They are also needed for fruit leathers. The book that comes with the dryer is good for a starter but not detailed enough.

I’ve made a couple of different things in it and all of them took less time than I thought they would. This is my first dehydrator, and I find it simple to use. For instance, if you want to dry fruit for storage the best pretreatment is a sulfite dip rather than ascorbic acid or honey. Sulfites are not recommended for people with asthma. The trays are difficult to clean. If you have a large dishwasher, and can place the trays safely without them getting stuck in the prongs of the dish drawers, then this would be the best way to clean the trays. But overall, since we purchased it primarily for making jerky, we are pleased with this item. My kids have a restless reaction to foods that contain red dye 40.

I have dried mushrooms, tomatoes, strawberries, oh so fast! All racks dry at the same rate.

So I decided to give this do it at home thing a try. I have never seen beef jerky made nor made it myself. I have dried veggies, fruits, made jerky and fruit leathers so far. It is easy to use, has great recipes and works well.

The strips were actually overdone and the sticks were perfect! The strips don’t take as long as the sticks because they are not as thick, we’ll know next time to adjust how long the strips are on there. That may be because I sliced the meat thin but it came out no thinner than the usual size in a store bought bag. The machine was quiet (It sounded similar to a computer fan), and cooked every piece thoroughly even though I didn’t really consider the placement of the meat.

This works perfectly for all of these items. I was prepared for drying times (about 1 1/2 days for bananas to become chips and crackers to harden). Recently, they changed their ingredients and so we are left with no options on the snack isle. We figured we could entertain their cravings by making homemade fruit leathers. The mesh design of the drying trays (think air circulation) gives a lot of surface area for things to stick to so they just require a little more work. Be warned, when you use this, your home will be filled with the delicious aroma of whatever you are making.

We made strips and stick jerky. In 3 hours it was done!

We love that we can dry our own fruit and make our own jerky-important when your husband is a hunter and deer meat ideas are becoming harder to come up with! It has worked well for our family.

We received this as a gift but have already used it many times. KIDS TABLE AND CHAIRS PLASTIC.