Food drying - Dehydrators (merged)

Toxic_Lemon

Mmmm, yummy. That sauce sounds delish!

In the ketchup recipe, I wouldn't use as much balsamic as for white wine vinegar. Maybe 50ml? Unless you have the best money-saver's cleaning product: good old white vinegar, which you could use instead, with a little extra sugar?

Angelina-M

Well I havent made it yet but I better hurry before my toms go off. Right i'll use less balsamic. I do have white vinegar but I clean with it, I dont fancy eating it, it stinks! :eek:

Softstuff

just had a brainwave (I'm still recovering from the shock) and wondered if anyone had tried this...

I wondered if making some porridge up with water, quite a thick mix, then making up a little patty and dehydrating it, could end up with a little brickette that could be eaten a bit like weetabix. I could well be barking up the wrong tree, it was just a random thought after all, and would like some opinions before I pluck up the courage to give this a shot.

Ted_Hutchinson

Tchibo food dehydrator £26?
This is availabe at Tchibo at the moment. I wonder if anyone here has actually used a food dehydrator and what for and are they worth while?
I guess those who use a lot of dried herbs (especially the smoking pot variety) may think it's a good investment but I'm a bit dubious about getting one if it's the kind of gadget that only gets used once a year.

It might be nice to dry some apple slices for use in muesli. Any other ideas?

moggins

I've used mine for drying mushrooms when the huge boxes turn up at the market, also for drying orange slices for decoration for christmas. This year I am going to make fruit leathers for the kids (alternative to fruit winders). I bought mine from Tchibo too, normally these cost a fortune anywhere else so they do get snapped up very quickly on Tchibo.

They can be used for quite a lot of things and I would use mine more if I had the space on the worktop for it.

MrsTinks

I was just sat looking through my Tchibo catalog too and thinking the very same thing! I LOVE dried apple but I prefer drying my own... However with a dog and 2 cats that moult non stop at the moment I never have anywhere "hair free"... I'd also love to be able to dry any mushrooms I buy reduced and I know you can dry leeks and peppers not to mention chilli's... BUT firstly are they effective? and how much do you loose in vitamins etc?

And then there is the "how the heck do I sneak it past the OH and maybe hide it in the shed... hehe

moggins

All you are doing is removing the water so I can't see why it would remove any goodness from the food?

apprentice_tycoon

an old thread with lots of info

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=139707&highlight=dehydrator

fizzyfeet_2

Think I'm going to have to buy one of these!! I love dried fruits, but it's so expensive to buy the ones without sugar! My favourites are pineapple and mango. Guess you could do onion bits aswell, to sprinkle on soups and salads!

Moggins- would love to know how to make fruit leathers if you don't mind sharing

[Deleted User]

I have this one.

http://www.energiseforlife.com/item--L%E2%80%99Equip-Dehydrator--JBP0099.html

bought it late summer and have dried apples, onions, peppers, mangoes, pineapple etc. I have stacks of this dried food in a very small space in a cupboard. I used to dry some foods with a cheap, basic round de hydrator but wasn`t over fussed with it and gave it away. The one I have now is excellent and so are the results

I am especially looking forward to drying berries this year as I only have a small freezer section these days

I made some leathers too by the way and they are lovely

re the onion, I also dried rosemary and ground some onion with it to make a sprinkle for meat, hm oven chips etc

I would buy the l`equip again but would not have bought my old one