Food drying - Dehydrators (merged)

Ken68

Thanks Fred.....http://www.planitproducts.co.uk/

sb44

Can anyone give me advice on the times that their dehydrators take for various foods please, especially jerky.

I was given a £10 discount code on my ebay account as I haven't used it for months so used it against this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Andrew-James-6-Tray-Digital-Food-Dehydrator-Fruit-Preserver-Beef-Jerky-Dryer-/281460233292?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item418856544c. I like the shape as I would like to make my own beef or turky jerky and I thought £29.99 delivered seemed to be a good price.

Nope, I have no connection to Andrew James before anyone asks.

sb44

I just found this site which is quite interesting but not sure how accurate it is.

All tips from food drying members will be gratefully received!;)

http://www.dehydrate2store.com/helpfultips/#TIP38

http://www.dehydrate2store.com/docs/dehydration_and_storage_tips.pdf

My dehydrator is due to arrive tue or wed, so I had better get reading up on who to use it to it's best advantage.



PS.

Just found this tip for steamers which may be of interest: Place 6 or 7 marbles in the bottom of your Steamer/Juicer (where the water goes). The marbles will rattle against the side of the pot when your water is getting low, acting as an indicator that you need to add more water.

VfM4meplse

sb44 wrote: »

I just found this site which is quite interesting but not sure how accurate it is.

All tips from food drying members will be gratefully received!;)

http://www.dehydrate2store.com/helpfultips/#TIP38

http://www.dehydrate2store.com/docs/dehydration_and_storage_tips.pdf

My dehydrator is due to arrive tue or wed, so I had better get reading up on who to use it to it's best advantage.

Let us know how you get on?

Eta: have been researching buying one...some are relatively affordable but I wonder if its just a matter of time before Lidl / Aldi come up with one?

Ken68

I bought a Excalibur 5 tray and wish now that I have got something less expensive. It's down to size for the money. It will never replace the freezer, though useful for lots of home grown fruit. Problem for me is the humidity levels. If drying indoors it will mist the room out, if drying outside, say in a shed, you have to check outdoor humidity levels, and being near the coast not good. So for me early fruit is good for drying and later plums and apples have to wait for the best conditions.
And why do the manufacturers not mention the SIZE of the trays.?

happydays89

I have the Excalibur,I buy bags of frozen peas,sweetcorn,mixed veg when I see them at a good price.Spread them on the trays and dry them,I can fit 6kg of veg into a lrg Kilner jar,when added to soup ect you can't tell it's been dehydrated.

sb44

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Let us know how you get on?

Eta: have been researching buying one...some are relatively affordable but I wonder if its just a matter of time before Lidl / Aldi come up with one?

Will do .

It arrived this morning and I have only got a pack of 6 kiwi fruit from Aldi to experiment with .

When set up, with the trays set at their highest level, it is about the size of a medium sized microwave, so that is where it will be parked, on top of my microwave until I need to use the microwave, then I will have to move it.

If you want to dry food that isn't flat as such ie peaches etc, you just turn the trays around by 180 degrees and it doubles the height of the tray.

As soon as you plug it in, even before you switch it on, it beeps like when you plug your microwave in.

When you first turn it on, the fan is quite loud, a bit like an hairdryer, which lasts for about 20 seconds, then it sounds a bit like a fan oven, not too loud.

I let it run empty for about 30 mins because of the new smell, but to be honest there wasn't much of a new smell to it.

We have a smart meter, so I checked the cost, it showed as about 3p per hour at 60 degrees.

Ok, off to peel some kiwis to stick in there, I will let you know how they turn out.

I am going to buy a large pack of mushrooms from Aldi and dry those. I always run out of mushrooms or buy too many and they end up with fur coats!

Plus, I want to have a go at making mushroom powder. I had never heard of that until last night when trawling youtube for dehydrating tips and ideas.

I want to try this jerky recipe too, using mince instead of steak.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIOkRWgjUgs

Wish me luck!

sb44

By the way, the Andrew James one comes with a 2 year warranty and that also includes those via their ebay shop.

I just rang them as there was no paper work in or taped to the delivery box.

They said everything that is sent out is logged into their system by postcode so they will have all details should you need to contact them within your guarantee period.

I am still going to print off my ebay purchase details so that I don't forget when I bought it, further down the line. Hopefully I won't need it.

Most of the round models I looked at (mostly at Amazon) were 250w or 300w models, do I assume this model will dry a lot quicker as it is 550w?

The kiwi have been in at 55 degrees for nearly an hour and some of them are starting to look dry on top. Exciting! :rotfl:

Just found this via Twitter http://www.yumveganrecipes.com/andrew-james-digital-dehydrator-review/?utm_content=buffer41822&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

sb44

Can anyone tell me what consistency dehydrated kiwi should be and are you supposed to dip it in lemon juice before you dry it?

I haven't got a clue if it is supposed to be crispy or chewy!

I put it in at 3pm, just tried some at 8.30pm and the inside is a tiny bit moist, seeds are very crunchy though.

I may have sliced them too thinly and I didn't dip them in lemon juice, so, basically, I haven't got a clue if they are nearly ready or not.

Doh!

ernie-money

sb44 wrote: »

Can anyone tell me what consistency dehydrated kiwi should be and are you supposed to dip it in lemon juice before you dry it?

I haven't got a clue if it is supposed to be crispy or chewy!

I put it in at 3pm, just tried some at 8.30pm and the inside is a tiny bit moist, seeds are very crunchy though.

I may have sliced them too thinly and I didn't dip them in lemon juice, so, basically, I haven't got a clue if they are nearly ready or not.

Doh!

I hope this thread is still active, in spite of no posts for a while... I'm just looking at buying a dehydrator (again) and there seems to be a lot of cheaper ones about now than when I last looked. Just wondered, now a few months down the line - do you have any feedback on the one you bought, like did the trays last, and is it faster or better because of the higher wattage.?
Thanks!