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omshanti
Raw Newbie
I know this has been done to death, question on wattage though…i am buying a new dehydrator as my old, plastic, circular one is not cutting it for what was a personal experiment with raw. All my friends are scarfing my creations!!! The one i have now( see above for description) i have to run for days on end, if i had a more powerful one with a timer and temp control, my thought is i would use less energy….If i ran a bigger one at the rate i run this one now, it would add 30 bucks to my electric bill! so i was thinking of a more expensive model( small appliance sized)that could be programed to shut off….anyone have experience with this? i have located some models on the web, one by cabellas(that is pretty but 1600 watts!) and several others that are stainless steel….this could turn into a kitchen business at the rate im going sooo the excaliber large model is on the list for lower watage but ive read its not so temp spacific…any other favorite larger models out there?
Comments
I don’t have any experience with the brands you listed. But I have a 4 tray excaliber. In Gabriel cousin’s book he recomends started to dehydrate items at 145 degrees for first hour or two, because the moisture in the items keeps the temp well below 105 in that time, and then bump down to 115. This was a huge time saver for me. Usually things take aroun 12-16 hours max for me for crackers, less for softer items. How much do some of those omdels cost?
I have the 5 tray Excalibur and it works great, but it does use quite a lot of electric! If you’re only dehydrating for 1 or 2 people, I’d stay away from the 9 tray unless you want your electric bill to skyrocket. But if you’re ‘cooking’ for a bunch of friends, you might want to get the 9-tray one. Maybe you already do this, but the trick (if you can call it that) is to run the dehydrator when it’s full so it runs for the least possible # hours giving you the maximum amount of food. It’s hard to make 9 recipes all at once though!
thanks guys, my trays are always full due to friendly “orders”! teehee I bought the cabellas 80 smaller version. it was on sale and that bumped the price down to $250 from 300 soooo im not one to pass up a sale. big grin! it was comprable energy wise to the excalibur and more kitchen appliance looking (for the sake of appearances) plus i dig the glass door, what a concept! interesting about dehydrating on a higher setting first, i worry about damaging the nutrients. to try this do i stick a thermometer in the food to monitor internal temp? thanks for the help ps those friends pay for their snacks, so i figure in the cost of electricity as well as ingredients!;)
someone remarked on a recipe about the 145 temp too, they had done some research and said the food temp stays low so not harming the enzymes in that first hour. They remarked it is the sam concept as a turkey cooking ina 400 degree oven for hours and still only reaching an internal temp of 165. But if anyone else has some insight I would love to know more to.