Anyone looking for a food dehydrator?

[Konini]

I know this subject comes up every now and again, Groupon Thailand has one on at the moment for 1,690 baht which isn't a bad price for here. I wanted extra trays for mine, couldn't believe the price of them (plus shipping from EU or US) and bought one of these instead. A very minor adjustment and the trays will fit the existing (good quality) one and this one itself doesn't look too shabby either, although I admit I haven't tried it. I use it a lot, and now have a spare heater/blower in case the one I already have blows. For anyone who is struggling to justify the cost, this is about half price of any I've seen here, and I looked for a long time before buying because they were so expensive.

[cooked]

I'm a bit puzzled as to why anyone should want to buy a machine to do what Thailand sun does even better?

[junglechef]

I've wanted one, but to be honest haven't looked yet, but this look perfect. I've never "Grouponed" before and barely knew what it was but found easily (http://www.mygroupon.co.th/deals/shopping_en/gg-groupon-goods-37702034/720178905).

As the rainy season and it's cool weather is promoting lots of mushroom now, more then I can eat, but also resulting in not enough sun to dry before they rot or get larvae eating them.

I dry lots of stuff by the sun including fruit and meat but not during this season so looking forward to playing on those wet chilly days, thanks for the tip!

[Konini]

As I said, this one is about half the price of any I've seen here, and I did look for a long time before jumping in.

I have loads of mushrooms in the freezer (I don't like leaving it to chance in the cupboard and I have plenty of freezer space). In addition to the halved dried ones, I grind some to a powder and add it to a lot of sauces, gives almost everything a big oomph in flavour - I believe it's down to the umami content in mushrooms. I also buy tomatoes in 7ish kg bags from the market - I'm yet to meet anyone who doesn't like chewy, semi-dried tomatoes in good olive oil with just the right amount of salt, pepper, garlic and dried and fresh basil. Also loads of pre-herbed and only salted tomatoes in the freezer, and I usually put a handful of them in most things I make, even the plain ones into things like curry, and when I fancy something simple, it's hard to beat al dente pasta drizzled with olive oil with some semi dried tomatoes and fresh basil stirred in. They also make a lovely thing to give to people.

Sometimes it's hard to leave them alone once you start munching them, with obvious after effects.

[Konini]

I'm a bit puzzled as to why anyone should want to buy a machine to do what Thailand sun does even better?

I tried, several times. We live in a condo where, thankfully, we don't get the sun, just a bit on the balcony late afternoons. I tried with the tomatoes but it was so much work getting them secure from insects for little reward, and they weren't fully dried anyway. Every time they started to develop mould, so went into the bin.

We average about 5-10kg fresh tomatoes a week (which turns into way less than 1kg dried). It's just more convenient. For most people, a dehydrator would be a waste of money, but with the huge amount of tomatoes, mushrooms and various fruits I dry (kiwi is favourite at the moment), it was money well spent and it's paid for itself in my case if I'd bought the dried tomatoes from Rimping.

I keep saying I'm going to have a go at making beef jerky. It's on the list of things to do.....

[cooked]

Tomatoes are difficult to dry in the sun, yes. I was told to rub salt onto them to make the process quicker.

[Iamemjay]

Does rubbing them with salt prevent the mould problem?

(This year I had a huge glut of tomatoes from my organic vege garden, tried sun drying them - dry season, good sun, low humidity, followed internet instructions but got mould every time, so binned them.)

N

[Konini]

No - when you put salt onto any food it will help to draw the liquid out, but it can only do so much. I think those who are able to dry in the sun must be in areas of zero humidity with blazing hot sun for a lot of hours per day.

You can dry them in an oven, several hours (overnight) at the lowest setting, or I'm told in a slow cooker (but I can't see how that would work as there is no air circulation and a single layer means not very many tomatoes). A dehydrator has a heater as well as a blower, and the higher heat setting is needed for tomatoes. They are surprisingly difficult to dry - by mistake I had the machine on about half way instead of high for one batch last year and after 15 hours they weren't dry and were covered in white 'ash' which of course is mould. Most other fruits and vegetables are a lot more forgiving.

[junglechef]

I think a slow cooker would just make sauce out of tomatoes even only one layer but if not the yield would barley be worth the effort.

As for Sun-Dried Tomatoes well you've me your first non-fan, well not in person but they're almost the only "real" food that I don't care for except maybe some offal.