When I spotted a sale on a 5 tray food dehydrator, I couldn't not buy one. I've been wanting one for a while now and just couldn't justify shelling out the $50+! But patience paid off, because I was able to score this Salton food dehydrator for less than $20, I was thrilled. (!!!)
I like that it's got a temperature control dial, so I can adjust the heat as needed.
Rich and I were pretty excited. We gathered a bunch of fruit from the fridge and sliced away!
Everything was put in the machine plain, except for the bananas. I dipped those in a lemon/water bath to prevent them from turning brown. I could have done that to the apples, but I got lazy.
With the heat at 135F as directed in the booklet that it came with, we left it on over night.
about 10 hours later, most of the fruit was dried! Everything but the grapes (which we pierced) and the raspberries.
Yummy! My favourites were the bananas, mangoes and apples. I found the strawberries to be on the tart side and the pears to be a little grainy (which I'm thinking is more of a type of pear kind of issue).
The bananas came out chewy and fruit leather-y! They were super flavourful and since they were dehydrated, it didn't feel like I was eating two whole bananas in a mere 5 minutes. I deliberately avoided the use of super ripe ones, due to the fact that they have far too much sugar. The ones we used were perfect! The mangoes were excellent as well. Pliable and full of flavour. Normally we buy the dried packaged variety, which are sugared (and probably full of preservatives). It's nice to have something a little more natural and healthy. I've been hoarding organic bananas, just so I can dehydrate five full trays and pig out.
I'm super excited to make different kinds of jerky in the near future! Beef, salmon and maybe even chicken or tuna for Tank. :D
P.S. I have photos of the grapes (now raisins), I'll show you later!
