How to Use a Dehydrator

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By Sarah C
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Use a Dehydrator

Learn how to use a dehydrator to produce great tasting dehydrated food. There is two main types of dehydrators, vertical dryers and horizontal dryers. Both are easy to use, and effectively dehydrate food.

Dehydrated food has many uses, fruit is great for snacks and baking, vegetables can be used in soups, homemade seasonings,and casseroles, just to name a few.

A food dehydrator can also be used to make fruit leather and meat jerky, even fish! The possibilities for dried food are endless. After learning how to use a dehydrator, you will be well on your way to creating many types of dried food.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Food dehydrator
Fruit
Vegetables
Meat

Step 1

If it is the first time using the food dehydrator, first take all the trays out and rinse them with soap and water. Make sure to keep the base unit away from water.
Step 2

Choose what you will be dehydrating, and prepare it. For the fastest drying time, food should be sliced. Larger pieces can be dried too, but it does increase the drying time.
Step 3

Turn on the food dehydrator to preheat 10 minutes before placing food in the trays.

Pre-treat fruit such as apples, pears, peaches and other like fruit so they don't turn brown when drying. To pre-treat these fruits, they can be dipped into lemon juice for 1-2 minutes, before placing on the trays to dry.
Step 4

Arrange food on the dehydrator trays. Don't add too much, or have the food touching each other. Keeping the pieces spaced out will help it dry properly.
Step 5

Rotate trays if needed. There are food dehydrators that require rotation of the trays periodically through the drying process. Not all do, so check with your individual brand to see if that's a step that needs to be taken.
Step 6

Start to dehydrate the food. It can takes around 6-10 hours to dry, with larger pieces or fruit,or fruit with skin can take up to 20 hours to dehydrate. When nearing the end of the drying time, check on the food every 30 minutes to remove the pieces that have dried.

To tell if the food is ready, fruit should still have some water content in them, being soft and pliable . Dried vegetables dry firmer,and will be harder than fruit when dry, but not brittle.
Step 7

Enjoy what your dried food, experiment with different recipes to get the full use out of your dehydrator!