BOOKSHELF: The Dehydrator Bible

There's a lot more to do with a dehydrator than dry herbs and make jerky! Preserve your harvest economically and create your own dry mix meals with the simple and hearty recipes contained in this tome of dehydrating knowledge!

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THE DEHYDRATOR BIBLE: Includes Over 400 Recipes

By Jennifer MacKenzie, Jay Nutt and Don Mercer

Although dehydration is an ages old method of food preservation, it's become a lost art for the most part with modern technology like refrigerators and freezers. But, what if we want to preserve more than will fit in our electric units, or we are travelling and won't have any access to electricity? This book will give you all the answers!

The book opens with a discussion concerning the history and advantages of  dry food preservation, the basic equipment you will need to get started, drying techniques, and storage of your products.

Perhaps the most important portion of the book comes next, where you will find a detailed manual as to how to properly dry each individual herb, vegetable and fruit, as well as different types of meat. Proper drying method and time is essential in creating a viable final product that will store and reconstitute well. I've referred to this section of the book several times since I've had it.

The book goes on to offer recipes for everyday meals, various types of jerky, portable dry mix camp meals, and other crafts and gifts like dried flowers. You can even use the dehydrator to make pet treats! It's actually quite convenient to use dehydrated vegetables in place of frozen in soups and stews. We store them in the pantry in glass jars, rather than taking up valuable freezer space, and there is no "freezer burn" to be concerned with for long-term storage!

I found the dry mix trail meals to be of particular interest. They can be mixed and carried in a backpack in ziplock baggies, or put together ahead of time and stored in mylar bags or mason jars with oxygen absorbers. Just add boiling water, and you're ready to eat!

BOTTOM LINE: 5 of 5 Stars. From beginner to expert, this book has a little something for everyone. It's an invaluable go-to reference book! Highly recommended for anyone interested in using dehydration for food preservation.

REVIEW: Nesco Snackmaster Pro 700 Watt Dehydrator

A friend of mine is interested in purchasing a dehydrator and asked about the model I use. A lot of folks are under the assumption they need to spend hundreds of dollars to get into dehydrating. It's just not true! 

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When purchasing a dehydrator, you will want to know the wattage of the unit you're looking at. The higher the wattage, the shorter the drying time will be, in general. It's a good idea to choose a unit that's AT LEAST 700 watts. The most important feature to look for in a dehydrator is an adjustable thermostat. If it doesn't have it, you're pretty much limited to fruits and vegetables and/or excessive drying time for jerky. Forget herbs, the pre-set temperature is much too high and will bake the scent and flavor right out of them.

You will also want to choose an expandable unit, for which you can readily find additional stackable trays, screens and fruit roll inserts. If you intend on dehydrating corn, peas, chopped celery, and such, you MUST have screens, or else the vegetables will fall through the tray grates and fail to dry. If at some point you wish to make your own dry mix camp meals, you will certainly want to be able to get "fruit roll" inserts to spread cooked rice, beans, or sauces on to dry. As the name implies, they are actually meant to make homemade "Fruit Roll-Ups".

We have been extremely happy with our Nesco Snackmaster Pro Food Dehydrator . As the title says, it's a 700 watt unit, and it has an adjustable thermostat ranging from a low of 95 degrees for herbs, to 160 degrees for jerky. It comes with 5 plastic trays, but is expandable up to 13 trays. 2 screens and 2 fruit roll inserts are included. The additional trays, screens, and roll inserts are readily available at several online retailers, as well as in-store at Rural King and Cabela's (they are sold at Cabela's under the "Open Country" brand name).

To operate, simply prepare your food stuffs, place them in the trays stacking as you go, place on the lid, set the thermostat, plug it in, and you're on your way! It's completely fool proof (that is unless you forget to blanch your potatoes first and they all turn black......). Most vegetables require no preparation other than slicing/dicing, although there are a few exceptions, such as those potatoes I mentioned. Fruit is usually sliced, then briefly soaked in a mixture of water with lemon juice to avoid browning. Small leaved herbs like Thyme and Globe Basil can be put in right on the stems, and removed after drying. Jerky is a little more complicated, but the flavor can't be beat compared to store brands!

Dehydrating has gained popularity among gardeners and hunters in recent years. Home dehydrated goods can be stored in jars with oxygen absorber packets for a number of years without the use of electricity right in the pantry along with your home canned goods. There are even entire cookbooks now dedicated to creating dehydrated snacks, and entire meals from dehydrated ingredients. Look for that review later in the week!

BOTTOM LINE: 5 of 5 Stars. I would 110% recommend this product for casual everyday home use. It has dried dozens of batches of various veggies, all of my herbs and perhaps over a dozen pounds of jerky for us in the past two years we've had it. I would definitely recommend at least purchasing an additional set of 2 Clean-A-Screen  and 2 Fruit Roll Sheets to start. Add-A-Tray also come in sets of two if you would like to expand. Again, this dehydrator will hold up to 13 at a time! (On a side note, this dehydrator has a 4.5 Star rating on Amazon.com and is the #1 Best Seller!)

If you plan on dehydrating large batches of dozens of pounds of homegrown produce all summer/autumn long, you may want to go with a 1000-watt Gardenmaster, which is a little bit larger in circumference and will cut drying time by perhaps an hour or two per batch.