Kitchn Tech: What Do I Do With a Dehydrator?

Being fond of gadgets of all sorts, we've always been curious about the idea of owning a food dehydrator (beef jerky!). But having one and knowing what to do with one are two different stories, as noted by a recent reader letter over at our cooking site, The Kitchn:

So, I finally convinced my better half that we had enough room in our kitchen to buy a dehydrator - mostly by concentrating on the steal of a deal and not the actual size of the monster Excalibur I found on Craigslist for $50.

I've never owned a dehydrator before, and don't even know how to use (seems pretty straightforward). What is a dehydrator best utilized for? Peak harvest season for fruits only? How long do the dehydrated foods keep? What about when fruits are not in season? So many questions! Any help from more advanced dehydrator-ers? Thanks!

Good recommendations noted from the original thread include dough proofer, drying herbs, drying homemade pasta, tofu jerky, kale chips, and an assortment of fruits. We wonder if we could make a bacon jerky using this machine?

Comments (1)

You can make a million raw food recipes! Crust for pie, crackers, "bread" all out of nuts and other ingredients. Google raw food recipes and see what you can find.

posted by taracakes on March 24th 2009 at 7:18pm
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