.com/Mary-Bells-Complete-Dehydrator-Cookbook/dp/0688130240/

Nesco are known as a good dehydrator manufacturer. 700 watts seems more than enough to get the job done. You could go cheaper, like the unit I have, but saving $30 is not a huge factor to consider. I like having a book because that's my culture ( I own a hundred cookbooks). It is handy not to have to turn on the computer and do the search when you are working on a recipe and need to check something.

If your budget will allow, go for the Nesco and I am sure you will be pleased.

I'll second the "Good Eats" one, made some great jerky last year, using the filters and a box fan.

I have a few of the American Harvest (Harvester?) round, stackable tray types. They're pretty flexible. Extra trays and parts are high, as are the tray inserts for more liquid foods.

I have purchased a few for cheap at yard sales in order to have a parts supply and extra trays. One day, I'll also migrate to a box/tray system.

Truth be told, I've used giant homemade trays of wood and food-grade screening for use outdoors or on the porch during the summer (simple air-drying) and that worked well...even with our high humidity.

Did you first cook the meat, or is it raw?

Id say the unit doesn't matter that much, but for survival, dont make just jerky, theres not enough nutrients in it for survival. Make something called pemmican. Pemmican is made from jerky, the american indians used it for food. All it is is jerky mixed with a equal proportion of suet, or melted fat. Look up a good recipy, Pemmican contains all the nutrients one needs to survive except vitamin c. Good luck surviving

Yes, we've had several good threads about pemmican here. In fact, I think there's a few good recipes in the archives.