Room for several dehydrators?
By Joseph Parish
You finally have your dehydrator and are ready to have fun. No longer will you have to rely upon the grocery store for your needs as you can dry just about everything from regular tomatoes to the popular sun dried versions, potatoes, onions, mushrooms, bananas, pineapples, strawberries, peppers, jerky, herbs, meats and more. One of the great things about dehydrating foods is the decrease in waste. The skins and ends that you would normally toss into the trash can be dried and ground into a powder for use in your normal everyday cooking. These powders will add some extra flavor to your foods when it is needed.
Once you have found and experimented with your new found dehydrator you will find that you are quickly accumulating many jars of dried foods ready for your next soup. These products can be kept in any container that has a tight fitting lid. Most are stored for some time in a dark, cool location. Naturally your storage location will need to be dry otherwise mold will quickly set in. When using your older dehydrator make sure that you allow plenty of time for the dried foods to cool properly before packaging them.
Often times beginners that are first becoming familiar with the skill of dehydrating start out with an inexpensive small dehydrator and then eventually they end up buying one of the Cadillac’s of dehydrators. These top of the line items have all the fancy bells and whistles that any one could possibly desire. Naturally they come with an equivalent price tag as well.
I personally began my dehydrating process with a Ronco dehydrator many years ago. Since that time I have acquired several additional machines and have set my goal on obtaining an Excalibur sometime this year.
The main question that is generally posed is what do I do with the old cheap dehydrator when one gets a new one? These machines are not by any stretch of the imagination the ideal machine however there are several things that you could so with it. You could give it to some needy home that would appreciate the thought of getting one however the more logical thing to do would be to keep it as a backup.
There are often times during the growing season when you could make very good use of more then one dehydrator to accomplish your food storage goals. There will more then likely be many times when even having two will not be enough but we often have to make due with what we have at hand.
Another reason to keep the older machine is onions. Onions you say? Yes, onions tend to add a scent to the dehydrator that is extremely difficult to get rid of. By using the older machine strictly for onions you can save your self a lot of hardships in the future. No longer will your dehydrated apples have an onion flavor to them.
If you don’t have a second dehydrator you can readily find one at a local yard sale or on sale at one of the department stores nearby. Take a look at the areas thrift stores as often they appear in there for less then $5.00.
Copyright @ 2009 Joseph Parish
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