Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
than $50 all the way to commercial-sized behemoths. I
recommend starting with a small model that includes a fan
and thermostat since that will be easy and trouble free. You
can always switch to a more expensive commercial or even
homemade unit later. (Dehydrators lend themselves easily to
homemade solutions, and literally dozens of free
designs—including solar designs—are available on the
Internet just by doing a Web search that includes the terms
“homemade” and “dehydrator.”) You can use a dehydrator for
fruits, vegetables, and meats, though the process for the three
is somewhat different.
Vegetables destined for the dehydrator need to be cut in slices
no more than 1/4 inch thick and blanched just as though they
were going to be frozen. This helps them dehydrate better and
keep longer. Fruits should also be sliced no more than
1/4-inch thick and then dipped in a solution containing one
tablespoon lemon juice per quart of water before being put in
the dehydrator. Fruit shouldn't be blanched. Every dehydrator
is different in terms of its drying characteristics, so use the
drying times and temperatures recommended in the literature
that comes with your particular model.
Meats, especially ground meat and poultry, are problematic
because dehydrating is not the same thing as cooking, and the
temperature seldom gets high enough to ensure pathogen
destruction. This becomes an issue because bacterial
contamination of these meats is common, so failure to
thoroughly cook them can result in serious illness or even
death. There are some jerky mixes available at department
stores that are specifically formulated to deal with potential
contamination of ground meats through the use of nitrites. If
you choose to use one of these mixes, follow the directions
