alternative to Dehydrator??

[Universal]

Peace to everyone,

I have a normal oven in my kitchen, and i was wondering if i can use it in the place of a dehydrator?? I have control over the temperature and i felt like it was essentially the same thing. Has anyone else ever tried this??


PEACE
Universal

[maraw]

I am unable to use my standard oven because the temperature doesn't go below 140 degrees. I do however have a warming oven and I put a thermometer in the drawer to make sure I don't exceed 110. It is nice for "warming" soups and such. I would guess as long as you can keep it under 118 degrees it might work for some things. However, I think one of the benefits to the dehydrator is the fan blowing constant warm air over the food.

Please post any success you have with this. Good question, really.

Best wishes.

[rawpriestess]

you need two things with a dehydrator, warmth and wind.

So you could use your regular oven IF you get make sure the temp is below 115 and you had some wind, like a small fan or some such thing.

I used to put my things on the wood stove, in a raised tray, and keep a thermometer there by it, I could tell instantly how warm it was, and I had a fan behind my wood stove, so that worked great, I also have used a regular funace and put the food in front of the vent, or on a sunny deck.

Before I knew anything about raw food, and I was drying herbs, I simply hung them upside down in the kitchen on a rack and they dried nicely there.

I used to raise breads in my greenhouse, because it was warm, I suppose if you had something like that or a south facing window (of course this depends on where you are located) you could make sure that you items keep warm and then add a small fan,

The fan also keeps bugs and such off of your food, otherwise it could get icky.

So, any place warm and windy should work.

I've even heard of people putting things in their cars, it gets pretty warm in there, just remember, warm and wind, not HOT and still.

Thermometer and fan woudl be good things to have.