Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Sorry if this is a repeat; I did a search but didn't find anything that answered my question.

I've never even seen a dehydrator but i'm thinking of buying one for lots of different recipes i'd like to try. what is the temperature range they can be set to? do they cool as well as warm?

finally, any recommendations? I'd like one that's not expensive and doesn't take up a lot of space.

thank you!

I've gotten both of mine at thrift store/garage sales- the round, cylindrical kinds. You can spend a lot on them, but I still see lots of them at thrift stores, so I would start there. You can also use your oven set on very, very low to dehydrate food, but my dehydrator seems easier & more efficient to me. They circulate warm air throughout the stacked trays- I've not seen one with cool air.

I'm using the heck out of it right now to dehydrate tomatoes and plums. (Not together)! I also use it a lot for making food to take backpacking, but it's really just a great way to preserve all kinds of food. I can get free cherries in the spring, dehydrate them, and then use them as gift for my family back in the midwest.

My Excalibur is one of the best kitchen purchases I've ever made. I love it and it has sooooo many uses. It doesn't cool, but has a wide range of settings.

I have the Excalibur 5 tray. One of the best things I've purchased and I don't even use it as much as I should. If you get one, make sure you get the paraflexx/teflex sheets for purees and wet stuff.

Alton Brown has done a few episodes on dehydration and has a few very simple setups that do not require an actual dedicated dehydrator. He rigs things up with box fans and a/c filters, or using dehydrator trays in the oven with a small fan and lizard warming light.

Mine is a Ronco. I think we got that one because it was the only one we could find at an actual store and it was inexpensive ($30). It gets lots of bad reviews on Amazon, but I haven't had issues with mine. There's no temp setting, you just plug it in and the coils start to heat and you have to rotate the trays every several hours so things get dried evenly. I've only done dried fruit and it's been great for that. If you're willing to spend a bit more, I would. Our friend has a really nice one (Nesco, i think) that is much nicer for $70. No need to rotate trays and it's much faster!