Raw Flax Seed Crackers/Sundried Tomatoes

[leodenn]

I just made my first two raw dehydrated items Flax Seed Crackers and Sundried Tomatoes.

My question is that I used the recipe from Alissa Book and started my crackers yesterday at 11:00pm and they are still in the dehydrator now at 8:45pm when I went to flip them over around 6:00pm this evening they were still damp in some spots. In her recipes she says to flip at 8-10 hours. Needless to say, I wasn't able to flip them. It looks like they're going to take at least 30 hours before their ready.

Also I made sundried tomatoes and had the same issue. I started them at 7:00pm in the evening and didn' take them out to close to 11:00pm the next evening. Every recipe I've seen for both of these state that it takes anywhere from 10-16 hours.

Can someone shed some light on this. Thanks

[spicyfull]

I think they should be flippable by now. I Never let mine completly dry. I cut them, seperate and let them finish by air drying. I dry thing outside in the sunshine. Yes I do have a Dehydrator. But I perfer to use My Grandmothers Dehydrator, the Sun, whenever possible. Also maybe the temperature is Not high enough. Sometimes you can start on High and then lower the Temp.

[Ilse W.]

When I make anything on the teflex sheets that has to be flipped, I dry it for 8 hours or so and then put another tray on top, invert the whole thing and pull the teflex sheet off the top. It's very easy that way, and it doesn't matter how damp it still is, as long as it isn't still runny. I had the same drying time problem at first, but then I read the instructions for my excalibur, which talks about dehydrating for raw diets and the fact, that the stuff you are drying does not get as hot as the air inside the dehydrator, and that the setting for drying can, therefore, be a bit higher. I now dry my tomatoes and such on 115 to 120 degrees instead of 105. Works much better.