← Wiki

Ingredient

Dehydrator

Also known as: food dehydrator, Excalibur dehydrator, freeze dryer

Heated-and-ventilated drying chamber that reduces food water activity below 0.6 — the right ingredient to preserve fruit, vegetable, herb, meat, and fungi by simple moisture removal. Three classes: *stackable-tray dehydrators* (cheap, ~$60, uneven drying), *box-style with horizontal airflow* (Excalibur — even drying, ~$200–400, the standard), and *freeze dryers* (Harvest Right — superior product retention, $2,000–4,000, retains color and rehydrates better). Distinct from oven-drying (workable but uses more energy at higher temperatures, often dries too fast and case-hardens). The right ingredient for jerky, fruit leather, dried herbs, dried mushrooms, dried tomatoes, vegetable powders, dehydrated soup mixes.

Inputs / outputs

  • Temperature ranges: 95°F (herbs, raw foods), 115–125°F (fruit, vegetables), 145–165°F (meat, jerky)
  • Time: herbs 4–8 hours, fruit 6–12 hours, vegetables 8–14 hours, meat jerky 4–8 hours, mushrooms 4–8 hours
  • Energy: ~500–700 W typical; 5–15 kWh per typical batch
  • Output: food at <10% moisture, water activity <0.6; shelf-stable in airtight container 6 months to 2 years

Solves / unlocks

  • Long-keeping fruit (apple slices, banana chips, mango leather, raisins, prunes)
  • Long-keeping herbs (basil, [[oregano|oregano]], [[parsley|parsley]], thyme — far better than oven-dried)
  • Vegetable powders (tomato, kale, beet powders for soup bases and seasoning)
  • Jerky (meat or vegetable; salt-cure first)
  • Dried mushrooms (concentrate flavor; rehydrate in stocks)
  • Sun-dried-style tomatoes (intermediate moisture, high flavor)
  • Hiking food / emergency food storage
  • Concentrated stocks and bouillons (dehydrated stock cubes, vegetable powders)

Constraints

  • Even airflow matters — stackable-tray dehydrators dry top trays slower than bottom; rotate or use box-style.
  • Slicing thickness uniformity — uneven slices = uneven drying = some pieces over-dried, others under-dried.
  • Case-hardening — too-hot too-fast forms a moisture barrier on the surface that traps interior moisture; reject and re-do at lower temperature.
  • Storage humidity — dried food rehydrates from ambient; airtight glass jar with desiccant or oxygen absorber for long-term.
  • Botulism with vacuum-sealed dried foods — ensure the food is genuinely shelf-stable-dry before vacuum-sealing.

Source

See also

Auto-generated from this entry’s typed relations: frontmatter, grouped by relation type so the editorial signal isn’t flattened.

  • Parallels: [[smoking]]
  • Member of: [[ingredient]]
  • Combines with: [[salt-cure]] · [[drying-and-dehydration]]

What links here, and how

Inbound connections from across the wiki, grouped by lens and by relationship. These appear automatically — every entity page declares what it links to, and that data populates here on the targets.

Practical

contains

combines

2 inbound links · 4 outbound