Teflex sheets

[Scarlett]

Hi there. I am looking for teflex sheets for my round dehydrator. I know Excalibur makes them for their machines, but l would really like to use my old machine. Is there such a thing? If there is, where can l find them?

[juliebove]

If it's the Nesco/American Harvest, you can get them online from them.

http://www.nesco.com/

Or a variety of other places. You need to know the model number of the one you have to make sure you get the correct sheets. They're called fruit leather sheets, or something like that.

[exurb]

I cut some professional silicon baking sheets to fit the american harvest, and I love them, they're nicer, thicker, stronger than teflex and easier to use, and they really stand up to wear, mine don't show any signs of wear after continual heavy use. They are a dark orange, thick, pretty much look something like rubber.

I like that they're not the environmental disaster that teflon is.

Please do this google: teflon PFOA

and you will get a huge load of info on teflon.

[juliebove]

I cut some professional silicon baking sheets to fit the american harvest, and I love them, they're nicer, thicker, stronger than teflex and easier to use, and they really stand up to wear, mine don't show any signs of wear after continual heavy use. They are a dark orange, thick, pretty much look something like rubber.

I like that they're not the environmental disaster that teflon is.

Please do this google: teflon PFOA

and you will get a huge load of info on teflon.

Teflon and Teflex are not the same thing.

[Sheryl]

Teflex sheets are actually fiberglass material coated with teflon. I personally consider them safe and do use them. When cooked I would not use teflon frying pans due to the high temperatures they reached.

That's me anyhow!
Sheryl

[Scarlett]

[QUOTE=exurb]I cut some professional silicon baking sheets to fit the american harvest, and I love them, they're nicer, thicker, stronger than teflex and easier to use, and they really stand up to wear, mine don't show any signs of wear after continual heavy use. They are a dark orange, thick, pretty much look something like rubber.

I like that they're not the environmental disaster that teflon is.

Please do this google: teflon PFOA

and you will get a huge load of info on teflon.[/QUOTe

Hi Exurb
Thank you for the info. I had no idea. I am soooooooooooooo green when it comes to raw equipment. I have to much to learn. Now l will have to find some silicon baking sheets. I have never seem them, but then again l was not looking for them.
Cheerfully
Scarlett

[exurb]

Scarlett, I get my sheets at a baking supply place, they are dark orange and look rubbery. The baking supply places stock larger sheets (and they're cheaper), one sheet does two trays of my american harvest. I love them!

Teflon and Teflex are not the same thing.

Teflex is definitely made with Teflon, and they even state that the Teflon coating is extra thick for good performance. There is debate as to how much of the teflon is transferred, it is often said that the main risk is at high temperatures, to me it is an environmental disaster of epic proportions. I have heard experts say do not wear teflon clothing (as in Stain resistant, wrinkle resistant clothing coated with teflon) as our bodies are absorbing it (and we're not baking ourselves at 350 F). You can actually have the chemicals measured in your body and I am told they turn up in everyone (and in Polar Bears in the Arctic).

Google: teflon PFOA

http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/f...flon/pfoa.html

Sheryl, the above has a UofT scientist talk about outgassing - they outgas at room temperature due to the fluorinated alcohols, you can read about it in that link. The scientific data clearly shows that it can be measured, and no heat required.

http://www.health-report.co.uk/teflo...h_defects.html

As if it wasn't enough to suffer with toxic chemicals in our toiletries and personal care items environment and food now we have to cope with super chemicals that just don't break down in the environment. Many of these new breed chemicals will make organo chlorines like DDT look safe. When are we as a population going to wake up to the fact that chemical manufacturers must be held accountable for the life destroying effects on our health.

Well until they're held accountable (I'm holding my breath ), I will be accountable and not buy anything with Teflon. Besides, those baking sheets are so much nicer anyway, thick, nice, no signs of wear after heavy use, excellent non stick release.

there's lots on the environmental work group site

http://www.ewg.org/issues/siteindex/...p?issueid=5014

Dupont has said that it will phase these out by 2015

[mrsalf97]

I was worried about the teflex sheets too. I guess I will have to eventually switch to the baking sheets. I actually bought 2 at Walmart for $10.00 and was wondering if I could cut them.

