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The funny thing about this food dehydrator. The first thing I wanted to make wasn’t jerky, or banana chips. Nope. It was Onion powder believe it or not.
Ya know when you get a thing of onion powder, but don’t necessarily use it every day? So then it like all solidifies down at the bottom? Yeah I got so tired of that I just quit buying it. Sure I use it- but not quick enough apparently (granted I don’t season with it EVERY time) But there were definitely other things I was interested upon doing. Jerky, Seasoning’s, Homemade fruit roll ups, ect.
What I didn’t even think about though was chips! Which was exactly the first thing I made with mine. I had some green apples that absolutely nobody was eating, so I figured I’d put them in the dehydrator, and someone suggested to add cinnamon, so needless to say the entire afternoon and evening my house smelled like freshly baked apple pie!
What I got
I purchased a Nesco food dehydrator. I liked the size and the simplicity considering it’d be my first dehydrator. There wasn’t any settings to change, just an on and off switch, which all things considered I thought would be perfect for my first dehydrator. Once I have a bigger kitchen and more knowledge behind dehydrating things, that’s when I’ll look into a bit of a fancier model.
I also noticed that it is still 100% possible to make things such as fruit leather and garlic powder, you just need to purchase whatever attachment/accessory you need to accomplish whatever it is your wanting to dehydrate.
It fits perfectly on my counter, and its easy enough to put away as well. Since the trays are removeable you can store it in any way that is most convenient for you.
Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/47Sen22
What I’m learning
Probably the most important thing I am learning so far is that its a pretty darn good idea to make everything fairly uniform when it comes to cutting things. The apple chips I intend upon giving my husband for lunch, but I’m now realizing that its taking so long because they are all different sizes!
I’m also learning to prep stuff in the evening that way all you have to do is line up your dehydrator and turn it on! It felt wrong to keep it on while I was asleep, so from now on I’ll be starting to dehydrate anything in the early morning in hopes that its done by the time I’m going to bed.
How I made the Apple Chips:
I cut up all my apples. Next time however I’m going to use the mandolin to ensure even slices. I placed them all on the dehydrator trays, ensuring that none of them are touching, and I sprinkled cinnamon over them all. After that I just stacked all the trays and turned on the dehydrator and its just a waiting game after that.