Preserving Your Harvest

[Sally PB]

We've had a couple large unexpected expenses this year. Just paid HO insurance and about to pay property taxes. Seems it's always something.

Think I can swing a dehydrator though. That will give me some experience with another storage method. Then see how it goes from there.

Oh, I know how those expenses pop up! HO insurance is April, property taxes are February and September, so at least they aren't all in the same month. This year, we also had to pay for an asbestos inspection and removal and a couple other big things.

As far as getting a dehydrator, I can highly recommend Excalibur. It's one of the more expensive ones, I know. But I've had mine for 25? 26? years, and it works as well as when it was new.

The design is very good: The heating element and fan are at the back, not the bottom. So it blows warm air across the trays, not up through them. Everything dries at nearly the same rate.

That said, I do change the tray positions about half way through: the top three and the bottom three trade places, and all of them get turned 180 degrees, front to back. You just can't get around the fact that heat rises, and anything closer to the heat and fan will dry faster.

 

[saysfaa]

I sprained my wrist last night.
Any ideas on how to tighten lids?

I think I can do everything else left to do in canning the tomatoes without aggravating it.

 

[NanaK]

Oh, I know how those expenses pop up! HO insurance is April, property taxes are February and September, so at least they aren't all in the same month. This year, we also had to pay for an asbestos inspection and removal and a couple other big things.

As far as getting a dehydrator, I can highly recommend Excalibur. It's one of the more expensive ones, I know. But I've had mine for 25? 26? years, and it works as well as when it was new.

The design is very good: The heating element and fan are at the back, not the bottom. So it blows warm air across the trays, not up through them. Everything dries at nearly the same rate.

That said, I do change the tray positions about half way through: the top three and the bottom three trade places, and all of them get turned 180 degrees, front to back. You just can't get around the fact that heat rises, and anything closer to the heat and fan will dry faster.

Thanks for the tips! I've just started to look at some online. Came across the Excaliber, looks nice. I'll look at it closer.
I hope to read up, get one in hand to play with a bit and be ready to go for spring.
Just getting my fall greens and stuff growing so gardening will slow down for me soon. Lots more time to read.

 

[Sally PB]

My Excalibur is the only dehydrator I've ever had, so I am a bit biased.

Another consideration is, how easy are the shelves to remove and clean? Some things (herbs, like basil) don't make much mess. Cherries make a lot of mess, since they're so juicy. Jerky is by far the messiest thing we've ever made.

 

[NanaK]

I sprained my wrist last night.
Any ideas on how to tighten lids?

I think I can do everything else left to do in canning the tomatoes without aggravating it.

Oh dear, I'm so sorry.
You need a helper.

I had to plant one year with my hand damaged by a brown recluse spider bite. Big bandage and painful. I am a bit hard headed though. I got it done but slowly.

Hope your hand heals quickly.

 

[NanaK]

My Excalibur is the only dehydrator I've ever had, so I am a bit biased.

Another consideration is, how easy are the shelves to remove and clean? Some things (herbs, like basil) don't make much mess. Cherries make a lot of mess, since they're so juicy. Jerky is by far the messiest thing we've ever made.

Yes cleaning is very important. I try to be careful of that with everything I preserve by any method. Mom and her sister were nurses. I used to work for a physical therapist in wound care also. I suppose this made me very picky about clean.

I don't want it to take excessive effort to clean it. Might make me too lazy to use it!

 

[Sally PB]

I don't want it to take excessive effort to clean it. Might make me too lazy to use it!

Ditto on that!

I bought a masticating juicer. Love-love-loved the juice it made. Clean up was a real pain. When I got my high speed blender, the juicer went down to the basement and I haven't used it since. I make smoothies instead of juice now.

Re: cleaning my Excalibur trays. I take the mesh off the shelf frames and put those in the sink with hot water and some dish soap. Let them soak a bit; the messier they are, the longer they soak. The frames don't fit in the sink, so the sit stacked up over it.

As I clean off each piece of mesh, I spray them down over the frames. (Yeah, you have to be careful which way the sprayer is aiming... ask me how I know that!) The frames release goop more easily, and a good hosing down with the sprayer will get the stuff off.

I hold the mesh and frame up by a corner to let them drip, then put the mesh on the frame, and put the frame in the dehydrator. I use the dehydrator to dry everything before I put the frames and mesh away.

I use the empty dehydrator for a lot of other things, like culturing yogurt and the second ferment on my kombucha. It lives on my counter. It takes up a lot of space, but I use it too often to lug it up and down stairs. I justify it's position by storing the shelves (easier and lighter to move) and using the empty box of space as storage for measuring cups and other kitchen stuff.

 

[tripletfeb]

Not a bad price as freeze dryers go.

We've had a couple large unexpected expenses this year. Just paid HO insurance and about to pay property taxes. Seems it's always something.

Think I can swing a dehydrator though. That will give me some experience with another storage method. Then see how it goes from there.

I think dehydrated tomatoes would be good for winter salads. I just don't like store bought tomatoes. I guess I'm spoiled. I use more apples and raisins in salads when I don't have home grown tomatoes.

I've had no issues with the Nesco dehydrator I bought at Walmart. It's the basic model but does come with a lot of trays(I think 5) and comes with the special liners to make fruit leather and jerky. It's the only one I have experience with

 

[NanaK]

I've had no issues with the Nesco dehydrator I bought at Walmart. It's the basic model but does come with a lot of trays(I think 5) and comes with the special liners to make fruit leather and jerky. It's the only one I have experience with

Thanks. I've seen that one somewhere online too.
Appreciate you and @Sally PB reviews.
I value real people reviews so much more than online.

 

[saysfaa]

I have two dehydrators.
A Presto. It looks like the model 06301 (I can confirm the model later). My daughter bought it used for $25 or less and gave it to me because it is noisy enough that she was never going to use it again. I put it in the back bedroom and shut the door. Or the basement. And still turn it off when dh is home. I don't like the noise even that far away but I can tolerate it to get the use of it.

And one that has no words or numbers on it. It looks like the attached picture. It has no controls other than plug it in or not. And the top can be spun to open/close the vents. I saw one for $5 on craigslist last year.

I like the no name one better because it is silent.

I like the Presto better because the trays nest (flip every other one upside down) so it stores in a smaller space. And because I can set a temperature. It has other advantages (see below) that I don't care about nearly enough to chose using it over the no name black one.

It doesn't seem to matter in the quality of fruit or vegetables. I dried herbs in it but haven't used them or stored them long yet so don't know. The recipe said a lower temp than for fruit or veggies. I was afraid to put jerky in at an unknown temperature since it was the first attempt at jerky.

The Presto has six trays; the no name has five. Fruit or veggies dry in very close to the same time in each dehydrator.

The presto came with inserts that allow smaller berries but they were warped when I got it (used) so not helpful.

The trays are equally easy to clean. I just wash them in the sink with dish soap and a dish cloth. Sometimes the sprayer helps.

The bottom of the dryer of the Presto is easier to clean than the no name - the no name allows drips onto the heating coil. The presto has a solid bottom above the heating coils.

The plastic of the trays feels less likely to crack if I drop it than the no name. I have dropped the no name trays a few times and they did not break.