Dehydrator advice please

[Seahorse]

6 of us here. We're perhaps far enough south of you to make general warmth less of an issue for bread making though?

[Sylvan]

Aye, probably
Grumpy had to put the dough in the fan oven, on the lowest heat, last time we made pizzas. Unfortunately I recently acquired one of those plugs that tell you how much power you're using and went around checking everything - and the oven costs over £1 an hour so we're not keen on doing that too often!

Well if the Westfalia one is big enough for 6 of you it ought to be big enough for us, since there are only 4 of us left at the moment (even though another 6 are due to turn up later this month )

(PS: Is Solsbury Hill in Lincolnshire?)

[chris]

Which westfalia one are you looking at Sylvan? Unless I'm reading it wrong how is a £34 one in competition with the £200 excalibur? That's 5 trays vs 9 too?

Have I got the wrong dehydrator? Food Dehydrator at Westfalia Mail Order UK

Quite fancy one myself! If only for the sun dired toms and fruit leathers!

[Sylvan]

No, you've got the right one Chris.

We live a long way from the shops (and are aiming to move even further from civilisation asap) so we only go out once a month or so and we have major gluts of things like plums, apples and rhubarb at harvest time, which have to last us for the rest of the year. We're not really chutney people - still have bottles left from 3 or 4 years ago - and there's only so much jam you can eat, so we have 3 full freezers.
Trouble is...
(1) once you've frozen the stuff you're still using electricity to keep it frozen for the rest of the year;
(2) we have had power cuts lasting as long as 3 or 4 days in the past - a lot of food ruined ;
(3) the chest freezer is on its last legs (and people have been known to turn freezers off at the sockets by mistake - I'm mentioning no names - well, not while he's sitting next to me anyway ).

We've been toying with the idea of a dehydrator for a while but we had a scare a couple of weeks ago with the chest freezer, which was what really what decided us.

We're not sure whether to get a small one first, to make sure we get on with it, before spending a lot of money, or whether we will then be frustrated because it's too small and we can't buy another one till it dies.

I've also read that the plastic trays can be a little fragile and we're all incredibly clumsy in this house . The Excalibur ones are supposed to be almost indestructible.

I was hoping someone might have had experience of both.

[chris]

Oooh, I see I did get the wrong end of the stick

My wife is interested in one too.. normally I'd rush out and buy the expensive one, but as is of late we're turning things around (i.e. that extra £170 odd could go off the mortgage instead - if we get the cheap one!)

I'll ask for it for xmas I think to see how we get on, at least if we dont get on with it it's only £40 odd, rather than £200!

The moving part sounds great... that's what we'd like to do (and is part of getting rid of this damn mortgage!!)

[Sylvan]

I always used to go for the top of the range whenever I bought anything electrical, on the basis that they would stand up to anything we threw at them and last forever - till 15-20 years ago when the teenagers started complaining that the VCR was horribly out of date (and it was nowhere near dying). Then I went to the other extreme .

I quite fancy the thought of a dehydrator that could last 30 years or more though.

(The ancestral dehydrator? )

[Alison]

I've also read that the plastic trays can be a little fragile and we're all incredibly clumsy in this house . The Excalibur ones are supposed to be almost indestructible.

I was hoping someone might have had experience of both.

No experience of the Excalibur ones but the Westfalia trays are fine, they've been dropped a few times and not broken or anything.

One thing though, you talk of effectively replacing freezing with drying. They're not really comparable, you might be better to consider bottling fruit and veges and get a bottling rated pressure cooker so you can effectively make your own tinned (well bottled!) stuff. I only do mine in a water bath which is only suitable for fruit but I do keep think of splashing out............

[pumpkin cuddler]

Hi
We have the Westfilia dehydrator and we have used it for drying ginger, herbs and leathers.
This might initially sound like I am putiing bad things about the company by saying it broke down on us and simply stopped working. But and this is a real boost to the company, they were fantastic. So very helpful the return postage for the dehydrator was free, they kept us informed all the way along as to them recieving it and when they would be sending one back to us and it was very quick with a new replacement being returned to us. I can highly recommend the company and the dehydrator, in fact we are making gooseberry leather today.

[Alison]

Hi
We have the Westfilia dehydrator and we have used it for drying ginger, herbs and leathers.
This might initially sound like I am putiing bad things about the company by saying it broke down on us and simply stopped working. But and this is a real boost to the company, they were fantastic. So very helpful the return postage for the dehydrator was free, they kept us informed all the way along as to them recieving it and when they would be sending one back to us and it was very quick with a new replacement being returned to us. I can highly recommend the company and the dehydrator, in fact we are making gooseberry leather today.

How long to you "cook" your leathers for, am having some trouble getting them right at the moment - last year was fine but I didn't note down what I did

[pumpkin cuddler]

We made gooseberry leather the other day it took just under 7 hours, approx. every 1 to 2 hours we moved the trays depending on which ones were drying faster, seems that one side dries quicker than the other and from top to bottom to. Just wizzed up the fruit in the blender first, cooked it for a short time, well once it reached boiling then put it out on the baking parchment and hey presto. We dont bother to strain it. It seems such a waste to remove stuff and adds to the look of it we think. Anyway hope this helps. By the way this seems to norm for other leathers too. One thing we have learnt is to make sure the consistency is the same all over no areas wetter as they dry out much faster. If once wizzed up some of the puree looks a bit wet drain it off and use in drinks if you like. This way the puree seems to cook better.

[chris]

*bump*

Just looking at these again.. westfalia have a digital one, where you can alter the temperature. Any of you experienced bods with them think this is worth the extra (I think its a tenner extra).

thanks

[VirginVegGrower]

I've got the Westfalia one and it's been used predominantly to dry the mushrooms that OH forages but I've also done tomatoes, leathers and herbs. Have also been experimenting with fruit leathers but struggling a bit to get them right but think that is more me than the dehydrator.

I made fruit leathers the other night and they were first time perfect. More luck than judgement?! Maybe.
I used the oven for three hours on lowest setting with door open. Kitchen like a sauna though! What recipe did you use Alison?
I am interested as would also like to purchase a dehydrator although if they are on for hours, quite frankly I don't see the point.

[northepaul]

I am tempted too, as I really want to make fruit leathers, but my oven wont go down low enough - (it doesnt have a setting below gas 1) and just burns everything!!!
So I may request one for christmas...or even an early present

Edit: just looked at the website and the original one is 5% off at the mo...

[VirginVegGrower]

Did you keep your door open?

[northepaul]

yes......