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Once people find out that I dehydrate foods, the most prevalent question I receive is "What kind of dehydrator do you use?"
First, let me explain that all dehydrators are not created equal. If you are serious about dehydrating foods safely and economically, you need to know that when it comes to dehydrators, you get what you pay for.
Now, if you're only casually interested in dehydrating - perhaps drying some herbs and maybe some banana chips and apple slices here and there, then by all means get a baseline dehydrator. It should do what you need it to do.
But if you mean business, you might want to look into a high quality dehydrator. If you are:
a gardener
a homesteader
preparing for a survival situation
a camper
health conscious / vegetarian / consuming whole or living foods
budget conscious and want to maximize every use for your foods
then it would be worthwhile to invest in a top of the line machine.
I use an Excalibur dehydrator. Many people consider Excalibur machines "Cadillacs" among dehydrators, but they're worth every penny, in my opinion. I have the 9 tray model, but not the newest one with the built-in timer. I just use my own kitchen timer... or a clock.
Price-wise, it isn't cheap. A little over $200. Models with the timer are more expensive. There are also smaller 5 tray models, which cost less.
There are several reasons why I prefer the Excalibur.
1. It has an adjustable thermostat.
Just like different foods need to be cooked at different temperatures, different foods require different temps when dehydrating them. Too low a temp can lead to spoilage - especially when it comes to drying meats for jerky. Too high a temp can cause the food to harden on the outside, but remain moist on the inside, which would also lead to mold growth and spoilage. It's important to be able to control the temperature when you're drying foods to ensure the highest quality and maximum shelf life.
2. It has pull-out trays rather than vertical, stackable ones.
To me, this is just an ease of use issue. I've had a vertical, stackable dehydrator before and let me tell you, it was a pain in the patootie to use. Every time I wanted to dry something, I had to take the whole thing apart, shift around those big round trays (hard to do with limited counter space), and then restack it all when I was ready to go.
The stackable dehydrator was also much more difficult to keep clean. Bits of food always fell to the bottom, which is where the heating/fan unit is. Not exactly something that you can get in there and wash very well.
With the Excalibur, you can pull out the individual trays like drawers. In fact, they slide all the way out and you can remove them if you have rather bulky things to dehydrate. The tray mesh liners are easy to remove and clean. You can also easily slide all the trays out and wipe out the bottom of the dehydrator. It's a lot easier to maintain and use. Just slide the trays in, close the door, and turn it on.
3. It works faster than a round, stackable dehydrator.
The Excalibur is faster than round dehydrators because its heater and fan create better, drier airflow. The Excalibur's heater and fan are located in the back of the machine, blowing the air directly across the trays. Each tray receives its own individual stream of forced warm air instead of sharing it with the entire stack of trays. This system prevents the air from circulating through multiple layers of food and becoming saturated with moisture.
With round, stackable dehydrators, the fan and heater are located at the bottom or the top of the stack of trays. These dehydrators just radiate heat; they don't direct it. And all their shelves share the same warm air with all the others, quickly creating humidity and thus taking longer to dry the food.
Because the Excalibur dries foods faster, it is more efficient - it doesn't have to run as long as the other dehydrators and, therefore, uses less electricity (i.e., IT SAVES YOU MONEY).
The bottom line:
I have tried a round, stackable dehydrator and I didn't get consistent results. I had to throw away foods that just didn't make it, even though I followed all the directions precisely. I got tired of gambling each time I tried to dehydrate something, wondering whether or not it would dry properly.
Once I got an Excalibur, I've not had to worry any more. I've never had any failures with it. No more wasted food. Period.
And I've learned to use it for more and more things - not just jerky and snacks. It's possible to create entire meals with a dehydrator. Imagine making your own "instant," "just add water" meals without all the awful chemicals, additives and preservatives. Imagine making them for a fraction of the cost of storebought and 10 times better.
That makes a good dehydrator worth it, to me.