I couldn't find anything doing a search and was wondering what brand makes a good food dehydrator. I am looking to do some fruits and of course beef jerky. Does anyone have a favorite brand or one that works better for meats? Any help would be appreciated.

Excalibur for fruits/veggies/herbs/etc....

Masterbuilt smoker for meats.

IMO, of course.

If you really want to dehydrate well, in a prepping or food storage sort of way, get yourself a freeze-dryer.

I’ll second Excalibur.

My Excaliber works well for fruits and jerky.

I have a Tribest Sedona Express which works great. I also use it for drying sprouted grain before I grind it for flour.

It also serves me as a bread proofing chamber, and I use it for yogurt making.

quote:

Originally posted by zoom6zoom:
I have a Tribest Sedona Express which works great. I also use it for drying sprouted grain before I grind it for flour.

It also serves me as a bread proofing chamber, and I use it for yogurt making.

Which grains do you sprout and dry to make flour?

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
Excalibur for fruits/veggies/herbs/etc....

Masterbuilt smoker for meats.

IMO, of course.

If you really want to dehydrate well, in a prepping or food storage sort of way, get yourself a freeze-dryer.

I would love a freeze dryer and can afford one but can’t justify the cost of them - well not as long as I’m married anyway. I have to pick and choose what I spend a premium on and right now it’s guns so the Harvest Right freeze dryer stays on the back burner for now.

My dad dehydrated all kinds of things on his Nesco. I have one two and used a bunch a couple years ago and not so much lately.

My favorites are peaches and watermelon. Yes watermelon - it is a sugary as candy. My wife likes the peaches and strawberries.

We both like the jerkey. My dad use to do a lot of apples. I haven't done apples yet.

The more expensive machines may have a faster drying time but the Nesco units work fine

quote:

Originally posted by deepocean:


Which grains do you sprout and dry to make flour?

Wheat and rye. I grind almost all my own flour. I also grind corn and rice. The difference freshly ground makes in breads is incredible. Plus, sprouting unlocks a lot of nutrients and converts starches, which lowers the carbs.

We have an Excalibur and a Cabelas (smaller of the two professional series). The Excalibur works well if you don’t use any kind of sheet on the drying tray. I prefer the Cabelas, due to the wire racks, interior light and drip tray.

quote:

Originally posted by SR:
My dad dehydrated all kinds of things on his Nesco. I have one two and used a bunch a couple years ago and not so much lately.

My favorites are peaches and watermelon. Yes watermelon - it is a sugary as candy. My wife likes the peaches and strawberries.

We both like the jerkey. My dad use to do a lot of apples. I haven't done apples yet.

The more expensive machines may have a faster drying time but the Nesco units work fine

I bought a new Nesco last year and am pleased with how they work. My parents had one while I was growing up and it worked well enough. The one I bought last year supports up to 30 trays, and since I inherited my parents broken unit, I now have double the trays. I like dehydrating tomatoes and peppers. I made some tabasco and ghost pepper infused salt that is pretty good. Dried tomatoes are AMAZING!

Excalibur user here.

Use it weekly for years.

I will be checking those two brands out. I like the store bought stuff but homemade is always better. I had a friend who used to make his own jerky with ground beef and some season packets,has anyone done that? I wish I could remember which brand he used as they were pretty good.

the ground beef jerky guns provide a nice uniform piece of meat. this is good because it will all dry at the same rate.

I like my jerky thin and rather crisp so I slice a roast very thinly on my slicer.

I tend not to use seasoning packs as they are full of preservatives.

I've got a dehydrator that my Grandma bought in the 80's... literally. I use the hell out of it. Mainly dried fruit and beef jerky for quick and easy healthy snacks for shooting matches and road trips. Only complaint I have would be the lack of a fan which would speed up the process... but it doesn't bother me enough to prompt me to spend more money on a new one.

I generally use either london broil or eye of the round for the jerky itself. I try to give it at least 24 hours in the marinade before putting it in the dehydrator...