[exurb]

mrsalf, you can cut them no problem if they're the kind that don't have the fiberglass cores to them, if they're blue or orange and rubbery and smooth and uniform looking, they're fine to cut. The ones that are questionable to cut are like the SILPAT brand, as they have an inner core fabric made from fiberglass. The fiberglass ones, you can usually see the fiberglass woven texture through a clearer outer covering.

Even if you don't give a darn about the environment or outgassing into your home and food, I find the baking sheets much better for many other reasons, performance, durability, etc.

[Carmella]

Even if you don't give a darn about the environment or outgassing into your home and food, I find the baking sheets much better for many other reasons, performance, durability, etc.

Exurb,

We were just wondering about the whole teflex sheets thing... Thank you so much for posting this alternative. The question is now, whether we'll be able to find silicon sheets... Are they easy to get?

Carmella

[exurb]

Carmella, thanks for your post. They are quite easy to get now. I have seen them in the baking section in WalMart (or in Canadian Tire for those in the great white north), I've seen them in flyers at other discount department stores. Most stores now that sell baking dishes are selling some of the silicon ones, like muffin pans, etc., and there will usually also be cookie sheets. I like to get them at a baking supply place because I found them in really large sizes so I can cut more liners from them, but I've started to see them almost everywhere that has a decent selection of baking ware, and they're not that expensive.

As a temporary measure you can also use bakers parchment which is available at the grocery store, but I am extremely happy with the silicon sheets. They are still showing no sign of wear after very heavy use, and are really non-stick.

[Carmella]

Exurb,

Thanks for the reply. I called Walmart but no luck, haven't tried Canadian Tire though. However, I had the idea to call a little bakery close to here (read, in the deep, deep boonies!) to ask where they got theirs. The owner actually offered to sell me some for the incredible price of 20 cents (that's canadian too! :) ) a sheet! I was nearly jumping up and down! I thought that, at that price, it may not be the thick kind but he said that they are reusable so I'm a happy camper!

Thanks so much for this tip!

Carmella

[UsanaGirl]

Hi Carmella,
I was reading about the Teflex problem and wondered if you ever located any of the silicon sheets? Are you in Canada.
UsanaGirl

[Carmella]

Hi there, UsanaGirl, and welcome to this board!

Yop, I'm in the great North and it is coooooooooold this morning! (-10 degrees). My fingers are just about frozen as I'm writing this... LOL

OK, about the silicon sheets. I did go to the baker I was mentioning in my previous post and, as it turned out, what he had was large parchment paper, not silicon. I was bummed. As we live in the boonies, we're pretty limited in terms of stores. I found out that Canadian tires has them on their online store for about $10 each. Canadian Wholesale (Loblaws) also offered them for the Holidays at $10 but they were smaller than 14X14.

In the meantime, we received our Excalibur with the included free teflex sheets. When you read about teflex sheets in the raw community, it seems very divided as to whether they can be a serious health-hazard. I was debating internally whether to go ahead and use them or to go the extra mile (and expenses) to go the silicon way. In the end, being financially tight and subscribing to the idea that one should "go with the flow", i.e. do the best one can with what Life is presenting, we've decided to settle with what we already had.

But that's us...

I did find out also that Excalibur has an ebay store where they sell their products for cheaper than the "official" store. Last I checked, they were selling their new Paraflexx Ultra sheets, made with silicon instead of teflon, for $US10.50 as an introductory price (regular price $15.50) You can check it out here:

http://stores.ebay.com/Excalibur-Deh...QQftidZ2QQtZkm

Hope this helps,

Carmella

[UsanaGirl]

Thanks for you imput...I ended up using parchment paper and it worked fine. Where are you in the 'boonies?'...