Food dehydrator

[mizzou]

I am going to expand my garden quite a bit next spring. Any thoughts on a food dehydrator? I'd really like
to keep the harvest in some way and I'm not keen on canning.

 

[NetWareHead]

I have one and while useful, it is not the preferred method for every item in the garden. Its great for drying spices and if you want to make specialty items like dried fruit or even dry fruit juice for a fruit roll-up type snack. You can make jerky too with it.

What do you want to make or dehydrate?

 

[mizzou]

spice drying really has my intrigued. I can't stand buying herbs in the grocery store, they are so expensive. I had some plants this year like basil and mint, but those were ravaged by animals this year. Also, a lot went to waste because I didn't exactly need mint every day

 

[NetWareHead]

If your focus is spice drying, this will work perfectly for you. We use it mainly in the fall or late summer, otherwise it sits dormant throughout the year. Perfect for making trail mix or snacks when you have alot of fruit to dry. Every fall, I cut all of the spice plants (sage, mint, oregano, basil, parsley etc... and dry them over the course of the next few days. We even have a catnip bush and I dry entire branches to make catnip for our felines.

 

[EliteRetard]

Definitely don't cheap out, if you want to dehydrate plants/herbs (and lots of them) you need a pretty decent unit with good temp control. If you overheat plants they can loose flavor and nutrients.

Depending on how much you have to dehydrate, you may even want to get 2 units so you can run them at different temps for different stuff and not have to wait around.

 

[natto fire]

It largely depends on your local climate. I lived on a farm where we turned an old truck cab into a dehydrator. The relative humidity was always low, and sunshine was plentiful. Improvised a method with the front wheels to keep the windshield exposed to southern sun through the winter.

I think a resistive heating element in a plastic dome is the more common way to do it. This takes care of humidity problems, but results in uneven drying, in my experience.

 

[Blain]

Dehydrating is fine for some of your produce, freezing is another method of preservation.
But if you're serious about storing some groceries, you need to delve into canning.
Once you experience and understand the basics, canning will add valuable tool to your plan.
Embrace it, people have for hundreds of years.

 

[Kaido]

I started out with one of the cheap round dehydrators & upgraded to a 9-tray Excalibur with a clear door:

https://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/

You can do jerky, fruit rollups (one of the reasons I got the Exalibur was because it had flat sheets for rollups, instead of round trays with a giant hole in the middle), dried fruit, etc. I keep it on top of my deep freezer in the basement & try to keep it running all the time, so there's always something in there. Has a built-in timer & variable temperature settings. I use it in conjunction with a Krups coffee grinder: ($20 - not a coffee guy, but I use it for dried spices & stuff)

https://www.amazon.com/KRUPS-Electric-Grinder-Stainless-3-Ounce/dp/B00004SPEU/

You may also want to look into pressure canning, which lets you food last for a year or more. If you really want to go bananas with preserving, they now sell residential freezer-dryers starting at $2,600:

https://harvestright.com/

Typical cost is $30-$50k for a commercial machine, so while the home versions are crazy expensive, you can make food last basically forever & do virtually any type of food in it, which is pretty cool. Don't have one yet myself, but it's on my kitchen bucket list, haha!

 

[mindless1]

Definitely don't cheap out, if you want to dehydrate plants/herbs (and lots of them) you need a pretty decent unit with good temp control. If you overheat plants they can loose flavor and nutrients.

Depending on how much you have to dehydrate, you may even want to get 2 units so you can run them at different temps for different stuff and not have to wait around.

Most over ~ $40 have an adjustable thermostat and will do fine for herbs if set near their lowest temp setting. If you want you can get a digital thermometer for $3 and monitor it till you're sure the temp is right.

 

[Kaido]

Most over ~ $40 have an adjustable thermostat and will do fine for herbs if set near their lowest temp setting. If you want you can get a digital thermometer for $3 and monitor it till you're sure the temp is right.

They also sell wall-wart timers so you can add auto-shutoff capabilities. That's what I used with my old el-cheapo Nesco.

 

[EliteRetard]

Wonder how dehydrated this necro is...

 

[Kaido]

Wonder how dehydrated this necro is...

Only a few months! (from the last post)

 

[EliteRetard]

Only a few months! (from the last post)

But this thread is so 2016...

 

[Kaido]

But this thread is so 2016...

Just reconstituting the thread from dehydration

 

[EliteRetard]

Just reconstituting the thread from dehydration

I've got a can of dehydrated water to sell you. It's great for camping and such, much lighter and smaller to pack...just add water.

 

[paperfist]

I've got a can of dehydrated water to sell you. It's great for camping and such, much lighter and smaller to pack...just add water.

lol

I got one for Christmas, still sitting in the box.

 

[EliteRetard]

lol

I got one for Christmas, still sitting in the box.

There's also this:
https://www.amazon.com/Cub-JA0027-Gift-of-Nothing/dp/B019HDSCPU

Though this one is even more of a mystery.
It claims to be nothing, but it clearly is something...even if it was, isn't nothing something?

 

[Kaido]

There's also this:
https://www.amazon.com/Cub-JA0027-Gift-of-Nothing/dp/B019HDSCPU

Though this one is even more of a mystery.
It claims to be nothing, but it clearly is something...even if it was, isn't nothing something?

 

[EliteRetard]

*snip*

That must be why the one I linked is sealed in a bubble.

 

[WelshBloke]

If your focus is spice drying, this will work perfectly for you. We use it mainly in the fall or late summer, otherwise it sits dormant throughout the year. Perfect for making trail mix or snacks when you have alot of fruit to dry. Every fall, I cut all of the spice plants (sage, mint, oregano, basil, parsley etc... and dry them over the course of the next few days. We even have a catnip bush and I dry entire branches to make catnip for our felines.

Dried soft herbs make baby Jesus cry. Please don't do it!

 

[EliteRetard]

Dried soft herbs make baby Jesus cry. Please don't do it!

Whatchoo talkin bout willis? Those store bought things in a jar that actually use colored paper as filler (seriously)?

A properly dried herb can retain plenty of flavor/nutrients.

 

[NetWareHead]

Dried soft herbs make baby Jesus cry. Please don't do it!

I typically use fresh herbs when they are plentiful in the garden. But when the frost approaches, I gather and dry it. Keeps me from buying the dried stuff at the store

Imo oregano is better when dried. Basil is sad when dried. Even though rosemary retains alot of flavor when dried, I like it fresh.

 

[paperfist]

There's also this:
https://www.amazon.com/Cub-JA0027-Gift-of-Nothing/dp/B019HDSCPU

Though this one is even more of a mystery.
It claims to be nothing, but it clearly is something...even if it was, isn't nothing something?

Lol I can't wait to send that to my snotty nephews for Christmas.

 

[WelshBloke]

Whatchoo talkin bout willis? Those store bought things in a jar that actually use colored paper as filler (seriously)?

A properly dried herb can retain plenty of flavor/nutrients.

Dried basil is a crime against horticulture.

 

[EliteRetard]

Dried basil is a crime against horticulture.

I'll concede, some herbs are not good dried...but your initial statement was basically "all dried herbs are horrific".
That's like saying all pizza is horrible, because you don't like cheap factory mozzarella.