6 Tips To Find The Best Food Dehydrator

The key points to fitting the most food in a food dehydrator is the size, shape and use-of-space. Unfortunately round donut-shaped food dehydrators use space very inefficiently. Why?

1. First of all the circular sides cut into the usable space. A square or rectangle is much easier to lay food out on because you don't have to position it around a corner at the edge. A square is also easier to fit on a counter-top or in a cupboard for storage.

2. Secondly, due to the way a circular unit is designed, the center is usually unusable space which makes larger items a problem. Square or rectangular trays make it easy to lay food out especially if you're working with long strips of food. You could always cut large items down into smaller pieces but it's more work and depending on what you're working with it might not even be an option. The dozen long-stemmed roses your sister asked you to preserve for her from her wedding bouquet probably wouldn't look too pretty chopped into 6 inch pieces. Although the red in the roses might match her face when you give them back to her. Not a good idea. ;-)

3. Another thing to look for in a well-designed food dehydrator is to find one with a side or top-mounted heater and fan. It's a good idea to avoid fans and heaters that are positioned at the bottom of a food dehydrator because food and drippings will naturally be drawn toward them by gravity. It's much easier to wipe up drippings and small pieces of food from a flat surface than from around hardware.

4. Don't even consider a food dehydrator that doesn't have a fan. They heat very unevenly, sometimes the temperature can vary 50 degrees Fahrenheit between the top and bottom levels. This means some trays may overheat while others might not reach the temperature you intended, and you may have to juggle the trays several times throughout the cycle.

5. For the best results an adjustable temperature setting is also important. Can you imagine trying to dehydrate delicate herbs at the same temperature as thick pieces of beef jerky? This is especially true if you want to dehydrate fruit or vegetables at a low temperature to avoid destroying some of their nutritional value.

More usable space, a fan that circulates the air, and a temperature control all add up to decreased processing time and to fewer batches which means less electricity used, less waste, less work, and more time for fun. :-)

6. Another tip: Make sure that the food dehydrator you're considering has a timer, otherwise you may have to adjust your schedule around your dehydrating activities. Getting up in the middle of the night to check the food dehydrator is definitely not fun. Besides, are you really going to use an appliance if it's a big hassle to use?

Excalibur states that properly dehydrated food should last 1 year once dried and placed in a sealed bag. Although I've seen moths eat through plastic bags, so I think sealed glass containers are a better idea for longterm storage.

A family-owned business since 1973, they've literally had hundreds of thousands of customers all around the globe. The standard one year warranty offers some peace of mind that other companies might or might not offer. But what impresses me is the available 10 year warranty. Usually if something is going to break it's going to break sooner rather than later. Still it's nice to have the option to extend your warranty by 10 times for only $30.

The design of the Excalibur's "Parallexx Horizontal-Airflow Drying System" (say that ten times fast) also sets it apart because each tray receives its own stream of warm air. Most other food dehydrators with fans try to push the same air through multiple trays increasing the humidity at each level. This in turn slows drying.

It's great for vegetables, fruit, fruit leathers (roll-ups) or jerky. This food dehydrator uses polycarbonate for its trays and they're seriously tough. They even claim you can drive a semi-truck (lorry) over them and they won't break. Pretty impressive, although it seems they should offer stainless steel trays because of the ongoing safety debate about bisphenol A. You may want to use a drying sheet between the food and polycarbonate trays, just in case there's something to the reports. You can find more information at Wikipedia.

Pros: The Excalibur food dehydrator dries quickly, efficiently and conveniently. Built to take years of heavy use. Well thought out design from a company that uses customer input to make their product better.

Cons: Depending on the food, you might want to rotate each tray 180 degrees about halfway through the cycle. Polycarbonate trays.

There are many other food dehydrators available but not one that I've found comes close to comparing with the Excalibur. Although it's more expensive up front, it will outlast cheapies that die after their first year or three with their melted shelves. Not only will it save you money in replacement costs, the short efficient drying cycles are sometimes 10 times shorter than the competition. To me it's about quality. Although the Excalibur isn't perfect, it is very impressive.

If you found this interesting you may want to have a look at dehydrated food or other camping gear and hiking equipment guides, tips and information.