afraid of my dehydrator!

[catherinethegreat]

:D Seriously - I bought one for $25 at Target and I am afriad to use it.

It doesn't tell me how hot it gets and I'm afraid that I won't be able to control the temp.

Also - It doesn't have any teflex or whatever those sheets are called....so how can I make dehydrated pizza crust if all there is - are open slotted trays?

Do you think I should return it and just buy the more expensive ones - or can this be used????

Thanks

Catherine

[Rawkinlocs]

Personally, I'd take it back. Now, you don't necessarily have to get the expensive model, but for a little less than $20 more, you can get the one I and many others here own, the American Harvest Snackmaster which is still a round model, but the fan/motor is in the top, it comes with 2 fruit roll trays (their equivalent to teflex sheets) and it has temp. control ranging from 95 to 155 degrees. Target may not have it, but I know Walmart has it ($39.96 on Walmart.com) and you can get more trays, more fruit roll trays and other accessories for it later on from http://nesco.com

But it really is a good idea to have that temp. control if you're doing raw!

[catherinethegreat]

thank you - I suspected as much but wanted to get the skinny! ( pun intended )

I'll take it back!

*c

[misslinda]

that's where I jacked up--mine doesn't have a temp control---a NEsCO snackmaster dehydrator. :eek:

[askcassyfirst]

If cost is an issue, and you want to just try and use what you have, you can buy a cheap food thermometer and put it in to judge the temp. I heard this suggestion from someone who built their own dehydrator, and they said it worked just fine. Heat is the biggest issue with the less expensive models. THey also take longer time to dry things, since most don't have a fan.

I have an inherited RONCO dehydrator, it has no fan or thermometer, but it has a huge stack of trays, so I just put the stuff higher up, away from the heating unit. I have also done sun drying of stuff, back when I was living in the Caribbean. I just put out a pan in the sun, with screen over the top. It would make flat bread in half a day. Hot yes, but not quite the same as sun baking since I didn't use a reflector.

If you can get a better one, then I would say go for it. Personally, I don't use my dehydrator much, so that is the only reason why I didn't get the excalibur I dream of. Probably will at some point. But not yet, so I make due.

If you don't have the teflex sheets, you can use parchment paper from the health food store. I do that alot, just lay it out and cut to size. I do have one teflex sheet that I use to make fruit leather. It stops the spills.

Good luck.

Cassy. :p

[Autumn]

Rawkinlocs,

Is this the one you are referring to?

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=1120727

[tracyinfo]

You can use parchment paper in place of teflex sheets. It works great.

--Tracy

[Rawkinlocs]

Rawkinlocs,

Is this the one you are referring to?

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=1120727

Yep, you got it! ;)

[heatkins]

Does Parchment paper have wax? The wax won't melt will it?

[SedonaSun]

I have also done sun drying of stuff, back when I was living in the Caribbean. I just put out a pan in the sun, with screen over the top. It would make flat bread in half a day. Hot yes, but not quite the same as sun baking since I didn't use a reflector.


I was wondering about sun-drying the other day, considering I'm in Tucson where it's over 90 for, what 5 months and over 100 for about 3 months. I just wouldn't want critters or dust in my food--not that I'd really know if they were in small amounts.