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Food Dehydrator

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Dehydrating food is an ancient tradition for preserving food. It laid the basis for the growth of larger communities and then even broader civilizations. After all these millennia it is still a wonderful technique for preserving all sorts of food. There have always been tools and techniques that have assisted in this process. Traditionally a hot dry climate was the optimal location for this.

Having an actual set of techniques tied with a structure or machine for this process was the giant step forward that has allowed people to preserve food anywhere in the world in any climate or setting. What this does is allow people in their homes or businesses and sometimes even in a wilderness setting to set in motion processes that will help them save money, be sustainable, perhaps have food available in an emergency when it would otherwise not be available.

This technique of preserving food is also economical. It is easily twice as inexpensive as canning food, and perhaps seven times less expensive than freeze drying.

Generally speaking there are two types of food dehydrators that are in use by most people. One type involves using stackable trays. The other typically involves a more rigid structure such as a box which has trays which are removable. The point is that all mainstream units have trays which are readily movable and accessible removing from and putting in the unit, so that food can be place in dried and removed with optimal convenience.

On the whole the units with stackable trays tend to be the least expensive, and are probably the best way to get started. Some home use units can stack over 30â€™s but they still have a small footprint and do not take up a lot of counter space. Almost all units with stackable trays have a particular limitation. They tend to have uneven heat distribution. The trays closest to the heat source and the accompanying fan dry more quickly than those that are further away. This then requires a regular rotation of trays. There are relative degrees of convenience in doing this depending on the design of the stacking tray unit.

The rigid or box units tend to have the heating unit behind rather than underneath the trays which tends to create a move uniform heating and drying. They also tend to have more flexibility in terms of what you can do. For instance in most models one can remove some shelves in order to put larger items in, sometimes for drying and sometimes not. On can leaven bread or make yogurt for instance.

Some units have convection heating which tends to be fairly uniform. It also reduced contamination which is more possible when air is being continually blown throughout the unit. There is silent operation and less use of electricity, but particularly with bulky and juicy items such as tomato the convection approach takes a much longer time to dry food. One down side is that the longer it takes food to dry it loses to some extent its flavor and keeping quality are reduced.

There are new variations on theme that are being developed all the time. For instance one can find solar models, and if one wants large scale dehydration there are large commercial units and even fire heated units with chimneys.

In general food dehydrators are worth the investment as well as helping to reduce cost and increase the longevity of our food.