Food drying - Dehydrators (merged)

dogstarheaven

with all the foraged fruit and lotti veg i've been getting lately, I've not have found enough time to make use of them regularly, and thought maybe it's about time I bought a food dehydrator. Has anyone used one before, and if so recommend one that is reasonably decent and not too expensive. There's this one that looks the biz -

http://www2.westfalia.net/shops/household/preserving_food/preserving_food/dehydrating_/665576-excalibur_dehydrator_with_9_trays.htm

but only in my dreams, or this one that is more likely -

http://www2.westfalia.net/shops/household/preserving_food/preserving_food/dehydrating_/193811-food_dehydrator.htm

what do you lot think? atm, i've a load of foraged apples and pears from last sunday that i've picked and soon enough, the fruit flies will come and get me!!:eek::eek:

i know the Americans are quite crazy over dehydrated foods and I know that drying out savoury things like onions, toms, kale herbs etc., will be really useful to us as we go camping a lot.

i'm kinda desperate now as time is of the essence when it comes to preserving and my w/ends are taken up with it mostly, leaving everything else on standstill!

oldtractor

if you Google excalibur dehydrator you should find several suppliers. I'm sure i've seen it at much less than that, around £220.

dogstarheaven

thanks for your reply. i've found one from juiceland for £209 in the sale -

http://www.juiceland.co.uk/item--Excalibur-Dehydrator-9-Tray-Black--EXCAL3900B.html

with free delivery. has anyone bought this before, and if so, how does it perform. i haven't bought a high-end product for a long time, so it needs to be v. productive and economical to run as well...

AlwaysAllie

Don't know how big you want it to be but have a look at the Lakeland one. From memory <£70 and it is fab. Did apples last week and they are wonderful.

AA

dogstarheaven

http://www.ukjuicers.com/excalibur-9-tray-dehydrator-with-timer-black just bought it and comes with next day free delivery too... am v. pleased. done my research and realised you can dehydrate wet produce too, so i got some sheets as well for that... gulp - at £243 i really hope it'll be worth it!

midnightraven3

i bought the cheaper one (from there)
with a view to see how i got on with it before shelling out for the excalibur
unless you have your own orchard, the cheaper one is great
i love mine and havent upgraded yet and no plans to at least for now

and the fruit leathers are FAB from it!

D&DD

I'm jealous now lol I keep seeing Kitties posts about hers and so far I've been really restrained and stuck with my little cheapie one but I'd love to hear how you get on with your new shiny one ..I may have to have a splurge at xmas :rotfl:

I dried the peelings from some of the foraged apples as seen on one of the american sites and its powdered down beautifully for use as flavouring.I'm sure theres a thread here somewhere with recipes etc have fun!

valk_scot

There's a competition to win a dehydrator in this months Kitchen Garden magazine, I think.

lizzyb1812

I bought the small round one to see if it was going to be worth my while to get a bigger one later. I've stuck with the small one as it is fine for my needs. This weekend it has been loaded up with chunks of apple - a handful of the dried chunks put into porridge before you cook it semi-rehydrate and make lovely chewy pieces in my brekkie - and a handful is about a whole apple's worth. I've done the same with blackberries as well - purple porridge! The apple bits make good healthy dog training treats as well.

It is noisy so it lives in a spare bedroom with the door closed when it's on - and I have a card I leave on the kitchen counter to remind me it's on! It has allowed me to make the most of foraged field mushrooms which don't freeze well but dry beautifully. Lots of my home grown tomatoes are now "sun-dried" and I've done loads of courgette slices to add to stews, soups, etc.

I won't be getting the bigger one, although if I was not on my own I would seriously consider it.

moneysaverboy

I have 2 - the excalibur 9 tray and the westfalia.

Got the westy first and it was brill, but it's very small, and being round with a hole up the centre you can't do leathers in it easily. The excalibur is a lot bigger and you can fit a whole lot more in it, and it's easy to do leathers in it if you buy the special sheets for doing it on, but it was a lot more expensive obviously.

Depends really on what you want to do with it I'd say, and also what space you've got. Oh, the westfalia is quite noisy. A better one if you want something somewhere in between is the Lakeland one which my friend has. It's quieter than the westie and more spacious and a lot cheaper than the excalibur.