Dehydrator woes...

[phedre]

I got a dehydrator for Christmas and I have not had any luck with it yet. I need some advice, please! :)

1. I've tried to dehydrate bananas several times now. I have the temp set around 100 and I've left them in there for over 24 hours and they come out looking dry on the outside but they taste moist and slimy on the inside. It's unpleasant! Do I just need to dry them longer? How long does it usually take you? It doesn't seem like this should be so tricky, lol :)

2. I made a fruit leather with apples and strawberries. It tastes awesome! It will not come up off of the stupid plastic tray for anything. Is there a trick there I'm missing? In my dehydrator cook book it says to spray it with Pam or something first but I don't think that sounds exactly raw....

3. My husband is sort of freaking out because I'm keeping the temps low on the dehydrator (to keep raw) but he thinks I'm wasting tons of money. Has anyone ever figured out how much dehydrating costs? I want to be able to give him numbers or something so I can get him off my back.

4. This is more of a kale issue than a dehydrator one, but how do you clean curly leaf kale? It takes me hours to clean it and it makes me hate using it but I want to try kale chips :) I feel like I spent all sorts of time rinsing it off and then later will still find bugs and dirt in the curls. Yuck!

OK, I'm sorry this is so long and I have so many questions. I am just so super frustrated with the dehydrator! It has not been the fun purchase I thought it would be. Any tips or help would be so appreciated. Thank you!! :)

[Revvell]

What dehydrator do you have?

I put mine at at least 118. The temp never goes that high. Have you checked the temp on your D?

If your fruit leather doesn't come off the teflex sheets, it's not dry enough.

HOURS washing kale? Fill your sink, take one leaf at a time, swish it in the water. The "should" do it. Even kale chips aren't worth hours of washing.

Your electric bill will tell you if you're wasting "tons" of money. It's been 4 months. Have you seen a major change? Someone here has figured it out. You may have to search for that one.

[cara4art]

Don't know about the other stuff, but I was reading somewhere that actually, using a dehydrator really doesn't pull that much juice(so to speak!). We never noticed a really big difference in our bill.

[juliebove]

The banana chips may never come out to your liking. The ones you buy in the store have been fried.

You may have to up your temp. a bit, at least for the first couple of hours.

As for the sticking fruit leather, try lightly oiling the sheets with coconut oil.

[spicyfull]

I don't use a Dehydrator that much but I always let things air dry a day or two after I take them out. I agree about adding a little oil to your sheet, just a tiny, tiny bit.

[klomasius]

I too wondered about the dehydrator and if it was using lots of electricity.

Then I had a think about it and realised that an oven on at 180 degrees C (356 degreed F) at 40 mins to an hour uses up HUGE amounts of energy, and the stove and oven usually get used at least once a day in the average household. And for only one to two dishes at a time.

So it's a matter of perspective, and keep an eye on your electricity bills for any noticeable difference (I didn't notice any).

Stoves are so entrenced in our society that no one would question their energy usage because we 'NEED' them to make food. Dehydrators on the other hand are a 'luxury'.

Think about it from the other way around. Imagine if someone told you there was this great new way of preparing food, all you had to do was cut out a part of your valuable kitchen bench, spend $500 - $1000 on a thing called an oven to put in the hole and bake your food at really high temperatures.

People in an alternate universe would call you crazy and say no thanks, I'll just keep my dehydrator that I can move off the bench, that costs less, and that doesn't burn my food. LOL!

[rayofsunshine]

How thin are you slicing your banana chips? At the low temperature it may take longer than a day. They will get dry.

[Veganforlife]

From the Excalibur website:

How much electricity does the Excalibur consume?

