Wednesday 17 September 2014

Dehydration...not always a bad thing.....

...at least not when you are applying it to your food!!

Let me start at the beginning. Last year a friend of mine signed a contract to carry out a job in London and asked me if I would like to borrow 'Excalibur' whilst she was away. Excalibur being a food dehydrator. Of course I jumped at the chance to have a play and enjoyed doing some experimenting. But as with all good things I received a text message and the playtime came to an end!!

So what was I to do??

Look into buying my own of course!!

There are lots of dehydrators out there, different makes, models and designs and, to be honest 'Excalibur' is probably the most expensive on the market but my friend had tried a few before going for that model and found that none were as good.

So this left me doing a little research and purchasing my own dehydrator.

UK Juicers

I got my dehydrator from!! UK Juicers as after much research nowhere could do me a better deal...including Ebay.

Postage was free standard next day delivery with a text giving me an hours delivery slot. The dehydrator was packaged securely.

Excalibur food dehydrator.

So this is the front of the dehydrator. The door totally removes in order for you to get the trays out. I went for the ten tray model.....

Excalibur food dehydrator.

....with the timer on it so that I didn't have to worry about putting it on whilst I was out. It is quite big and a little noisy so mine lives in the shed. This way it isn't take space up in the house and the noise doesn't bother us.

I also got.....

dehydrator parraflex sheets

some parraflex sheets too. These aren't necessary for drying dry foods but they are easier to use than cling film if you intend on making fruit leathers and such. I purchased 5 of these as I didn't feel I would need one for each shelf.

also included with the dehydrator was your usual users manual with some handy tips and a few recipes plus an extra book free of charge.

Excalibur, preserve it naturally, complete dehydration food guide.

This is a great book with lots of recipe ideas and tips to help you make the best out of your dehydrator that usually retails at £18.95 so I was very happy to get it free of charge!!

So there we have it...my latest purchase in order to help me to make the most of the produce I grow and also create some other things whilst I'm at it.

My total purchase cost was £328. So certainly not cheap but after getting the chance to 'try before I buy' I know this is a good investment for me!!

I will let you know in time some of the things I try out.

Still not totally up on everything but hoping to get caught up with some of my favourite blogs over the next few days and also hoping it won't be another week before I get another post up!!
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15 comments:

  1. How interesting, Ii shall look forward to your future posts. I've been thinking of investing an a dehydrator!

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    1. I can't personally comment on any other but this one is well worth the money.

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  2. for someone who grows as many vegetable as you do this is the perfect purchase. That looks way different than the cheap model I have but then I don't do too much dehydrating. I mainly use mine for making beef jerky

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    1. I have made plenty of jerky in mine already Ann...not just beef though, pork and chicken too!!

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  3. Look forward to seeing what you get up to with it.

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  4. Sounds interesting never heard of them before. Look forward to seeing the results.

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  5. I shall look forward to seeing what you do with it. It's always good to be able to have a go with someone elses when buying something like this as I think you can start off all enthusiastic, but in reality it won't get much use, so it's good that you've been able to try before you buy so that you know it's something you'll definitely use.

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    1. I don't think I would have gone for this model if I hadn't known how much use I could get out of it Jo as I really don't like spending money for no return!!

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  6. Dear Tanya, That sounds perfect for you to use with all the wonderful veggies and fruits that you grow. It will certainly keep everything from going to waste. Have a great day. Blessings dear. Catherine

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    1. That's the plan Catherine...after all there is only so much jam and apples sauce you can eat!!

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  7. Thursday 9th October 2014

    Dear Tanya,

    Isn't dehydration is a new word for an old form of preserving foo? People have been drying flowers, herbs and mushrooms for ages, haven't they?

    But it must be cleaner and faster to dry food items such as mushrooms in a dehydrator-box than hanging them up from the ceiling of your kitchen to dry. With less dust on them too.

    Are you going to dry vegetables that you have grown in your garden or how are you going to use it?

    Thank you so much for visiting my post about Roz Morris' sci-fi novel, Lifeform Three. Glad it is only a story!

    Hope you are well and happy.

    Kind regards,
    Anna
    oxox

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    1. You're right Anna, food has been dried for many centuries for preservation though I doubt Britain's climate would be very goof for air drying hence my purchase. I have always dried my herbs and chillis inside and I may continue to do so but this way there will be so much more I can preserve in this fashion and also make some lovely tasty teats too.

      I will be drying my own produce and also making meat jerky too!!

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  8. My hubby is a hot pepper fanatic and he dehydrates them all the time. I have a cheap dehydrator but it gets the job done. My hubby brought 5 of his pepper plants inside this year and we have a growing room set up for them so we will be dehydrating year round.

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keep it clean...keep it relevant...I look forward to reading your comments!!