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Originally posted by HiDez Gal

Julie,
Have you seen the article on drying on the MJF web site? The page is: http://www.maryjanesfarm.com/SimplyMJ/articles/column34.asp

This web page has some info on drying tomatoes: http://www.seasonalchef.com/tomdehyd.htm

Here is a page with additional drying info: http://www.budget101.com/dehydrated_foods.htm

According to GenMacManiman in her book "Dry It" you can use any area with a fairly constant temperature of 95 to 100 degrees. She suggests using a fish tank thermometer to help you locate the right spot. Gen says that some possibilites are the top of the refrigerator, near a hot water heater (possible to build a small rack over the water heater), near a furnace, over a heat register or last choice an oven with a pilot light. She says ovens are usually less than ideal because they are too hot and don't have enough air movement.

It is possible to build your own dehydrator and her book gives detailed plans. I prefer using a dehydrator and have an old Equi-flow that i have been using since the late 70's. We also got one of the Living Foods dehydrator kits- beautiful thing, looks like a piece of furniture, but i still prefer my old Equi-flow for things like jerky. Since the Equi-flow is very noisy we are now only using it for drying meat to make jerky. The other one doesn't make any noise and is very efficient.

I have a brand new, extra copy of the book "Dry It" and will sell it to anyone who is a member here who would like it for $8.00 plus the cost of shipping, you can contact me via email. (Just click on my screen name to go to my profile and then click on email.)




From my favorite coffee cup:
"A gal's gotta do what a gal's gotta do." Minnie Cody, 1901

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