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Dehydrating

Davez Foodz

Davez Foodz

Last week I got a dehydrator, and this morning I got up early, prep'd 4 pounds of apples and kicked it on. I'm quite excited! :)
 
wait until you get the jerky bug, that little machine will be humming 24/7.
i also use mine to dry banana peels........no not for smoking......once dried i grind them up to mix into my soil mix.
i have the nesco FD80, square model.
 
Dice a few pods up and put on the apple if not too dry yet. They stick together and dry into crunchy hot apple chews.
 
We have three Nesco American Harvest dehydrators that we use during wild mushroom season and also green chile roasting season. Each late Summer-Early Autumn here, we have the Hatch green chile roasters set up shop here in Flagstaff. We freeze some of the fire roasted Hatch chiles here, but we run them through the dehydrator and make Chile Pasado. They come out great!!! Just add them to sauces or soups and they'll rehydrate themselves fine. This allows me to store a sack of roasted chiles in a couple big Mason jars as opposed to taking up the whole freezer.

Jerky is also great to make in the dehydrator. I make mine with mutton when I find it reasonably priced. I HATE sweet jerky, so I make mine with apple cider vinegar, crushed chiles, soy sauce, and liquid smoke as the marinade. Mutton jerky is great. The Mongols basically lived off of it on campaign. Say what you want about Genghis Khan, he got things done.
 
I've never used a dehydrator but could you use one to dry your seeds or would the heat be too much and ruin them?
 
I got the Nesco FD-80. It's square like mentioned, and has 700 watts power.

http://www.amazon.com/Nesco-American-FD-80-Square-Shaped-Dehydrator/dp/B00179DCCQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1304944750&sr=1-2-catcorr
 
Temp controls are what I need because my current one gets so hot I end up with brown pods regardless of starting color.
 
http://www.amazon.com/Food-Dehydrator-Mr-Coffee/dp/B00147XN16
I seriously like the fan and it is great for jerky but not for pods. To keep the color they aren't completely dry.
 
good deal on the dehydrator DD....

I bought an Excalibur a couple of years ago...I really like it...I bought it before I retired :)

http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/9-Tray-Large-Excalibur-with-26-hour-Timer-3926T-28-37-regular-prod.htm

no thread hijack intended but I would love to hear any experience anyone has that can compare the Excalibur to the Nesco...both are American made...
 
That's cool, DD!

Can you buy extra trays for it?
 
I'm sure you'll enjoy using it. I use mine mostly for pods, but it works grat on fruit too. Save the palnet... it's the only one with peppers.
 
I have three of the "Nesco FD-75PR 700-Watt Food Dehydrator" and have only used it on pods thus far. Maybe this summer I'll have more time to try it out on other things.
 
AlabamaJack said:
good deal on the dehydrator DD....

I bought an Excalibur a couple of years ago...I really like it...I bought it before I retired :)

http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/9-Tray-Large-Excalibur-with-26-hour-Timer-3926T-28-37-regular-prod.htm

no thread hijack intended but I would love to hear any experience anyone has that can compare the Excalibur to the Nesco...both are American made...
Click to expand...
Excaliburs look really nice. I'd be interested in hearing comparison information as well. My thought was to get the Nesco and learn how to dehydrate, then when I'm more experienced with getting good results, then get the 9-tray Excalibur for large scale dehydration.the Nesco is pretty nice - temp control, quiet... It's very nice.


salsalady said:
That's cool, DD!

Can you buy extra trays for it?
Click to expand...

Thanks SL! You can buy up to 4 more trays. This dehydrator can take up to 8 trays.


richoso12 said:
I'm sure you'll enjoy using it. I use mine mostly for pods, but it works grat on fruit too. Save the palnet... it's the only one with peppers.
Click to expand...

Thank you, I'm sure I will too :) I'm looking forward to drying some pods! And, yes, we are all very lucky to be on the only planet that has chili peppers!


SuperHot said:
I have three of the "Nesco FD-75PR 700-Watt Food Dehydrator" and have only used it on pods thus far. Maybe this summer I'll have more time to try it out on other things.
Click to expand...

Nice - that's some serious dehydrating power you have - hope you can find time to work them more on trying stuff out!
 
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