What?
I use and love my $40 or so Nesco dehydrator found at many local retailers. It does a great job. The Excalibur comes in handy with larger items that don't fit on the thickness of one tray. It all depends on what you are working on.
Here's a link to Veggie-Amazon Store for a look at an Excalibur Dehydrator and the Nesco Dehydrator.
How?
This is part 1 of a 5 part series on dehydrating. Watch out for more videos to come on important topics like canning, and dehydrating fruits.
Video Breakdown:
-Ginger (1:24)
-Broccoli (1:49)
-Potatoes (2:21)
-Pre-treating and blanching potatoes (2:41)
-Sweet Potatoes (4:09)
-Lemons (4:55)
-Oranges (5:07)
-Zucchini and summer squash (5:20)
-Carrots (5:55)
-pre-treating w/ Lemon juice v. absorbic acid v. honey (6:26)
-Peppers (7:56)
-Spinach (9:05)
Why?
Seven Reasons to Include Dehydrated Foods
in Your Diet
by Michael Snyder
(c) 2007 TheRawDiet.com
1) Dehydrated foods are enzymatically active.
Food dehydration is the art of uncooking. The food temperature does not rise above 115 degrees Fahrenheit, which is the temperature at which enzymes are destroyed.
Dehydrated foods are alive and raw. A dehydrator with a fan, such as the Excalibur, is recommended because the fan will evenly distribute the air.
The dehydration temperature should be set at 145 degrees for the first 2 to 3 hours to prevent bacteria growth and fermentation.
The water will evaporate and keep the temperature of the food below 115 degrees.
After 2-3 hours, turn the temperature down to 110 or 115 degrees for the remaining time.
2) Long-term storage and preservation.
Dehydrated foods will not rot or spoil because the water has been evaporated.
They may be stored fresh in jars, Tupperware containers, or zip-lock bags for many weeks or months.
This is a perfect technique to use when your garden or fruit tree produces too much food to eat at once.
3) Create warm comfort foods.
The dehydrator allows us to eat warm foods without cooking them!
Raw food is not always cold food.
Warm up your food to 110 degrees before serving for an aromatically pleasing and comforting meal.
Warm up some chili or soup for 2 hours and serve warm. Make a soft, chewy,
warm, delicious flax-almond- apple pizza crust.
4) Create healthy breads and chips.
Having trouble beating your cravings for starchy foods?
Make a raw version of these addictive foods and use them in the same ways you would
use the cooked versions.
Breads and pizza crusts are made by sprouting grains and seeds. The grains are then mixed with other ingredients, formed into a loaf, and dehydrated.
The chips are made with thin slices of root vegetables. Marinate them and dehydrate until crunchy.
5) Create the textures of cooked foods without the carcinogens.
The dehydrator allows you to make healthy, delicious, and raw potato chips, French fries, breads, and granola cereals.
The dehydrated versions have similar tastes and textures to the cooked version without the acrylamide.
What is acrylamide?
Dr. Joseph Mercola writes "Acrylamide, a white, odorless but potentially cancer- causing chemical, has been found in many common foods such as potato chips, French fries, bread, rice and cereals.
It appears that the chemical, which is used in the treatment of sewage and waste and to manufacture certain chemicals, plastics and dyes, is a byproduct of cooking food at high temperatures. "
As written on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Web site, EPA has classified acrylamide as a Group B2, probable human carcinogen and according to the U.K. independent Committee on Carcinogenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COC):
.... exposure to DNA-damaging carcinogens such as acrylamide should be as low as reasonably practicable.
Art Baker, writing in Living Nutrition magazine vol. 10, says "overly heated fats generate numerous carcinogens including acrolein, nitrosamines, hydrocarbons, and benzopyrene (one of the most potent cancer-causing agents known)"
6) Time saving techniques.
Making dehydrated foods will help you save hours of valuable time!
Spend 30 minutes preparing a recipe, toss it in the dehydrator, and you are finished.
This is perfect for the lazy chef who does not want to spend time in the kitchen. The key is to make a large quantity of food that will last the whole month.
You will have delicious prepared food to snack on whenever hunger strikes.
I recommend soaking and dehydrating a whole months worth of nuts, seeds, and grains. They are now ready to use in your recipes.
The secret to creating the perfect pie crust is to soak the nuts in advance, and then dry them in the dehydrator because this makes them crunchy and easy to digest.
Freshly soaked nuts are too wet for most pie crusts.
7) Chocolate chip cookies with milk.
There is no reason for health seekers to give up comfort foods!
Remember the milk and cookies that mom lovingly prepared for you as a child? With the dehydrator, we now have the ability to make a healthy superfood
version of chocolate chip cookies.
Cookies are best served warm with a tall glass of vanilla almond milk.