8
Filling the Drying Trays
When loading the food into the trays you can use all of the trays’ top surface, but
some airfl ow must be maintained. Try to place the food in a single layer where 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 fi nished, 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, but it also means that
as the food shrinks during the drying process, smaller pieces can fall through the holes
in the drying trays. To prevent this, particularly when drying chopped or shredded foods,
line the trays with mesh tray Inserts before laying out the food. Chopped food should
not be spread thicker than 3/8 inch. Use a fork to expose the mesh tray insert in several
places to provide proper air circulation.
If you do not have mesh tray inserts available, use nylon netting, needlepoint
canvas, cheesecloth or similarly, coarse woven fabric. When lining the tray be sure to
cut an opening for the tray’s center hole, The fabric should be food safe, allow air to
pass through it, and it must be laundered before being used. Use care when choosing
fabric as sticky foods may not be able to be easily removed, and particles from the
fabric may stick to the food pieces.
It may be necessary to stir the fi nely 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. If too
much liquid drips into the bottom of the unit it can be damaged necessitating service.
Additionally, The dripping from a tray above can change the fl avor of different foods
on lower trays To help lessen dripping, after placing food on drying trays and before
placing them on the dehydrator base, tap the tray fi rmly downward on a towel laid on
the counter top a few times to remove excess moisture.
To catch any remaining dripping during dehydration that may occur with very moist
foods, use fruit leather sheets placed on the bottom two trays. Alternate the sheets
on one half of the two trays (i.e.. the left side of the fi rst tray and the right side of the
second tray). Then place these two bottom trays on the dehydrator base before placing
the remaining trays with the food to be dried above them. When rotating trays, wipe the
fruit leather sheets, but leave these two trays at the bottom of the stack of trays. When
the food becomes dry enough so that it is no longer dripping, remove the fruit leather
sheets from the two bottom trays to enhance air fl ow.
Do not use wax paper in place of the fruit leather sheets as the wax on the paper wilt
melt at dehydration temperatures which can taint the food or damage the dehydrator.
Always remember to leave the center hole of each tray uncovered.
