Excallaber is a brand of food dehydrator that has been around for ages. I had been given and old one many years ago and loved it. I moved a few times and that one went to a family member, but then last year I had to buy another one. In my opinion, the quality of this brand is outstanding, and it would be the last dehydrator you'd ever have to buy. Mine is a workhorse and most people I know who use a dehydrator regularly and have an Excalibur agree this one is the best. It has "drawers" that pull out and the fan/heat comes from the back (not the bottom) to give even dehydrating. It's really the best and I highly recommend it!
I was recently looking in to purchasing a dehydrator. I did a ton of research of different ones and majority of Excalibur users were extremely happy with their models. I wanted to dry some fresh fruit and make homemade fruit roll-ups mostly. However, I also wanted to dehydrate potatoes, garlic, and onions too for some recipes. What else do you use your dehydrator for other than what I mentioned?
It's regrettable that we forgot to ask my brother-in-law's food dehydrator when they left to migrate in the US. We once had borrowed that food dehydrator for preserving fruits particularly the "camias" fruit which is nice to preserve similar to the preserved fruit in China. But I still have to test the dehydrator with vegetables especially with potatoes. Maybe we have to consider buying because in the last fruiting season of our mango, we had a lot of harvest which we gave away since we cannot preserve it. But with a dehydrator, we can make the harvest last longer for our consumption.
A simple dehydrator can also be fashioned with locally available materials. For example, you can improvise an old oven into a dehydrator by boring holes on the sides to allow moisture to escape. I come from the tropics and there is plenty of sun most times of the year. Fruits, vegetables as well as meat products can be dessicated by spreading them on iron sheets in the hot sun.
I have a dehydrator; but mine is one with the fan that blows from the bottom. It does a good job; but I do think that possibly having a fan that blows from the back might work even better. With the one that I have , the bottom trays dry out faster, and what I usually do is rotate the trays several times as they are drying so that the top ones get to the bottom and vice-versa. I have also dried herbs out in the sun, and that work great for herbs with leaves, such as mint or oregano. One thing that I learned about sun drying is that you should put the plants in the shade and not direct sunlight, if keeping the green color is important. When you dry them in direct sunlight, the leaves wilt and turn brown, but if they are in shade and just a nice breeze, then they will dry before they lose their color.
There's nothing I else that I really love but a longlasting device. When you have a product that will possibly endure a lifestime, you felt the investment made was really worth it. A food dehydrator can do it all. Dehydrate Fruits. Dehydrate Vegetables. Dehydrate Meat or Fish for Jerky. Re-crisp breads, crackers, etc. Make soup mixes and reconstitute later. Make animal / pet treats. Also, use it for arts & crafts such as cake decorations, potpourri, dough art, drying photographs
Many years ago my siblings and I pitched in and bought my parents a nice dehydrator. It's been ages, so I don't recall the brand, but they used it for quite a while. I would like to buy one at some point. It's good to know about the different styles and what has worked for people here, since it's sometimes difficult to trust online reviews. If I buy one, I'll definitely look for one that blows from the back. I might at some point try dehydrating items in the oven, because I know that's possible, but it would be nice to have a dedicated device for dehydrating things. I don't know if there are liners you can buy, or whether that would interfere with the process, but it seems it might be nice to have something like that so there's no chance of flavors lingering, especially if you mix it up with sweet and savory items.
