How to Use a Food Dehydrator: Canning Basics

A food dehydrator is a great tool to use for food preservation. It’s useful for preserving all sorts of foods; from raisins to fruit leather to jerky. The best part, a food dehydrator is super simple to use. Today in our canning basics series we are going to teach you how to use a food dehydrator.

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The main components of an electric food dehydrator include:
* a source of heat
* airflow to circulate the dry air
* aeration trays to hold the food during the drying process
* mesh or flat fruit leather sheets to dry certain types of foods like fruit leather

A food dehydrator uses a heater for heating the air and a fan to circulate the heated air. For my dehydrator, the fan and heater are in the base. It plugs into the wall and has a temperature gauge on the front. The dehydrator also has aeration trays that stack on the base. The food you are dehydrating is placed on the stacked aeration trays. Sometimes you have smaller food items that require an additional mesh screen so they will not fall through the larger holes of the aeration trays. If you are making fruit leather you will need a full plastic tray for your pureed fruit. The lid goes on the top and helps to keep the heat inside the unit.

Additional Information
As you are placing your food on the tray, leave enough space between them for good airflow. It tends to take anywhere from 4-24 hours to dehydrate food depending on which food you are dehydrating and the recipe you have put it into. This varies depending on the water content and the size. Certain smaller food pieces may need to be taken out of the dehydrator early so they don’t burn while the larger items are finishing. You can tell the food is done when it feels dry and crisp. Another trick is to periodically rotate the bottom trays to the top and the top to the bottom.

According to the Ball Blue Book for Preserving, there are 3 main dehydrating temperatures; 125 degrees for vegetables, 135 degrees for fruit, and 145 degrees for meats. (Fahrenheit)

Storage of Dehydrated Food
Dehydrating food doesn’t take up freezer space and no jars are needed. You just need to place your food in an airtight container. You can vacuum seal it if you want to maintain freshness for longer.

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Intro: (00:00)
Parts to a dehydrator: (00:12)
Temperature: (01:20)
Storing the food: (01:45)
What we like to make: (02:00)
How long it takes to dehydrate: (02:45)
Outro: (03:30)

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