Drying produce

[DeborahS]

I am interested in maybe buying a dehydrator for especially tomatoes and fruit. Does anyone have experience of using one? Any suggestions about a particular make or seller? Whether it works well as a preserving method?

[ashleigh]

my friends have one and i’m very impressed with their results. their tomatoes are delicious, as well as peppers, courgettes and all sorts of things. they also dehydrate things that are on sale in bulk in the shops. the dried end product has a really intense flavour, great for snacking, or putting in soups etc. i imagine it preserves a lot of the nutrients etc, at least for a while. i don’t know what make they have though.

[charles]

 Yes I like my dryer, it is Excalibur with nine shelves, see http://www.drying123.com.

The fan makes a racket but electricity use is fair, about 60W/hour. Once dry, the food keeps a long time and tastes lovely.

[bluebell]

I don’t know if you have tried it but since I only rarely use dehydration I use a fan oven on without heat or with the lowest possible heat setting and the door slightly ajar. I have had good results with apples, carrots, fruit leathers etc. Probably more expensive to run but if you are not going to use it a lot or just wanted to try it would save a significant investment.

[DeborahS]

Hi thanks for these replies. I have tried using the oven, with variable results. I’d like to try drying quite a bit more fruit, so I’ll have a look around the internet for what’s available and prices.

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