Food dehydrators?

[lissomllama]

I want to get an inexpensive food dehydrator to use to make 'pizza' crusts and crackers, chips, fruit leather etc. but I don't know what kind to get. Does anyone have any advice for me on this? I was also wondering if dehydrating damages the enzymes or cooks the food enough to make it -not raw-. Is dehydrated food still considered raw? I was also wondering about freezing food, Does that interfere with raw? I've never really made raw things before except for some 'fudge' once and that just took a food processor. I mostly just eat pieces of fruit and veggies in their straight form but I get these cravings for cooked foods and their textures and tastes so if I can make the raw equivilent of them then It will be easier to go from 90% to 100%.

[sugaraddict]

I'm curious about this too. I just purchased the book and am ready to start. Unfortunatly I cannot afford a very expensive dehydrator so I am wondering if the less expensive ones work as well.

[lissomllama]

It looks like some have fans and others don't and there is a difference in how much heat is used as well. I'm trying to find one that uses little to no heat. How confusing.

[janicejourney]

I just bought (an Excalibur) one for $104 plus $11 for two teflex sheets and no shipping costs at http://www.2-life.com/site/exform.htm. hth :)

[levamssg]

The best dehydrators have a fan that distributes air equally to all trays ...so a fan located in the back is ideal.

The dehydrator MUST have a temperature control.
A timer is nice in case you aren't around so you can time items.

Several folks on this board have a model purchased from Walmart- relatively inexpensive that works well for them. I'm sure someone will chime in with the information.

The very best brand you can get is Excalibur.

hope this helps a bit

[beelzebubble]

this is the one i have, although a newer model. and i also bought mine at bed, bath, and beyond.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?dest=9999999997&product_id=1120727&sourceid=1500000000000002028810

it works okay. it has temp control which is essential for raw food dehydrating. it is capable of doing most things.

my gripes with it are this...i can't do anything tall because there is a limited height (you can't just remove trays the way you can with the excalibur). i can't do solid sheets, everything is round with a whole in the middle. it's difficult to make things like large pizzas or anything that requires a full sheet.

if i had to do it again, i'd buy the excalibur. but, this one will do for now.

hope this helps,
bubble

[lissomllama]

Thanks so much for the input, I'm not in a position to pay alot for one so the excalibur is out right now (looks fabulous though). I'm actually looking at the Ronco food dehydrator but I'm not sure if it has a temp control, I'll find one that does if this one doesn't It does say that it has a fan though so that's good. Does dehydration ruin any nutrients and is it considered cooking?