Food Dehydrators

Food dehydrators are the most popular way of drying food indoors and are the most convenient to use for the average person. Dehydrators are simply a electrical appliance that has a electrical element , a fan and vents for circulation. All this put together dries your food quickly and efficiently.

Probably the main reason dehydrators are so popular is because you can go to you local store and buy one and put it to use immediately. You can spend a lot of money or a little, the selection if quite large. Expect on spending anywhere from $50-$400 on one, it all depends on what kind of features you get with it. Some expand, some don't. Some dry very quick and some take a long time too dry. Again it all depends on your budget and taste.

Before you go spending your money, you should know what you should be looking for. Here are some of the features you will want:

• Heating elements that are enclosed from the rest of the tray's. That way the grease won't drip down on the elements.
• One that sits on the counter top.
• Double walled construction. You will want high grade plastic or metal. No wood, wood burns.
• Four or more trays that are open mesh. I wouldn't recommend more than 10.
• It has to have a fan.
• Some kind of dial to control the temperature.
• Enclosed thermostat that ranges from 85deg to 160deg
• It needs to have a timer that will turn the dehydrator off automatically. You need this if you are drying something that needs to be turned off in the middle of the night.
• Look for a manufacturer that has good service or make sure you can get it serviced locally.
• At least a one year guarantee.
• And it needs the UL seal of approval.

With all that said, you need to be aware of the different types of dehydrators. You have two basic designs, horizontal and vertical. That just refers to the airflow of the unit. The horizontal units do have some advantages over the vertical units. In the horizontal type the fan and heating elements are located on the side of the unit and that allows for more even drying. A couple more advantages are that the juices can't drip on the element and you can lower the flavor mixture which means that you can dry different foods at the same time.

The vertical units have the fan and element on the bottom, although you are seeing some now with them on top. That means the ones with the element on the bottom can have the juices can drip into the heating element. It also means that your flavors can mix if you try to dry different foods at the same time. One disadvantage these have is that the food items closest to the heating elements will dry much quicker than the furthest away so you have to move the trays around often.

There are also two categories of dehydrators. You have the stackable kind, which take up less room and can put in your kitchen on your counter top, like the Nesco Gardenmaster brand, and you have the rigid kind that only have removable shelves, like the Excalibur brand. Either way you go you can dry most foods but the rigid food dehydrators will do more than the stackable kind. Some of the larger rigid models will leaven bread and dry bulkier items.

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