How I made fruit chips with a food dehydrator
Why a Dehydrator
One day I was helping my culinary professor clean out her office space when I found an Excalibur Food Dehydrator on her shelf. I was very curious because I have never used one and heard so much about them. I remember I had a very strong peach tea that was made with dried peaches and my auntie said that she made them with a food dehydrator. This was my first time using them and I learned a lot from this experience.
Excalibur Food Dehydrator
First Impressions / What I Learned
From a first standpoint I had no idea what I was doing and then I noticed a couple things:
When taking off the front cover there was no hinges to keep it place, it was a cover that can be put on and taken off very easily.
There were 8 racks and 9 rack slots, This shows that most of the food supposed to be dehydrated is more than likely a small size and sometimes of medium size.
The left dial that controlled the heat had distinct temperatures for specific foods / food groups.
The right dial that controlled the time ranged from 2-26 hours meaning the food dehydrator could theoretically run for a whole day straight.
The Process
With a little research I figured out how to work the dehydrator without destroying the bananas and apple slices I prepared. Initially I set the dehydrator time to 8 hours and thought that would do the trick and give me crispy fruit chips. The whole dehydrating process took 12 hours in all to get the bananas and apples to fully dry out with out sticking to the racks. The results were better than I thought it would be. Red delicious apples, which are known for its lack of flavor surprisingly had strong flavor as a dried chip. The banana chip was very sweet and chewy and sadly stuck to the rack. Great results, but I believe there are room for improvements.
Final Thougthts
Using the food dehydrator for the first time was fun in my opinion, even if most of the process is waiting for your food to dehydrator. I want to recommend those who have never tried using a food dehydrator to actually try it. I believe using this appliance can help in bring out more of the foods natural flavor and help make awesome dishes or spices. I know i could’ve prevented a lot of the mistakes I made if I just left the dehydrator alone and waited patiently for the fruit to dehydrate. But all in all I enjoyed the experience and will try dehydrating other foods in the future.