Best Dehydrator?

[Miguel Arboleda]

Now that I’ve more or less gotten my base pack weight down to what I consider “good enough” for now (about 5.5 kg…10lbs?…), I want and need to concentrate on the food that I carry. As a diabetic using insulin this is of particular concern, since I have to worry about always having the right kind of calories just in case hypoglycemia hits (it’s happened several times in the mountains, once when I just barely had enough food to stave off the effects long enough to get down off the montain), which means carrying emergency food supplies (=extra weight).

Besides wanting to learn as much as I can about the best nutrition I can get up in the mountains (here in Japan the Japan Alps especially), I want to get the weight as low as possible. I’d like to learn more about deydrating my food. I feel like I’m starting all over again with learning ultralight concepts…

Would anyone be able to recommend a good dehydrator (one that can take a lot of use)?

[Alex Orgren]

My wife has used the American Harvester Snackmaster Elite for years. She runs it continuously for weeks at time, especially during apple season.

[Miguel Arboleda]

Thanks Alex, I’ll take a look at it.

[Rob Mcrae]

Miguel, anyone in the industry of dehydrating will tell you that by far the best quality product is the Excalibur dehydrators. They are pricey, but they simply make the best end product – far and away the best dehydrator I have used – making much better dried food than any other. Check out online reviews. I am glad that I paid extra for my Excalibur. But be aware, you probably don’t need the huge 9 try version – 4 is great for most. Have fun! I use mine not just for camping, but to make all sorts of interesting foods!

[Duane Hall]

Agreed. I’ve used a nine tray Excalibur for the last six years – it’s a fine piece of kit. Pricey though.

[Matt Eckhart]

On Foodnetwork there is a show called Good Eats. On the show they explain the science behind cooking. One episode they made jerky with 5 furnace filters and a square fan. The filters were stacked with jerky in between each filter and placed on top of a square fan so the fan was blowing into the filters. The fan was about the same size of the filters. Then 2 bungee cords were used to keep the filters on the fan and he placed the fan with filters in the widow so his whole house didn’t smell like jerky. In about 8 hours he has some really good looking jerky. You can prob do this with almost anything you want to dehydrate if you don’t want to spend the money on a dehydrator. I haven’t tried it yet but I plan on it. Oh ya, make sure you don’t use the fiberglass filters, use the paper kind.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

I tried Alton Brown’s idea..and it rocks :-D
They also have directions, if you search teh Food Network website :-)

[Laurie Ann March]

Miguel… wait about a week or so and then contact Nesco/American Harvest about an FD75 SK from their Open Country Line. This is a top fan 700 watt model and it is brand new. It is a brilliant design and comes with a decent set of trays and liners. I’ve ordered more than 20 of them for my wilderness cooking students and am very excited for their arrival. I should have got some extras.

Even though American Harvest/Nesco are more moderately priced dehydrator I would highly recommend one of their models (just get one that is 500 watts or more – trust me you’ll appreciate the time savings when drying your foods). They are quiet and efficient and mine has had more than 5 years of extreme use because I teach an online wilderness cooking course among other things.

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