Food dehydrator

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stevec

Full Member
Oct 30, 2003
548
144
Sheffield
Be interested to hear how you get on. Not got one or ordered one myself, but thought a heads up for interested parties was good
 

bobnewboy

Native
Jul 2, 2014
1,296
849
West Somerset
We bought a dehydrator a couple of years back, although not the one in this thread. It’s been really useful for almost anything we have in glut from the garden - fruit and veg. Making things like your own tomato or chilli powder is great and a very space efficient storage solution. We still have a couple of jars of nicely leathery apple rings to eat up from summer 2020 and from this summer just gone. Great lightweight nibbles to have when walking!
 

TeeDee

Full Member
Nov 6, 2008
10,497
3,700
50
Exeter
I have one of the cylinder type units from Westphalia and purchased some silicone sheeting to make some insertable trays for more liquid type products.

Bit of a faff to cut to size but time invested will I hope pay off.
 

grizzlyj

Full Member
Nov 10, 2016
181
126
NW UK
We've had a dehydrator for about a year now. Recently we added silicone trays to make fruit leather, from the Complete Idiots Guide to Dehydrated Foods, such as Pina Colada and Strawberry and Merlot which are lovely.
I've made beef jerky, plain, garlic, and also some South African braii salt flavours. Pineapple rings are amazing, Skinned fruit like grapes and blueberries can take a while but are super tasty. Sweet potato slices are good dog treats. We have kale, celery, garlic, ginger, carrots and more ready to chuck into stews etc I want to try potatoes to see if my own smash works.
Back Country Eats by Kevin Ride seems a good read on whole meals for multi day trips, maybe my next purchase :)
 

TeeDee

Full Member
Nov 6, 2008
10,497
3,700
50
Exeter
We've had a dehydrator for about a year now. Recently we added silicone trays to make fruit leather, from the Complete Idiots Guide to Dehydrated Foods, such as Pina Colada and Strawberry and Merlot which are lovely.
I've made beef jerky, plain, garlic, and also some South African braii salt flavours. Pineapple rings are amazing, Skinned fruit like grapes and blueberries can take a while but are super tasty. Sweet potato slices are good dog treats. We have kale, celery, garlic, ginger, carrots and more ready to chuck into stews etc I want to try potatoes to see if my own smash works.
Back Country Eats by Kevin Ride seems a good read on whole meals for multi day trips, maybe my next purchase :)

Sorry for asking - Can you expand on this??

"such as Pina Colada and Strawberry and Merlot"
 

grizzlyj

Full Member
Nov 10, 2016
181
126
NW UK
Just recipes from the Idiots guide I mentioned, Pina Colada is banana, pineapple and coconut milk blended, the other is strawberries, apple sauce a bit of sugar and Merlot blended, spread on a sheet of silicon or greaseproof paper (but trickier) and dried into a fruit leather.
 
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Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,665
McBride, BC
I have an American Harvest unit with 4 trays. The motor and heater are on the top of an internal chimney so fruit juice can't gum up the workings. Takes 2 batches to dry Roma tomato halves overnight (+55C). The smell in the kitchen the next morning is heavenly. Just a hell of a thing to start snacking on, only to realize that I've just eaten a dozen tomatoes.
 

Arwen

Member
Dec 30, 2021
17
12
62
Suffolk
We bought some of these square metal gauze sheets rather than solid silicone plates for ours. These allow the air to circulate more easily and you can dehydrate some very small items without them falling through between the shelf grid. They fir our model really nicely but you could easily cut them to size or shape if needed.
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,665
McBride, BC
S/S mesh? Thanks for the tip, I must look for that. I could span the racks in my kitchen electric oven and do a mile of jerky then clean up in the dish washer!
Maybe salmon candy? A few dozen dried/smoked oysters or mussels?
 
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spandit

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 6, 2011
5,594
308
East Sussex, UK
I had mine running all night to make venison jerky (teriyaki/garlic). I'm told the shelf life is quite long but I think I'll have scoffed the lot before Wednesday.
 
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Dougster

Bushcrafter through and through
Oct 13, 2005
5,254
238
The banks of the Deveron.
We've had a dehydrator for about a year now. Recently we added silicone trays to make fruit leather, from the Complete Idiots Guide to Dehydrated Foods, such as Pina Colada and Strawberry and Merlot which are lovely.
I've made beef jerky, plain, garlic, and also some South African braii salt flavours. Pineapple rings are amazing, Skinned fruit like grapes and blueberries can take a while but are super tasty. Sweet potato slices are good dog treats. We have kale, celery, garlic, ginger, carrots and more ready to chuck into stews etc I want to try potatoes to see if my own smash works.
Back Country Eats by Kevin Ride seems a good read on whole meals for multi day trips, maybe my next purchase :)
Just ordered, thanks for the recommendation.
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,665
McBride, BC
Ta for the reminder to look for stainless steel mesh sheet.
I've got roasts in my freezer that I will never use by myself. Might just as well shave it up and smoke dry it all. Strong preference for apple wood smoke. I just found that I can connect wit a fish shop much nearer the coast. Might do mussels some day soon.
 

ONE

Full Member
Nov 21, 2019
251
116
54
N. Ireland
Yogurt dehydrates reasonably well, you can either go with yogurt chips as a finished product or pop the chips into a spice grinder and rehydrate with water. Rehydrated yogurt can be a little grainy but it works well with trail fruit or cereal.
 
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