Dehydrator taking too long...risk of spoilage?

[swiddweas]

These onion cracker have been dehydrating for over two days, and they are still soft, yuck. I used the recipie everyone else does, dehydrator is turned to 105, and they were about 1/4-1/2 inch thick before I started dehydrating. I am concerned. My dehydrator is brand new. HOw to tell if the food is still good and how long do I wait for these crackers to get crisp? Will they mold in the dryer?

I have noticed things take along time to dehydrate. What am I doing wrong here?

Please and thank you!

Swid

[tracyinfo]

I would turn up the heat to about 140 for about 1 hour. Then turn it back down to 105. One hour at 140 does heat up the food to 140. I have felt the food after doing this and they are very comfortable to the touch. The surrounding air, though is hotter.

Blessings.

[sport]

Do you have a thermometer to put in the dehydrator to check the temp in case it is malfunctioning.

[sport]

Would you not be afraid that 140 would do some damage to the food. I will not even let mine go all the way to 105 just in case

[Mommax4]

My dehydrator actually suggests setting it to 125 for the first hour. It says the air around the food gets that temperature not the food and then turn it back to 105 for the remainder. That was in my excalibur guide. I've never had the need to do this though.

[Rawkinlocs]

remember also that the recipe was actually for onion bread...crackers need to be spread a little thinner in many cases or they WILL take longer to get to a crunchy stage.

The soft/bread stage is good also...try a piece out with some nut pate' or just some veggies and a spread as a sandwich! YUM!

[tracyinfo]

The times that I have set my thermometer higher (140 deg), I actually stuck my hand inside the dehydrator to feel the food, after 1 hour. The food was no where near even 100 degrees! The air was warm but not that hot. I learned this from an uncook book.


Would you not be afraid that 140 would do some damage to the food. I will not even let mine go all the way to 105 just in case

[swiddweas]

I read that the dehydrator temp dial says 25 degress lower then it really is, because of the air vs. the moisture in the food. :confused:

Thanks for all the info, everyone.

Rawkinlocks, you're right, LOL it does say onion bread. I will try spreading the batter thinner next time.

[amy's-goin'-raw!]

You'll know if the bread/crackers have spoiled, they will get smelly. I didn't get to turn my last batch in time and it went bad, it was very stinky :eek:

[BDraw]

Suggestion for speeding up the drying process. After chopping onions and while getting the rest of ingredients ready, let the onions drain in strainer, even pressing some of the onion juice out. Mine were done in less than 12 hours, though I did spread it around 1/4 inch thick.

Last time I even substituted some celery for one of the onions. Good!

[maraw]

I gave up on crackers completely because I wasn't getting a good crips and I would dry for days also. I never thought about turning it up - I was too afraid of damaging the food. I just assumed it was because we live in a high-humidity climate and that it just wasn't possible for me to get a good cracker made.

One change that I made for the better, was I purchased an Excalibur dehydrator. It works SO MUCH BETTER than my other one - and my other one wasn't a cheap machine, it just didn't do the job.

Having said that, now that I have been doing this for a while, I would much rather eat slightly over-heated food then spoiled food (or see it go to waste for that matter).

Best wishes,
Anna

[rawpriestess]

Even the top raw chefs suggest to dehydrate at 145 for 2 hours, then to turn down the dehydrator after that, when making food with grains in them.

So, I have done this with great results.

I also have substituted 1/2 nuts for 1/2 of the grains, with super results too.

Just a suggestion.

[swiddweas]

Thank you everyone for the advice.

I can't understand how to dehydrate at 145 and have the food remain raw. THis doesn't make sense to me. Oh, well.

By the way, those crackers I told you about a few days ago...THEY ARE STILL DEHYDRATING can you believe it?

Swiddweas

[Revvell]

Swid, "try" thinking of them as bread ~ which is what it is, actually. Drag them out of the dehydrator, cut into squares, put some lovely veggies on one piece, top w/ another and chow down. You'll be happy! :D

:cool:

[swiddweas]

Thanks, Revvell,

My mind and stomach can't distinguish between the two, so The soft crackers make me sorta sick to my stomach, as I already tried that, LOL. Guess it's because the crackers remind me of soggy, old crackers instead or crispy crunchy ones. I wish there were a recipie for a really crispy cracker.

Have a great day,

Swid

[Revvell]

Swid,

There are LOTS of recipes for crispy/crunchy crackers. Most are made w/ flax to which you can add onions and many other ingredients. Do a search here and on the net. You will find them! Oh! Alissa has some in her book also. :)



:cool:

[tracyinfo]

Swiddweas, even though you turn the knob to 145, it actually does not heat to 145 degrees in less than two hours. It is not an oven.


I can't understand how to dehydrate at 145 and have the food remain raw. THis doesn't make sense to me. Oh, well.

Swiddweas

[Rawgranolagurl]

I have had alot of problem with this as well but have found like many who posted here that turning it up higher in the beginning helps prevent spoilage. It is the tried and tested method recommended by many raw foodists. When I first started dehydrating crackers and cookies and was having to throw it away. It was taking days to do it and they still weren't coming out dry. I have a brand new excaliber so this shouldn't have been a problem. I was very discouraged and was making do living on raw pastas and soups. Now I do the higher temp and my stuff comes out yummy and edible :)