dehydrators, wish I had never heard of them

[B Porcupine]

My hubby got me a L'Equip one a couple of years back and it gets lots of use. Even things like, leftover spring onions get chopped & dehydrated and ready to top potatoes. Prob most useful as I have a v large garden, and thus lots of fruit, veg, herbs to dry. And I am, well, kind of obsevive about not letting anything go to waste!

Never made a fruit leather though...the name kind of puts me off

[Snoop Puss]

I keep looking at them, but as we run off solar panels, I think Mr Snoop would tear his hair out if I bought one unless I was well-armed with knowledge. The big issues would be:

What happens if you have to turn off the electricity before the item is fully dried? Can you just start up again the next day?

I've seen the wattage ratings and am surprised they're so high. Does anyone know if they run at these rated figures all the time or is that just at start-up, for example?

[B Porcupine]

Well, I can tell from (in) experience, that if I am not sure of the dry time I make a guesstimate, and after checking I sometimes have to restart the next morning with no ill effects - not sure about fruit leathers or other really wet (to start) items. But fruit and veg and herbs all have done fine with intermittent "breaks".

I don't think it uses that much electricity: depends upon the temperature you set it at and time you are running it. I would expect the energy is mostly to get the temp maintained and some for running the fan. Mine is not very noisy and I don't think I could heat the house with it Anyone have any ideas about energy useage/hour? I found this if you have a calculator, but again I don't think it is on full all the time:

https://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/the...s-hour-kwh-393

[Bren In Pots]

Not sure of the cost but it’s got to be cheaper than my electric oven plus I only use garden fruit so I figure they’re sort of free.

[MarkPelican]

I've been drying apples for a while now using a cheap round one. Its simple and works fine and dried sliced apple is better than a bag of crisps in the evening. This year I'm trying under-ripe apples from the garden as an alternative to letting the squirrels have them. They don't taste quite the same as fully ripe apples but what else does one do with windfall eaters?

[Bren In Pots]

Mark I've just made lots of apple sauce using unripe Worcester Permain eaters I do it every year and they taste fine.

[B Porcupine]

Dried apples and pears are fab for snacking on and adding to porridge’s, etc. Easy peasy to make, too. It is better than watching the windfalls and damaged fruits go bad. I tried buying some dried apples last year when I had no apples to do myself and was shocked at the price!

I dip mine a vitamin c bath and dry them on a rack before dehydrating, to reduce browning.

[Snoop Puss]

Thanks, BPorcupine. Useful info and link. I'll have a look at that.