A Dehydrating Misconception

FoodPantrie Slices

When my electric dehydrator racks are full, I use my FoodPantrie. It uses no electricity. It doesn’t have a thermostat or a blower. I like showing how simple dehydrating is. 

One of my pet peeves is dehydrating cookbooks that insist that you must have a certain temperature for a certain length of time.  They try to make dehydrating sound complicated and difficult. Their goal is to convince you that without their magical instructions, you will be an abysmal failure as a dehydrator.

 Not so… this is very easy. It is not complicated.  People have been dehydrating foods since the dawn of man.  Just keep the food where air can circulate freely and keep it away from insect pests and moisture.

This is a very simple device. It has five shelves surrounded by a zippered screen. The one drawback MIGHT be the fact that you cannot set it on the counter. It must hang. 

One consideration with this type of dehydrator is that if you have humid weather, you will probably need to keep your foods in the machine longer. 

That being said,

I do not recommend this method

for making jerky or dehydrating meats. 

You do need at least 140° to prevent botulism while preserving meats. 

• Primitive people hung their strips of meat near a fire for to preserve them, repel insects, and add flavoring from the smoke.

One day later…

These dime-thin carrot slices have been on the racks about one day.  They are shriveled and leathery.  I don’t think they are quite done yet, so I’ll leave them there at least one more day.

Of course, in a humid climate, you would leave them in longer.