Advice on Food Dehydrators

[3tomboys]

I am looking into buying a small food dehydrator. I was wondering if anyone had any advice on the features I should look for. Also I understand that you can make tortilla chips,cookies, etc in one, has anyone tried this and if so has it worked well? Thank you in advance for any advice!

[cheles2kids]

2 things that are important in a dehydrator:
a fan
temp. controls

As for making cookies? Nope never heard of this and I've never tried it.

I use mine for lots of different fruits and veggies, making jerky, and even for drying livers as dog treats.

I have heard of alot of people using them for drying herbs and making vegetables or fruits to turn into powders.
Basically you can let your imagination go wild on these.
Tomatoe powder (to add to soups, or sauces)
Strawberry powder (to add to desserts or to make strawberry milk, etc.)

There are several food deyhdrating yahoo groups out there if you do a search, and they have tons of wonderful information on what to dry, which dryers are best, where to get the best prices, what to do with the foods once they are dehydrated, etc.

Let me know if I can help in answering any other questions!

[Greebo]

Most dehydrators don't move enough air to dehydrate without also using heat, which means cooking the food, and changing the taste and texture.

You can make your own food dehydrator with a box fan, *paper* furnace filters (with the shape like /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\), and a couple of bungee cords. Take 3 or 4 filters, set one aside as a "cap", lay out the food on the filters, stack, put the cap on top, lay them on the fan, bungee them in place securely, turn the fan on high, and boom - instant heat free dehydrator.

Alton Brown - FTW. <-- L:ink to the full text of the episode in which he makes said dehydrator. No pics, sorry.

Ah, here you go:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfI0NKl-Kq0&feature=related"]YouTube- Good Eats S09E03P02 - Urban Preservation II - The Jerky[/ame]

Start at 1min20sec