Food Dehydrators

[Milims]

I'm contmpatng buying one. And not too expensive recommendations? What are your experiences?

[Green Aura]

Mine's a 9 drawer Excalibur. Secondhand of Fleabay. Splendid piece of kit.

(And apologies - I haven't posted that thing yet - I'll get it sorted early next week. Don't want it sitting around over the weekend.xx)

[Jandra]

Excalibur is top of the bill. I got a Stöckli, which is not quite as good, but certainly effective. Got it for €50 secondhand. I like the fact that it has a thermostat, since keeps the temp constant, independent of how much stuff you have on it. A wonderful thing would be for it to switchoff the heating (but keep on blowing) at a programmable time. That would be an awsome feature. Were I hunting for a dehydrator now I would try and find out if such a feature exists.

[Milims]

(And apologies - I haven't posted that thing yet - I'll get it sorted early next week. Don't want it sitting around over the weekend.xx)

Don't worry GA, I'm that busy back and forward to hospital ATM I haven't time to notice the post! Thank you tho - I am looking forward to it

[littlemissrose]

I am really interested in getting one but I can't miss the money now. Is there anyone drying food without a dehydrator? Any advice or tips would be welcome. I tried my oven but nothing happened, even after 5 hours...

[Green Aura]

If your oven can be function below 50C or you can leave the light on in it, I've read you can use it in a similar way to a dehydrator. I've never tried it though as mine has neither.

I've used a low oven but you have to watch pretty much constantly to make sure your produce doesn't burn.

[Broad Bean]

I have this one - http://www2.westfalia.net/shops/househo ... =_i_QifCxD from Westfalia, it's very good, a bit noisy and not as flash or heavy duty as some of the other ones but a fraction of the price - I think I bought it when it was on offer about 5 years ago. I use it for mushrooms and herbs (a lot) which I dry fully, have also dried strawberries and other fruits for using in baking. Another good one was courgettes, dried them fully then blitzed to powder and use in stocks and soups, great way to preserve the glut ;). I've also dried tomatoes and fruit purees to a sun dried type texture and it's been good for that too.

[Zech]

I am really interested in getting one but I can't miss the money now. Is there anyone drying food without a dehydrator? Any advice or tips would be welcome. I tried my oven but nothing happened, even after 5 hours...

Hm, not sure why your oven isn't working - that's the method I use. I dry thinly sliced mushrooms and fruit purees spread thinly to make fruit leathers. I have an old gas oven with an 'S' setting (for 'slow') and I use that, opening the door every so often to let the damp air out. What have you tried so far? I'd have thought you'd see some difference after five hours.

I also have a drying rack in my conservatory, described here: http://growingthingsandmakingthings.blo ... o-dry.html, which I sometimes use for food as well as fire lighters and flowers. My conservatory has a door each end so I can open both to get a through draft. It's quite good for drying when the weather's reasonably warm.

[JoseyJo]

I'd really like one too, but don't want to spend too much. I like the look of the Andrew James rectangular one (called the "premium" one) which is £40ish. Their round one has a lot of very good reviews, and the rectangular one has fewer reviews but still good. I'd prefer a rectangular shape for fruit leathers. This one can have trays added to it too.
If anyone has experience of it I'd be interested.