Dehydrating

I do not mention our dehydrator often.  But we use it a lot.

This time of year it is especially nifty.  The temperatures (in Fahrenheit) are in the low 60s during the day and about 40 at night.  If we keep the dehydrator going and do some baking each day then we do not need to heat the house with the stove.

Last week our farmer friend Annette sold us a box of Asian pear "seconds".  These are great for dehydrating.  They dry in two days and taste like candy.

Our Nesco dehydrator is old enough I cannot find it for sale, but I think this one is the new version.  We like this model for two reasons.

First, the drying happens top-down.  This means the bottom is cool enough it will not hurt a wood floor or table.  It is also more pleasant to add trays while the machine is on if the air does not blow up into your face.

Second, it has at least 750 watts of heat.  The 450 watt models can only handle 4 to 6 trays at once.  Being able to dry 12 trays is nice.  (I can prepare eight trays of pears in about half an hour, and apples are even quicker with an apple peeler/corer.)