Food Dehydrator?

Jess Withrow

Hopefully there's someone in the Haus who has experience dehydrating food and can point me in the right direction...  I want to get a dehydrator for everything from fruit and kale chips to beef jerky (not necessarily at the same time...  not so sure I like the thought of beef fat on my apple chips).  I'm considering an Excalibur, but I'm clueless when it comes to options.  Do I need a timer?  Do I really need NINE trays (I'm guessing the answer is no since I'm not trying feed an army, but how many DO I need)?  Any pros/cons/pointers/advice for me?  I'm not looking to use dehydrated food when training/racing necessarily - just looking for something clean to eat for snacks and when traveling (which is a LOT.  We could singlehandedly be responsible for the hole in the ozone given the amount of driving we do in the spring and summer).

Thanks!

 

tim cronk

Jess,

We got one a while back. Used it a couple times. Found it to be way too time consuming, noisy , and didnt care for the product we were getting either. This comes from a couple who spend a lot of time shopping and preparing our own food, we use our vitamix and food processor all the time but never the dehydrater. So I dont have an answer for you . Just my experience. But I just love dehydrated aaple rings, tomatoes , and when I can find them whole bananas , among the usual stuff berries.

rmiller

Try making the Alton Brown Blow Hard 5000:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLCmxKs4oXU 

Natalie Cayer Pilon

our mutual buddy Steve Ross is quite the prolific fruit dehydrator aficionado!! I;m sure he could give you some great tips!

Steve Ross

A few things here are as Tim said it can be time consuming and tedious. Thanks Nat for the pat on back. Now back to your subject a couple of things 1) The more trays the better, you would be amazed at how much space sliced up goods take. A good dehydrator has multiple controls for the purpose of your dehydrating needs whether you do herbs, fruit/veg, to meat(jerky). I use it mainly for the first two. As Tim say's it does have a noise(hum) but  to use this is to set it up and go to bed, wake up and turn it off in the morning done. I don't use it on a consistent basis but when I do use it, it is appreciated. I give Dehydrating a thumbs up. http://www.google.ca/#hl=en&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=nesco+food+dehydrator&oq=nesco+&gs_l=hp.1.1.0l4.36321.38248.0.45004.6.6.0.0.0.0.122.627.r 2j4.6.0...0.0...1c.1.7.psy-ab.ZEoRgb28_YQ&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.44442042,d.b2I&fp=eda40b2f1e1fb1da&biw=1093&bih=538

Jess Withrow

Wow! You guys ROCK!

Thanks so much for all the great info.... You guys ROCK!!!

@Tim - I totally expected you to chime in! Can you tell me what brand you have? Just curious since noise was an issue. I AM hesitant to go with a pricier brand b/c - like you and Steve both mentioned - I know this is going to be time consuming and I'm not so sure how crazy I'll be about the effort. I use my Vitamix and food processor all the time, too, though! Part of me really just wants to start growing my own vegetables, too - but THAT would be an entirely different project that I really don't think I'm up for!

@Ryan - that cracked me up!!! I didn't even know that was possible!!!

@Natalie/Steve - THANKS!!! I didn't know about Steve's hidden talent! Steve, I checked out the link - do you use a Nesco?

Steve Ross

    I use a Nesco American harvest with 6 levels and I could use more, don't skimp on that and in reality it is not noisy but does hum!

tim cronk

@Jenn ... I looked for ours and couldnt find it... I think we lent it the mother inlaw... So I dont know the brand.... Yeah garden would be nice but thats like adding another IM to your schedule! I'd settle for a Wholefoods across the street! We don't have one in NH.

ccotstanza12

x2 on the Nesco American Harvest. We make fruit leather periodically (which never lasts long in our house) and apple and pear chips. I agree it's time consuming, particularly the fruit leather because you need parchment paper on the levels. However, we wouldn't part with it. In my opinion, you can never have too many trays.

mason066

When you guys talk time consuming, what kinda time are we looking at? Just interested on the return on my investment timewise. Thanks

Jess Withrow

Jason makes a good point... I'm assuming most of the time involved that Tim and Steve have referred to is prep work (kinda thinking once the food is actually IN the dehydrator it's a set it and forget it sort of thing?)? I'm hoping (assuming, maybe?) that the thin slice blade on my food processor will reduce the amount of time I have to spend prepping... ??? I hadn't really planned on making fruit leather, but I can see where that would get time consuming (although - I DO plan on doing jerky, which I have a feeling is going to be work!)!

