Excalibur dehydrator

Also I am making plans to make this dehydator. I saw it on a good DVD I bought "Food Production Systems for Backyard or Small Farms".
On the DVD they made one and said it worked great.

http://homepower.com/article/?file=HP57_pg62_Scanlin

Improving Solar Food Dryers

 

If you are asking about the oven rig, Absolutely. you can cut the pepper in half, seed it and cut it into strips, or into chunks. If you want to do fruit leathers, get a rimmed cookie sheet, line it with a silpat and off you go.

 

dehydrator

I have the 4 drawer Excalibur,was cheaper than the 9 drawer.Just wanted to try one..I dried some banana slices and apples,then some green bell peppers and roma tomatoes,all pretty good ..the tomato taste was highly concentrated,more so than the other items.I've had a couple of the round ones,too,made some jerky in them.The only way I know to use okra that's gotten too big is dry it enough to grind it then try it for thickening soup.Don't use much,you'll make it slimy..I love boiled okra,so I could probably deal with slimy soup..or maybe not.

 

Have only one round fan forced dryer and four regular flow types. Thinking of mounting a computer fan on top pulling the heat through the produce. Just a simple canopy of tinfoil should do to try it out. We will have a drying and canning class at our gathering in Oct near Rockingham. Lots of "classes" for free-stuff that would cost you a bunch at a regular teaching seminar.

 

Another dehydrator to consider is the Nesco Gardenmaster FD-1010. New, they sell for about $110 from Amazon, but you can often find gently used ones on eBay.

No matter what dehydrator you buy, make sure that it has adjustable temperature settings. When drying frozen veggies, I start the batch out at a higher temp, then reduce it after a few hours. Cheap dehydrators just have a single setting - HOT. This will give you brown yucky dried veggies/fruit.

 

Do you just use something like a Foodsaver to vacuum pack them? Do you use jars or a bag? If you put them in a jar, how do you vacuum pack them?

 

www.dehydrate2store.com

very cool site about dehydrating, storing, and different dehydraters

 

Check out Dehydrate2Store's youtube channel ... That lady will make you want a dozen more dehydrators ... Her website is www.dehydrate2store.com

Have fun!!

ETA: I see flavapor beat me to it! LOL

 

We have had the 9 drawer Excalibur for a couple of months now, and have ran peaches, apples, red potatoes, sweet potatoes, and mushrooms. ALL have come out just great. This is just the tip of the iceberg, for we are planning on keeping it going for a long time. We are very pleased with our results.

 

I use the Foodsaver. I bought a Canister that you place the jar with lid inside. It removes the air from the jar for a great seal. No tape needed. You can reseal after you use a portion. They also sell an attachment that goes over the lid in regular & wide mouth. I couldn't find it locally, but did find the 2 canisters for $10 at Bed, Bath & Beyond.

 

Thanks for this link. The article mentioned you can dry food in your car! I live on a dirt road and would love to do solar drying but have dust issues. The car idea is very interesting. Now I just need to figure out which way is the equator.

 

My work gave out $50 gift certificates this year and you had a list of stores to choose from, I chose Cabela’s to get the 9 tray Excaliber dehydrator and we love it.

So far, my only complaint was the dehydrated sliced bananas were hard and tough compared to those banana chips you buy in the store, maybe those are the freeze dried ones or we had it on the wrong setting, I guess I might want to read the directions, but since I’m a guy, I have to learn the hard way, LOL. One comment I saw eluded to cheaper dehydrators having only one setting, hot, so I think we might have had it set too hot.

Just last week, my daughter noticed it had a setting for raising bread, worked great! We been doing homegrown veggies and herbs which seems like the easiest and most fool-proof stuff to dry.

Oh, and that comment about goat, I took it seriously, we just found a local farmer that sells free-range, non-hormone/non-anti-biotic goat meat and I can’t wait to try some goat jerky. After eating goat at an Indian restaurant, that’s been our favorite red meat. I found a few recipes on-line and we make our own Indian style goat stew, it’s just meat simmered in Indian herbs, YUM! Oh, and as a side note, Chicken Tikka Marsala is our second favorite Indian dish that I learned how to cook.


Anyway, I can’t wait to find more things to do with our dehydrator, like another commenter mentioned, if you use it, it could pay for itself pretty quickly by buying in bulk or growing your own and dehydrating for long term storage. As is often said, if you eat what you store and store what you eat and keep rotating your stock, you are wise and prudent if you want to be prepared for long term shortages.

I like to hear the tips and tricks for long term food storage. I like to listen to Mark Koernke’s Morning Intelligence Report on the Microeffect and here are a few tips he gives for food storage. He packs a lot of things in 5 gallon buckets or #10 cans and if you want to keep weevils out, pack in some talcum or rice powder. Pack with extra-dried rice to help control moisture. Pack with some iron pellets and/or inject with nitrogen to remove oxygen. And he mentioned something about packing a bay leaf on the top and bottom for something but I forgot what this did.

 

I love mine. I'm waiting for the electric to come back on so I can dry all my peppermint plants for winter tea. I wish I could thank the person who took the time to plant it here. It's growing everywhere theres any water. I must have 3 bushels ready to pick!
I dry everything I can get my hands on before cold weather. I can fit 15 lbs of hash brown potatoes into a quart jar if I'm careful and stuff. There a group on facebook all about dehydrating. You'll learn everything you ever wanted to know about dehydrating on there.... and Excalibur is their machine of choice!

 

so...just a quick note about dehydrated apples,
after you peel them and slice them, soak them in a brown sugar cinnamon mix in a large bowl for about an hour,
you dont need to add water, just spoon it on top to taste and stir the apples about every ten minutes.
then, when they are all coated, put them on the dehydrator trays and wait.

If your house is anything like mine, they barely make it to the bag, it's like a little stick of apple pie