Welcome, welcome time to look at dehydrating now, it used to be popular in olden times where I think they probably called it "sun drying" and I believe it was big in the wild wild west for they dried out strips of beef to make "jerky". Now what they stumbled across was a way to preserve food while locking in the nourishing nutrient content, unlike cooking which is too harsh and hot, destroying enzymes, protein and other goodness.
Dehydrators and dehydrating foods for health
So how does a dehydrator work? Easy really, a dehydrator is basically a cabinet with a fan and heater element in, the warm air is circulated through the unit, heating the drying area evenly and dehydrating whatever you put in it. The result is dried out fruit and vegetables or meat, if you wish similar to the packet stuff you find in health food shops. Until you have made your own though you'll never know how much tastier home grown stuff is!
An endless supply of healthy snacks!! yep that’s what its about, feeding yourself right day in day out, if you follow all the fresh and raw lifestyle tips you can throw out all the diet books and associated nonsense, you body will thank you for living natural by regulating body weight, giving you more energy and just running how nature intended.
Types of dehydrator: basically two types to contend with, the stacking type or the drawer type. All I would say is the stacker is easier to take apart and clean, whereas the drawer type is no doubt easier to use. The more expensive dehydrators are big units and benefit from the fan and heater mounted in the end rather than the bottom of the machine, which creates more even drying temperatures. The dehydrating pinnacle really!
Things to dehydrate: all fruit and veggies will dehydrate, so think pineapple cubes, strawberry chunks, banana slices, mango crisps, berries, kiwi fruit sections. On the veggie front stick to the ones you like the taste of as the taste gets stronger with dehydrating!
Mark makes a lot of
juicer and dehydrator
recipes and tries to be as healthy as he can be.
For more ideas on
blender and dehydrator foods have a look at our information archive.