The average cost of electricity used by the Excalibur is about 4 - 5¢ an hour. Dry a full load of fruits or vegetables for less than a quarter!

from:

http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/faq.htm#8

[raweater]

1. I've tried to dehydrate bananas several times now. I have the temp set around 100 and I've left them in there for over 24 hours and they come out looking dry on the outside but they taste moist and slimy on the inside. It's unpleasant! Do I just need to dry them longer? How long does it usually take you? It doesn't seem like this should be so tricky, lol :)

2. I made a fruit leather with apples and strawberries. It tastes awesome! It will not come up off of the stupid plastic tray for anything. Is there a trick there I'm missing? In my dehydrator cook book it says to spray it with Pam or something first but I don't think that sounds exactly raw....

3. My husband is sort of freaking out because I'm keeping the temps low on the dehydrator (to keep raw) but he thinks I'm wasting tons of money. Has anyone ever figured out how much dehydrating costs? I want to be able to give him numbers or something so I can get him off my back.

4. This is more of a kale issue than a dehydrator one, but how do you clean curly leaf kale? It takes me hours to clean it and it makes me hate using it but I want to try kale chips :) I feel like I spent all sorts of time rinsing it off and then later will still find bugs and dirt in the curls. Yuck!

OK, I'm sorry this is so long and I have so many questions. I am just so super frustrated with the dehydrator! It has not been the fun purchase I thought it would be. Any tips or help would be so appreciated. Thank you!! :)

1. Are you slicing the bananas or putting them in whole as one peice? They should be sliced fairly thinly, putting them in whole would liekly take several days to dry.

2. What exactly are you making the fruit leather on? I use the disposable sheets from excalibur and everything peels right off. I tried the reusable ones and everything always stays glued on so I don't use them.

3. I'm sure that cooking something at 350 degrees for 30 minutes uses FAR more power than dehydrating for 24 hours. I do have an energy meter, if you want I could test running the oven for 30 minutes at 350 and running the dehydrator at 105 for 24 hours and see the difference. By the way I recommend using about 105 degrees as even there on my excalibur it will get close to 115 (enzymes are killed at 118).

4. Sorry I've only used kale once.

[phedre]

Thanks so much for all of your advice and tips!

As far as the bananas go, I will try to cut them thinner and crank up the heat a bit more. I didn't realize I could set it to 115ish and still be in the safe zone, awesome! I know the store ones are fried but the ones I'm making are seriously messed up... like all moist and slimy on the inside. I tried to store them and they got super gross over night so I know they aren't dry enough yet :)

I will definitely try a little bit of oil before pouring out my fruit leathers. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to try but thank you very much for that tip!! :) Those were so tasty and I'm sure I'll be making lots more :D

Thank you SO much for the Excalibur website with the amt per hour. That is AWESOME and now I can show him I have proof that I'm not killing our budget. I've only used my dehydrator a few times since xmas because I've been so frustrated with it so I haven't really done enough with it to notice a change in our bills.

And my stupid Kale... maybe I'm just getting extra filthy kale from my grocery store or something cuz that stuff just does not come clean. I was hoping there was a magic trick I was missing but maybe I'll try shopping for it somewhere else and see if that makes any difference.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your advice. I feel myself loving my dehydrator more already :D

[T-Bird]

And my stupid Kale... maybe I'm just getting extra filthy kale from my grocery store or something cuz that stuff just does not come clean.

Yep! I just got some organic kale from stanleys' in chicago - you'd hardly think you needed to clean it at all.

If they look dirty, I usually take my leafy greens, fill the sink up with tepid soapy water - and let them soak an hour or so, then rinse them off carefully.

Grossly - some bugs have very sticky substances to stick themselves to the leaves.

My stance is - if I soak them in soapy water, and while rinsing the individual leaves, I see bug substance and train the water on it and it still doesn't rinse off easily - I throw it all away - cuz I'm not going to be able to get them all.

You could be super tuff and say "extra nutrition!"

I don't think I'll ever be that close to nature!

[raweater]

You could be super tuff and say "extra nutrition!"

I don't think I'll ever be that close to nature!

lol that's exactly what I think when I see a bug in a glas of water or something, I drink/eat it right away, it's a good source of b12. I haven't see any in kale though, but I haven't looked much as anyway I''d probably prefer to eat them.