dehydrator temperature

[NoGMO!]

what is THE raw temperature maximum?
I thought it was between 105 to 118 degrees...

then, just this week I found a two raw recipes suggesting to dehydrate at 140 degrees for 2 hours, then lower to 115 degrees for remaining time.???

one recipe said that, in an Excalibur, the air keeps the food from reaching 140 degrees. hmmm? - that's the first time I've heard of that. :confused:

Ordering Alissa's book next month! I'm sure it's in there - but for now I'll check previous threads and hope for some comments & expertise from the board members. ;)

[vegggeeemom]

Wondering this myself as I have seen people mention to put the dehydrator up high for an hour or so and then bring it back down for the remaining time.
I'll be watching this thread.

Pam

[tracyinfo]

By turning your dehydrator up to 140 degrees for a couple of hours, won't heat up the dehydrator to 140, nor the food to 140. I guess it is a slow warm up or something, because, I have stuck my hand in and felt anything like "this may burn me" type of feeling. Also, the food is never really heated either.

I'm sure I didn't explain that greatly, but I hope someone else can explain better.

Blessings.

[vegggeeemom]

Ok! Good, that's how I explained it to my friend! :) But, was not sure since I never heard of doing this before!
But, I've got something in the dehydrator right now for an hour on 104* and then will lower and let it dry out a little bit more.

Thanks!

Pam

[Texicalian]

I've got his book Rainbow Green Live Food Cusine. Cousen states: Recent research by The Excalibur Dehydrator Company suggests that it is actually better to begin the dehydration process at 145 degrees for the initial stage of the drying process. The reason is that as the food is dehydrating, it literally "sweats out" the moisture it contains. This moisture inside the dehydrator reduces the food temperature as much as 20-25 degrees. This information changes how we think about the entire process of food dehydration. It means that the safest way to dehydrate is to begin drying at 145 degrees F for a maximum of 3 hours for foods with a high water content. After this the temperature is set in the "normal" range of 110-115 degress through the completion of the drying process. By doing this we are inhibiting bacterial growth by reducing the time the food spends in the dehydrator. The longer that a food is in the dehydrator, the more potential exists for the enzymes to be destroyed, even at lower temperatures.

Hope that helps!

[vegggeeemom]

Well, I know that this was not my thread, but it helped me alot! It makes total sense because I've dehydrated in the past and have had it in there two days with it not looking too good!

Pam

[NoGMO!]

Thanks you so much! that clears up the mystery about the temps being so high in some recipes for the first 3 hours or less ... but I must say i have been doing fine at 110-115 degrees. :p

still I can see how you could use a higher setting at first.. Thanks again for the news.

[kitchenfairy]

Thanks Texicalia,
This is an old thread and I don't know if your still around. I'm brand new to this site and my first question was relating to some recipes having you start at 145 degrees then later turning down for the remainder.
So like a well behaved newbie I did the temperature search and behold the answer!
Gosh I like this site!

[Lauradee]

is there a type of thermomterer to i guess that if there as we could tell the real remp by the food
how do i classify haighwatercontent food from not?

Does anyone know of one

has anyone tryied a thermometer in theri food ifso what happened at 145?

take care,
laura

[Jan]

In her DVD, Alissa said she uses about 95 degrees.

Jan