What exactly is a food dehydrator? Although these machines have been around for ages, not a lot of people are very familiar with them.
In a nutshell, dehydrators are small home appliances designed to dry fresh food easily.
These machines come in different sizes and shapes.
They are used for drying meats, fruits or vegetables.
They are also adequate for drying herbs which allows owners to save compared to buying them from the grocery.
The two most popular shapes for a food dehydrator are circular and rectangular.
While circular machines have a more appeal, the rectangular ones are actually more practical.
For instance, rectangular dehydrators are easier to store as they maximized all sides of a cabinet or cupboard.
It's also easier to arrange foods for drying in a rectangular tray as you don't have to deal with bends.
Depending on the kind of food that you want to dry, drying may take a couple of hours or even days.
For instance, an apple cut into ¼" slices and dried at 135 F takes around 7 to 15 hours.
Watermelon, on the other hand, only takes 8 - 10 hours.
Food dehydrators work by blowing warm air throughout the machine.
Depending on the design, it could either blow air from the bottom up or from one side to the other.
If you're going to dry different kinds of food, it would be best to choose the latter.
When a dehydrator blows air horizontally, there are fewer chances for the tastes from the different food mixing together.
There are a lot of advantages in dehydrating food.
Health-wise, dehydrated foods don't contain the chemicals that canned foods do.
It's also a lot cheaper drying foods at home than buying preserved foods from the store.
If it's your first time to dry foods, there's no need to worry.
There are a lot of sites dedicated to food dehydration which provides recipes and guides on the correct drying hours as well as machine-cleaning, etc.
If you don't have a food dehydrator yet, but are planning to buy one, it's just smart to do a research online as the first step.
Food dehydrators are created differently to cater to different needs.
Find out what your needs are in order for you to find the best food dehydrator for you.
Read forums and reviews and ask family and friends on the brand or model that they recommend.
Of course, always look for dehydrators that come with a warranty.
They may cost a bit more, but at least you're assured that your machine would be replaced or repaired for free should anything happen to it.