A dehydrator is not a necessary piece of equipment in the raw food kitchen. However it will provide you with a lot of extra options in terms of meal preparation. It will also help you transition to the raw food lifestyle as you will be able to make a lot of food similar to cooked foods. Most raw food recipe books have recipes that require a dehydrator.
How does it work?
A dehydrator works by exposing food to low temperatures of heat for a long period of time in order to remove the moisture from the food. Without moisture, bacteria, molds and yeasts are unable to grow. Food dehydrating also slows down enzyme action, although it does not stop it entirely. This means that when water is added back to some foods after drying, they return to its original size and weight.
This method of food drying, which preserves the food so that it can be consumed later, has been around for centuries, laying foods on rocks, dried tree bark and wood.
Method of Removing Moisture
A dehydrator usually uses a temperature of 140 degrees F, because higher temperatures will cook the food rather than drying it. "Case hardening" is when the food is cooked on the outside, but still moist on the inside. This is caused by setting a dehydrator to a temperature higher than 140 degrees. Food like this will most certainly mould in a couple of days.
A food dehydrator also uses an air current to dry the food. As the food heats up slowly, moisture evaporates into the air. That humid air must be removed and replaced with dry air. Therefore, the faster the air current, the faster the food will be dehydrated. The best electric food dehydrators have adjustable air current speeds, along with strong fans and plenty of ventilation.
All food dehydrators feature racks that are stacked on top of each other, which space in between for the food to sit on the racks and for warm air to flow between the racks. Air that moves from the top to bottom of such dehydrators will mix the flavors of the foods on the racks. Some cooks do this on purpose. Other dehydrators have fans which make sure the air circulates from side to side, so as not to mix flavors.
Dehydration times for foods will vary depending on the level of moisture in the plant material. Some food can take days to prepare.
Reasons to dehydrate your food
- Economy - foods can be dried when they are in season and cheaper.
- Taste - home dried fruit leathers are delicious.
- Durability - foods last long periods without any special environment cost (e.g. freezing) & travel much better without spoiling & waste.
- Compactness - dried foods usually take up only a fraction of the volume of fresh produce.
- Lightness - dried foods are typically around 1/8 of the weight of the fresh original
- Convenience - carrying dried foods makes you less dependent on shops in remote areas
- Waste limitation - dried foods can be prepared easily from "lower" grades of fruit that might otherwise be wasted.
- Control - you know just what's in the food, important if you want to avoid additives
- Simple satisfaction - you have made it yourself
- Dry flowers for potpourri
I know of someone that dried their placenta to chew on during the first few weeks of breastfeeding.
Uses for a dehydrator in raw food recipes
Dehydrators represent the “oven” in raw food cooking. In raw food creation, we never heat food above 46°c (115°F). You may like to use a sugar thermometer to test the temperature in the dehydrator.
- cakes, quiches and tarts
- biscuits, crackers, chips and bread
- slow heating and melting, e.g. soups, caca
- fruit leathers (roll-ups), veggie leathers and drying foods for preservation, make your own dried herbs and veggies, nuts.
- falafels, loafs, burgers, lasagna and pizza !!
- roasts, stir-fries and appetizers
- pet food
- make your own cereal e.g. see recipe below
Types of dehydrators
There are many on the market. Listed below are the main brands that are available in Australia according to my current research.
Excalibur dehydrator
In the raw food movement, the Excalibur is the most popular. Excalibur dehydrators feature the Parallexx™ Drying System for even drying. Horizontal airflow provides even drying, eliminating tray re-stacking. Drying is fast and heat is not lost as the dehydrator doesn’t need to be taken apart to change the tray sequence. This temperature controlled, fan forced, horizontal drying system is mounted in the rear of the unit. Cool air is drawn in the back, heated and distributed evenly across each tray, pushing moisture out of the front of the machine.
Pictured right: Excalibur 3000 actually has a timer on it that can be programmed from 1 hour to 26 hours. The Excalibur Dehydrator is available in Black or White and in two sizes:
5 Tray (400w motor) - - 22cm H x 43.2cm W x 48.3cm D.
(found this for as low as $350 on E-Bay)
9 Tray (600w motor) - - 33cm H x 43.2cm W x 48.3cm D$450 to $500Good4u dehydrator
We have a 9 tray dehydrator like this one pictured on the right. When my husband first bought I thought wow I am not going to use all that but honestly when I do dehydrate food I find get a little kitchen momentum happening and most or all those trays get filled. And they will fill up especially for dinner parties and special events. It is probably also better to produce in bulk for economical and environmental reasons. This cost us around $250 on E-bay in 2009.
Ezidry snackmaker
Ezidry snackmaker. I can’t comment on this as I haven’t used this one. What I have read is both positive and negative. Comments I read on a few forums was that you have to rotate the trays regularly. I personally would recommend purchasing one of the above two, you can remove trays without disturbing the other trays.
I have read some good reviews about the L’Equip dehydrator but it only seems to be available in the U.S. It comes as a 6 tray stainless steel unit with timer and temperature gauge.
Maintaining your dehydrator
Give it and the trays a good wipe with some warm water and soap, especially underneath.
Where can you purchase a dehydrator?
Aging hippies garages (just kidding)
Garage sales
Make your own? If you Google “make your own dehydrator” or “solar dehydrator”.
Arlene’s Special Dehydrator tips
In summer, keep your dehydrator for overnight or while you are out. I have noticed that it does warm up our little kitchen and ours is a bit noisy.
Move trays around and switch the non-stick sheets or baking paper around. On my model the middle and at the back seem to be where food dries the quickest.
Probably not a good idea to dehydrate bananas while you are making a pizza, unless you are making a banana pizza ;).
Have a dehydrating day, make breads and crackers, get the family/housemates or friends to join and un-cook up a storm.
Further reading:
Antipasti
Primi Piatti
(found this for as low as $350 on E-Bay)
", I woke up and promptly made a green smoothie with Rhiana. We made one from the book, "Igor's Favourite" because we had all the ingredients. Rhiana had fun helping me, putting fruit in the blender and I let her use the tamper even though it didn't need it. I grabbed a plastic straw and had a sip, it didn't seem sweet enough or something, I think it may have been the apples we had, they weren't very sweet at all. So I took out the straw and added some juice from a small orange.