Catherine Jadot

HI Jess, I love mine a do a lot of power bar myself (in addition to kale chips and all the "classics"). Way cheaper than the one sold, you control what's in it and you can add superfood in it. Can't live without it.

Yes it takes some time to prep but I do large batches (I have 9 trays) and then freeze what ever I don't use that week. I would say it takes me about 15-20min to prepare the power bar mix and place it on the trays. It doesn't take more time to make 30 bars vs 5... so the larger the batch the higher the ROI - time wise.

Never done Jerky.

ccotstanza12

@ Jess- I don't know others' experiences, but unless you account for thickness in terms of where the trays sit, I do have to rotate my trays periodically so everything is dehydrated evenly. We boight our machine used though, so maybe that makes a difference.
In terms of prep time, fruit leather is definitely cumbersome, but we also freeze the mix to use later. Never tried jerky.

@ Catherine- I would love a dehydrator power bar recipe!

Jess Withrow

@Claire - rotating trays makes sense... I wonder if they make a "convection model" dehydrator!

@Catherine - ME TOO! I'd LOVE that recipe!

Steve Ross

@Catherine post the recipe girl, waiting to plug in the dehydrater!!!

kyliejean

Jess, maybe see if you can find a secondhand one? I bought one about three months ago, and have used it only once so far. But because it was an ex-demo model it was at a great price, so i haven't felt guilty about the lack of use, and I do expect to use it more that I will have a bit more kitchen time (as my tri season has just finished and marathon training starts now). I bought an Excalibur 5 tray and I think that's going to be plenty big enough for a household of one. The noise level was fine, it was in the laundry but didn't need to shut the door or anything.

One beginner tip - I made dried sweetened zucchini and pumpkin bits to use instead of dried fruit in cereal etc (have a food intolerance that rules out apples, pears, apricots etc). They worked well, but I stored them in the pantry and they went mouldy! Best in fridge if you do that.

I too would love the recipe Catherine. Please

Catherine Jadot

 

 sure!! 

I don’t have a written down recipe. I usually just put together a bunch of ingredients I have at home and it always works pretty well. I have different recipes, one to make bars (or squares) with more carbs for during training and then squares with more proteins and less carbs as snack to take with me at work.



So the ‘energy’ squares recipe would look something like this:

 

• 1 cup of pitted dates (for the carbs)
• 1/3 cup of raisins (carbs)
• 1/3 cup coji berries (anti-oxidant, vit C, Ca, K, Fe)
• 1/3 cup of whatever nut I have (often almond – protein, vit E, some carbs)
• 3-4 tbsp coconut (shredded) (some K & a little Mg)
• 1 or 2 bananas – depends on the size (carbs, K, Mg, P)
• 1/2 tbsp of sea salt (that’s a lot of salt but I live in a tropical climate so I sweat always  a lot -  I think you should bring this down in function of your own environmental conditions)
• 2 tbsp of spirulina (protein, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, vit E, A, K, Fe, omega 3, Ca, DHA, …)
• 2 tbsp chia seeds (usually soaked overnight)
• Raw cocoa to taste
• a few drops (like 40 or so) of Grape Seed Extract (preservative, anti-inflammation, anti-oxidant, vit E)
• ¾ - 1 cup of coconut water 

First blend the dates + raisins + some coconut water in the Vitamix until you have a smooth paste. In the food processor blend the dry ingredients (nuts, coconut, seeds, salt, etc) until you obtain a fine flour. Add the date paste to the flour, add all the other ingredients and add coconut water as necessary. I add it slowly and make sure I don’t make the mixture too watery. Spread evenly over parafex sheets. Put in dehydrator. I turn the sheet over as soon as I can peel it off the paraflex easily and then score the mixture before it dries completely into 1’x1’ square (easier to eat on the bike/run).

It will keep for about 10 days in the fridge.

Let me know if you liked it 



Sorry for the late post - haven't had the chance to come back check the forum before now. My car was stolen 2 days ago so my routine has been upside down since...