Basic food preparation tips
Fruit and vegetable peel often contain much of the food´s nutritional value. Therefore it is better
not to peel if the dried food is to be eaten as snack or used in cookies. On the other hand, you will
want to peel apples intended for a pie or tomatoes intended for soup. Generally, if you normally
peel the food for a specific recipe, then peel the food before it is to be dehydrated.
One of the most important factors in successful dehydration is how the food is sliced. When drying
fruits it helps to get all the slices about the same thickness so they all dry to the same moisture
level, at the same time. Thick slices dry more slowly than thin slices. The thickness you choose
is up to you but slicing all the pieces to as close to the same size as is possible will help ensure
success and consistency.
The skin of many foods naturally protects the food but it can hamper the dehydration process.
During dehydration, moisture escapes best from a cut or broken surface not through the tough
skin. Therefore, the larger the cut area, the faster and better the food will dehydrate.
For this reason thin stalked vegetables like green beans, asparagus, and rhubarb should be
cut in half the long way, or with an extreme diagonal cut to expose as much of the inner parts
of the food as possible.
Fruit should be sliced across the core and not down through the core. Try to always make thin
flat cuts.
Broccoli stems should be halved or quartered depending upon diameter. Small fruits like stra-
wberries can be cut in half. Even smaller berries should be cut in half or blanched slightly to break
the skin.
Filling the drying trays
When loading the food into the trays you can use all of the tray´s surface, but some airflow must be
maintained. Try to place the food in a single layer whenever possible. This is particularly important
with foods like banana slices and pineapple rings and not quite as important with beans. If some
of the pieces come out with too much moisture when you are finished, one of the reasons is that
it might have been covered by other pieces of food.
Dehydration removes the moisture and will cause the food to shrink as it dries. This allows you
to store the same amount of food in a smaller space. Chopped food should not be spread thicker
than 3/8 inch. If needed, use mesh sheet to hold food.
It may be necessary to stir the finely chopped food once or twice during dehydration to ensure
even drying of all the pieces. To do so, turn the machine off, unplug it, remove the trays, stir, then
reassemble and restart the machine according to the instructions.
Prevent dripping
Some foods such as very ripe tomatoes and citrus or sugared fruits may drip. Dripping from a tray
above can change the flavour of different food on lower trays. To help lessen dripping after placing
food on drying trays and before placing them on the dehydrator base, tap the tray firmly downward
on a towel laid on the counter top a few times to remove excess moisture.
