Food Dehydrator

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Lantzbug
Lantzbug Posts: 58
in Food and Nutrition
Does anyone have one? What do you put in it? I wanted to try kale chips, but I also want to dry some fruit and make jerky. Can I do this all at the same time? What's your favorite things to make?

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  • MsLilly200
    MsLilly200 Posts: 192 Member
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    I have one.
    But the only things edible I've made with it are dried apples and pineapple.
    The apples turned out awesome and I still have some left in a jar that still hasn't gone bad since august last year. The pineapples were not as good, but then again they came from a can.
    I also experimented a little and put in ham which was a baad idea. Either ham is bad for that or I did it in an extremely wrong way.
  • Lantzbug
    Lantzbug Posts: 58
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    I think bananas would be pretty good. I'm trying to justify spending the money on one. :glasses:
  • MsLilly200
    MsLilly200 Posts: 192 Member
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    You can always try making things in the oven to try them out first if your oven can stay at a low setting. It's a lot of money wasted if you find out you don't like dried fruit or vegetables or whatever after buying the dehydrator, but it's a lot of money saved on electricity if you love dried whatever and make it in a dehydrator in stead of the oven.

    I made dried apples once before getting the dehydrator and loved it so much I got one when I found it cheap.

    There are tons of recipes online for oven dried things if you just want to see if you like the taste, and there's lots of recipes for a dehydrator.
  • _kannnd
    _kannnd Posts: 247 Member
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    I love mine! I go to an Asian market for fresh hot peppers. I dry them out in the dehydrator. I've also done several herbs. I've made sweet potato chips. They were good, but next time I need to change up the seasoning. The best thing I made in it was beef jerky. It's fun to play around with.
  • Lantzbug
    Lantzbug Posts: 58
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    sweet potato chips sound really good. I never thought about trying it out in the oven first.
  • alifer
    alifer Posts: 387 Member
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    I've dried apples, pineapples, peaches, pears, bananas, raspberries, cherries and apricots. I use canned fruit for all of them, except the apples and bananas. The apple I core, peel and slice and dip in fruit fresh. My family always likes when I dry fruit, but it never lasts long in my house. I have also made fruit roll-ups using applesauce or applesauce mixed with other fruits.
  • Kristinemomof3
    Kristinemomof3 Posts: 636 Member
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    I have an excalibur and dehydrate all kinds of stuff from our garden and for our kids. I love dehydrated mushrooms, but they stink the whole house up when drying! I do fruit leather and LOVE apples, pears, bananas. Bananas are not like the ones you buy (because those are fried) bananas are usually a little chewy. I wish I could find a whole case on clearance, used to be you could get a case for about $2, but I haven't seen any in a while. The possibilities are endless!
  • Lantzbug
    Lantzbug Posts: 58
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    My nephew told me to try kale chips, so I bought some to try. I've never eaten kale before. You all are getting me excited about fruit. Looks like a dehydrator is in my future!
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    I have a huge one we hardly ever use. It's time consuming to cut up all the stuff and get it laid out, some things want to stick to the trays (hour spent peeling banana chips off) and then you have to remember how many calories are in all those fruits and jerky. You're only removing the water, all the sugars remain. I can easily eat a basket of apricots if they're dried!
  • Narla444
    Narla444 Posts: 41 Member
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    I love my dehydrator! I don't really like the dried bananas, but my husband loves them. I like the apple slices covered in cinnamon, I dip them in lemon juice and water to prevent browning. I give the screens a quick rub with oil to help prevent sticking. Strawberries were delicious, but time consuming to chop up. We also make a lot of beef jerky.

    I use the dehydrator for either meat or fruit, not together. I use different temperature settings, and the meat takes 1/2 the time as the bananas. This year I'm going to dry more of the herbs and peppers from my garden.
  • mbreed75
    mbreed75 Posts: 125 Member
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    I bought one recently. I made jerky from left over carne asada i marinated. I also dried strawberries, blueberries and mango. All came out good.

    Don't stack the meat tray above the fruit. It will drip.
  • mojd80
    mojd80 Posts: 8 Member
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    I've done banana's, apples, and venison jerky. Love them all. Like someone else said look online for recipes, tons out there.
  • CoraGregoryCPA
    CoraGregoryCPA Posts: 1,087 Member
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    I just got a food dehydrator yesterday. I started dehydrating today. It's not going so well. It's been 12 hours and I don't know if it is done or not. It's chewy.. did I mess up?

    I put pineapple, banana, beets, oranges, strawberries, blueberries, peaches.. and Now I've got chewy crap.
  • CoraGregoryCPA
    CoraGregoryCPA Posts: 1,087 Member
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    and apples too!

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