food dehydrators

So I got all excited about these online and bought one and already my excitement is waning :(   It's taking a lot longer to dry out peppers than the folks online made it seem....sigh. Also the one I bought - the trays aren't deep enough for me to dry poblano peppers in so I ended up just throwing them in my oven to dry anyways.  Last 2 years I"ve dried my serrano peppers in my house but last year it took forever since it was damper and didn't get cool as fast for me to turn on my heat to help speed up the process and I had some actually mold instead of dry out :(    Thought this would be faster and easier but should've known better I guess.  

anyone use one? Any suggestions? Any good recipes for drying things to share?  I"m hoping I get better results with drying fruit than I have vegetables so far. I also want to try making my own fruit leathers too at some point.

grace

[Myown]

I haven't used one but I have thought about getting one. I'm going to start to research a little......

good luck with yours..

[gracefromHHP]

I did a bunch more things after I posted that. I dried apple slices to  use in recipes ( ok in theory, have yet to look up any recipes to use them in but I invisioned muffins....lol ).  I also did tons of different peppers over the summer too.  I did a bunch of green peppers, red bell peppers and herbs to throw into rice too ( in theory, still haven't done it...lol ).

I don't recommend trying to make your own raisins. just not worth the hassle and the time....lol.

grace

[Myown]

hey good for you,,,,you sound like you doing good with this now.
thanks for the tips;) And i won't try the raisins. lol

[gracefromHHP]

oh and making your own craisins was more work than worth it too....lol.  almost forgot about those. Obviously I played a lot with it. dried roma tomatoes for things too - they turned out well too.

grace

[Myown]

lol. well the extra work I dont need:) I bought a new juicer and geesh even though this one is easier to clean , its still so much work,,,but its healthy, so its worth it.

Yeah, the tomatoes,,,I think that is what I would really like alot - peppers too..
I'll have to get one.

Is there any brand dehydrator that you would recommend or are they all basically equally as good?

[gracefromHHP]

I read a lot of reviews online before I went to my hardware store and bought the only one they had in stock on a whim...lol. I didn't want to put a lot of money into it until I was sure it was something I'd use yearly.

my biggest complaint is, most of them I read about don't have a lot of room for bigger things like whole peppers.  I ended up partially drying my poblano's in the oven and then finishing them up in the dehydrator. Hadn't really noticed any with bigger spaces in between the shelves though when I was looking.   even some of my roma's were too big to fit .  

Some folks online mentioned putting food in the back of their car and leaving it in the sun for days to dry things...lol.  

Amazon has several books too. usually you can find them used for cheap there.  figured this summer I'd buy a few to give me ideas for when things come in season :)  Looking forward to drying cherries when they are in season. love throwing them on salads and in muffins and cookies.

grace

[swampcritter]

They are also good for making beef jerky.

Swampy views them as one of those gadgets that are great for "constant cooking" mode. However -- sometimes when hiking he wishes he had one.

[Myown]

yep, its better not to invest in something until you know you are really going to use it.
I call it the Treadmill Syndrome. LOL

Cherries - on salads - that sounds good!

[bavenia]

My DH used it to make beef jerky and dry banana's and other fruits.  It was messy but worked great!

:-)