Got a dehydrator, now what???

In My Humble Opinion
1

On a impluse buy I picked up a used food dehydrator for about $7. It didn’t come with instructions, so I am a bit lost on how is the normal way to use it. Please help me out on the basics.

The manufacturer is Welbilt. It came with a base unit which seems to contain a fan, heat sink and a heating element, from what I can see of it it appears much like a computer CPU w/ the fan and heatsink attached.

Several interlocking plastic ‘trays’ which have a grated surface

Several plastic screens that fit inside the trays

one plactic ‘sheet’ - which is solid and would block airflow, which is the same size as the plastic screens

one cover with a ‘panel’ which allows me to adjust just how much air flows out.

Ok now how do I use this thing? How do I adjust the cover, fully open or closed, or somewhere inbetween? Do I use all the trays all the time or just the ones I’m using? What are those plastic screens for? Is the food placed ontop of them or is the screen placed over the screen? What is that single plastic sheet for?

And

What types of foods can I use, what size foods and how long does it take? Can I use raw meats?

2

You use only as many of the trays as you need, and the sheet is for making fruit leather. The screens are for sticky things like sugary fruits that stick to the trays and are hard to get out - they’re flexible, so you can sort of peel off dehydrated pineapples, peaches, pears, etc. They’re also dishwasher safe, which your trays may not be. Finally, they are good for little leafy herby things that fall through the trays.

The “airflow” adjustment is actually a heat adjustor - many dehydrators actually get too hot, and opening that little panel lets excess heat out. How do you know if it’s too hot? Experience and smell. If it smells like yummy cooked food, it’s too hot. Often the lower trays closer to the heating element will get hotter (depite the fan, and despite what the manufacturers claim), so you might want to rotate your trays periodically throughout the drying time to even everything out.

Start with some easy stuff to try it out. Peel, core and slice an apple into 1/4 inch slices. Put the slices on the trays, stack 'em, and plug it in overnight. Check your apples. Are they dry and leathery yet? Then congratulations, you have dried apples! Still got some life in 'em? Give it another couple of hours. The total time anything takes depends on how many trays, how wet it was to start, how thickly it’s sliced, the temperature and fan on your unit and the ambient air humidity.

If you want to try fruit leather, whir up a bunch of pitted cherries in a blender with just enough apple juice to make it a paste. Put the plastic sheet on a tray, and carefully and slowly pour the cherry paste on. Let it dehydrate, peel and enjoy. You can buy more sheets online or at a health food store, but I use parchment paper, cut to fit.

You can grow and dry herbs, like oregano, thyme, marjoram, dill, etc. I’ll admit, I dry excess basil from my garden, though the flavor of dried basil isn’t as good as fresh. Just pick your herbs, rinse them in water if they need it, and lie them in a single layer on the trays. Really wet or fat leaves, like comfrey or mullein, do best if you flip them once or twice during drying.

Homemade beef jerky is a thing of art. There are dozens of recipes online, so I won’t bore you with the details. Homemade beef jerky is to storebought beef jerky as those little foil wrapped Easter “chocolates” to a fine Belgian dark chocolate dipped orange peel.

Just get in there and play with it. Most of what you try will work fine. Some of it won’t. But every dehydrator is different, and you just have to play with yours to see what it’s personality quirks are.

3

Two words.

Beef jerky.

I wing it for mine so I won’t give any recipies. It takes time, but it is the only thing I use it for.

Plenty of recipes on line, just marinate it and do it.

It’s great, and much, much cheaper and better than you can buy (not full of preservatives either).

4

I’ll second the beef jerky recommendation. I’ll add that unless you like “teriyaki” style jerky, steer away from those that use soy sauce as the main salt ingredient and towards those that use spice packets or pure salt. Get flank steak, which is the kind used for making fajitas, and it also relatively cheap. Marinate in your desired recipe, then dehydrate for about twice as long as the recipe tells you, otherwise you’ll get kippered beef instead of true beef jerky and it will mold in two days.

5

Thanks for the jump start WhyNot, now I have a better feel of the thing.

As for jerky, I plan to make a bunch of it, trying many meats. But what about meats that typically have to be fully cooked before eating? Do I have to precook chicken or pork or is dehydration enough to kill any nasties that could make me better friends with Mr. Toilet?

6

For those with a sudden hankering for jerky but no dehydrator, I once made (what I considered) passable jerky in a regular oven on low with the door wedged open with an oven mitt. I’m sure Google can tell you more.

7

Here is a site with a few recipes for dehydrators. I am so jealous. If I had one I’d dehydrate everything in the house. I’d use it every day, I promise. Just like the pasta maker. That’s sitting in the cupboard.

8

My daughter uses her dehydrator to mostly make venison jerky. Sometimes dried fruits, too. Watermelon, just FYI, does not dehydrate well.

9

:stuck_out_tongue: Or the rice cooker that I have sitting on top of the kitchen cabinets and that I haven’t used for 4 years.

10

Now all you need is to gut an octopus!
Octopus jerky!
Yum yum!
Yout neighbor’s cat will become your best friend!

11

If you don’t want to try a marinade for Jerky, try Eastman Outdoors Jerky Spices.

My hubby has been making jerky with it for the past few years and it’s phenomenal!!

Of course, it helps that he is a butcher and gets the best meat for it.

12

This time of year, I like to dry apples.

Around here, local groceries practically give overripe/bruised apples away. (Typically a dollar for a five-pound bag.) Hit the apples with an apple-slicer and cut the segments into bits, discarding any bruised bits, and toss 'em directly into a pot of acidulated water (a few tablespoons of lemon-juice in a quart) so they don’t brown up.

While those are drying, the house smells like heaven. If you do it in the morning, reserve the acidulated water. After you’ve put a couple of pounds of apples through it, it’ll serve as the basis for the world’s best apple & cinnamon oatmeal.

Sometimes when I have excess veggies that I know will wilt before they get used, I dice n’ dry ‘em before they get the chance. Celery, carrots, onions, etc – I have a big ol’ jar I keep 'em together in for use in soups and stuff.

13

I am jealous.

They sell dehydrators here for $200.00

You read that right. $200 gets you a plastic, simple, fan and heating element witha couple of trays dehydrator. I love jerky, but I can’t bring myself to buy one for that amount.

Sigh.

-Tcat

14

I make a fair amount of beef jerky, and prefer to experiment rather than use prepared mixtures. I’ve had some successes, but am anxious to try this web recipe which seems to be very well reviewed.

15

Try Ebay. They have a bunch.

16

Shipping from the USA to Europe would even out the price - they are large and fragile. And then I’d have to pay customs duty on it.

-Tcat

17

“Sun”-dried tomatoes!

Get Romas or some other kind of meaty, plum tomato. Cut them in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. I do these in the oven (well, I used to before I gave up on gardening because of the &$#&@ groundhogs) and roast them until they were leathery but not totally dry, then freeze them.

You can rehydrate them by letting them sit in hot water for 10 minutes or so.

They are a wonderful addition in wintertime to salads, pasta, soup, etc.