dehydrators

[bellybuddha]

I'm really interested in eating raw foods once or twice a week and wanted to invest in a dehydrator that is compact enough for a tiny kitchen. I've heard and read that the excaliber is probably one of the best ones. Has anyone got one and how did you find the quality of the dehydrated foods? and is it energy efficient?

[fiamma]

If you're only thinking of eating raw once or twice a week then I wouldn't rush into buying one; often dehydrated raw foods need quite a bit of prep (sprouting, blending to a paste, spreading on the trays), although that's not always the case. If iwere you I'd explore all the other options raw food has to offer first.

I have a 3-tray Stoeckli and it works well, I'd probably recommed it, But I don't use it much, TBH.

[Ms_Derious]

I have this
http://www2.westfalia.net/shops/hous...dehydrator.htm

Cost £26.99

It has no thermostat and gets pretty warm, but I've never measured it. I doubt it gets of 60C though, which is the point enzymes denature at.

It runs at 220W, compared the the excaliber at 440W, but since it doesn't have a thermostat thats a constant drain.

It works well for me as I don't have central heating and in the winter it's quite nice to run it overnight and have it keep the kitchen a bit warmer

Since I found that the raw diet didn't stick for me I'm glad that I spent less than £30 on it rather then buying something more expensive to gather dust. It's great for making crackers ect, but not really big enough to do larger dishes in.

[Hemlock]

I'm completely raw now and I'm afraid I can't be bothered with all that, it sounds like a lot of extra work for a few crackers.
We'd use the freezer more to be honest. Frozen banana 'icecream' and dividing a glut of spinach into smoothie portions.
Not to mention the food processor for dips and the like.

[Kitteh]

I have to admit to not using my dehydrator very much. It wasn't too expensive, it's a Fowlers Vacola round one and it works well but it has a big hole in the middle so I can't make raw wraps.

[missbettie]

^ mine too!! I hate the round dehydrators! they are so irratating...i don't use mine very often at all.

[Kitteh]

We should trade them in! But the Excalibur ones are so expensive in comparison!

[bellybuddha]

Thanks for your replies. I think I might have a harder think about getting one just yet then. I liked the idea of having dehydrated tomatoes and mushrooms. Things like that, but maybe it's just too much of a novelty for now.

[RumpusParable]

I have an Excalibur one and use it often to make dried squash and apple strips for carry-able snacks. I hate the texture of store-bought dried fruits, so I really have to make my own if I want such and using the oven was annoying.

I hope to use it for other things like actual recipes, but so far all the ones I've seen are way tooo involved (sprouting this and that first and such... I can't grow anything, terrible black thumb, nothing sprouts for me).

[Hemlock]

I have an Excalibur one and use it often to make dried squash and apple strips for carry-able snacks. I hate the texture of store-bought dried fruits, so I really have to make my own if I want such and using the oven was annoying.

I hope to use it for other things like actual recipes, but so far all the ones I've seen are way tooo involved (sprouting this and that first and such... I can't grow anything, terrible black thumb, nothing sprouts for me).

Likewise, my sprouts are struggling I went and bought two packets this morning. Saw a little book on eating sprouts in Sussex Stationers and to my disapointment it was all about brussel sprouts

[bellybuddha]

Likewise, my sprouts are struggling I went and bought two packets this morning. Saw a little book on eating sprouts in Sussex Stationers and to my disapointment it was all about brussel sprouts

ain't nothing wrong with brussels sprouts. Yum
The raw recipie book I have seems to make use of a dehydrator a lot but I haven't used it yet. The book that is. So not sure whether to get one or not now. Pros and cons please?

[Hemlock]

I like the idea of a dehydrator. We live in the cold lands and fruit and other produce doesn't grow all year seasonally so I suppose it would make sense to preserve some of the summer bounty by drying it and storing it.

I lived in the tropics for a long time and there we had a banana and mango tree in the back garden and could help ourselves all year round more or less.

However.....surely it would be bettr to get used to the raw food diet first then think aout how it could be improved with a dehydrator?

[KellyTN]

Ah, I found where I needed to be posting this all along! I have been posting my question about dehydrators all over the place and getting no response! I THINK I may have done enough research now though but would love to hear from anymore that has tried different ones that may have likes and dislikes about them. I plan on using one quite often as we are not only 90% raw but vegan. We are also gluten free, yeast free and sugar free. I want mine for mostly making the wafer like bread, crakers, chips and such. I still plan on using it for dehydrating snacks and fruit rolls and such. I want a square one without a doubt. One that the trays do not stack but they pull out the front seem much easier. I DO NOT want to have to rotate the trays at all. The Excaliber seems super nice but dang dehydraters have gone up in price over the years! I was really hoping to keep my budget at $100. Anywho, any info anyone have to offer?? Thanks a bunch!!

Kelly in TN

[burl]

As I said in the other dehydrator post you can make one for US$10. I wrote a pretty long response on the other thread if you haven't checked that out already.

[JC]

I have this
http://www2.westfalia.net/shops/hous...dehydrator.htm

Cost £26.99

It has no thermostat and gets pretty warm, but I've never measured it. I doubt it gets of 60C though, which is the point enzymes denature at.

It runs at 220W, compared the the excaliber at 440W, but since it doesn't have a thermostat thats a constant drain.

It works well for me as I don't have central heating and in the winter it's quite nice to run it overnight and have it keep the kitchen a bit warmer

Since I found that the raw diet didn't stick for me I'm glad that I spent less than £30 on it rather then buying something more expensive to gather dust. It's great for making crackers ect, but not really big enough to do larger dishes in.

Ms Derious, i'm thinking of getting that dehydrator - would you recommend it? I don't have a very big budget, and i'm not that fussy, i only really want it to make dried fruit, raw cereal and the odd batch of cookies or crackers. Would you say it works well enough to do those? And how is it space-wise? As it's quite an energy drain, ideally i'll be doing as much as possible each time i use it.

[Ms_Derious]

Its not great, to be honest, but I've made a few crackers and so on in it, and they were fine.

Because it's got a big hole right through the middle, you can't really do wraps, but 'breads' crackers and dried fruit is fine. I've also made yummy fruit leathers.

Space wise it's a bit bulky to store, but you have enough trays to dry a reasonable amount in one go.

If you are in the sort of Milton Keynes/Aylesbury/Thame/Oxford area I'll happily loan you mine for a little bit to see if you get on with it.

[JC]

Thank you for the offer, however unfortunately i'm in the midlands. But no problem, i think i'll be getting it anyway. It seems to me to be the best one in its price range. And i really don't want to splash out on an Excalibur just yet, until i can prove to myself that i'm actually going to use it (often)! Thanks for the advice MsD

P.s. How would you go about making fruit leathers? Sounds interesting...

[Hetfield]

Hi People,

Just a small point to add for anyone interested. I have an excalibur, which was a huge investment and I don't use it much at the moment because it is quite loud and our flat is small with the kitchen very close to the bedroom (i like to run the dehydrator overnight). We are moving into a house soon so hope to use it a bit more.

Hetfield