I was the highest bidder!

[pamojamo]

Just won the bidding contest on Ebay for an American Harvest dehydrator. I am so excited! I'm getting for under $34 and that includes shipping! I'm going to practice dehydrating wth the A.H. while I save for an Excalibur. Stay tuned!

[Spectatrix]

That's great! I just got an American Harvest Snackmaster Express a few days ago and have been playing with it. I made potato and kale chips overnight last night and am going to try sweet potato chips and flax crackers today. :)

[Jordann]

** I've just been searching and reading old posts about this, which is great, I'm getting a better idea of it. I'd still love any thoughts about what can be used insted of the teflex type sheets that go in the trays...

I just got an American Harvest Snackmaster® Entr'ee Food Dehydrator... it doesn't have a temperature gauge or anything, just the on/off switch.

Does anyone have experience with this model? I'm wondering if it will get too hot, like over 110 or 115 degrees..

And the other thing is the trays. I couldn't put anything liquidy in here because it would drip through the slots...

I got this from a guy locally who hadn't used it, it's like new and I got a deal. But I wanted to make crackers and stuff.

Could I put the blended batter on like parchment paper and after a few hours peel it off and put it directly on the racks??

Any ideas??

Thanks! I can't wait to start dehydrating. This is my first one, and I've never done it before - but I'm super excited! I guess I"ll start with banana fingers because they won't slip in the cracks :p

[mrsalf97]

In Alissa's book she says you can use saran wrap, but it's not as easy to handle as teflex.

[Rawkinlocs]

Jordann, I use unbleached parchment paper in the Excalibur, but for my Am. Harvest Snackmaster, I ordered the 'fruit roll trays' from www.everythingkitchens.com (you can also go to www.nesco.com)

But my biggest concern for you is that the temp of that model will get too high. Maybe get a candy thermoter or something to check the temp. The Am. Harvest model I own has a temp. control that starts at 95 degrees.

If the one you have does get too hot, the Snackmaster that I have is sold at Walmart or Walmart.com for under $50!

[Jordann]

Hmmm, yes I'm concerned about the tempertaure too. I just started some banana fingers and slices in there, and after an hour I checked and it seemed really hot inside.

I was going to put the oven thermometer inside, but alas, it is packed! (I'm moving at the end of the month) Maybe I'll get another little cheapie today...

If it IS too hot, is there anything to be done, or should I just get a new one? It would get old fast to turn it off every hour for 10 minutes or something to cool down :rolleyes:

I'm going to try parchment paper and see what happens, although only under a watchful eye considering the heat this thing is pumping!

And saran wrap, that's a good one too... thanks for the tidbit :)

Thanks for the thoughts... I might just have to shell out for a different one. :(

[Sheryl]

You can download the 54 page brochure for this dehydrator from the company at:
http://americanharvest.com/manuals/Food_Dehydrator.pdf

We have a similar dehydrator in Australia, and while the mid (3 temperature settings) and high level of it (full temperature control) can be temperature adjusted to be used in a raw kitchen the low level one can not (the single setting is too hot). You may need to upgrade!!

Cheers,
Sheryl