Dehydrating sources
Posted by:
ecjames1120
()
Date: September 25, 2008 09:16PM Is it possible to dehydrate food in the oven? I ask because I RARELY eat dehydrated stuff anyway so it doesn't make sense to buy a real dehydrator machine, but on the rare occasion I'd like to try something new, would using the oven be a viable alternative? Or should I not bother.... Thanks for your help! Re: Dehydrating sources
Posted by:
Wheatgrass Yogi
()
Date: September 25, 2008 10:33PM I wouldn't bother. I've never used a Dehydrator, but believe
they would work best for the Home Gardener who wanted to dry Fruit (like Tomatoes) for the Winter months. A conventional oven wouldn't do well because an air-flow is needed for the produce to dry evenly......WY Re: Dehydrating sources
Posted by:
baltochef
()
Date: September 26, 2008 01:11AM To dry wet foods well in a conventional oven really requires a low-powered auxiliary fan set up outside of the oven to try & move air around the inside of the oven..
Problem is, ovens are not generally designed for what a person trained in fluid dynamics would call efficient air flow.. Convection ovens don't work all that well with the door open, & their fans are too strong once foods start drying out & become light.. Regulating the temperature in a gas or electric oven requires propping the door open in order to lower the temperature inside the oven to raw food standards.. Even then, if you are trying to rigidly adhere to a 110 degree Fahrenheit maximum temperature, then my experience is that the average oven will exceed that temperature about 50% of the time it's running.. Which is not to say not to do it if the very occasional usage is all you require.. Just be aware that the food that comes out of the oven probably won't be truly raw.. Still, it will be much better than almost anything that you can purchase over the counter.. Bruce Re: Dehydrating sources
Posted by:
Anonymous User
()
Date: November 05, 2008 10:38PM I was thinking the same and wanted to try dehydrating before making a big investment. Someone online said to switch the light bulb in your oven with a 100 watt light bulb and use that to dehydrate. So I tried it last night and put a thermometer in there and and after a while it read just under 100 degrees. Put some sprouted buckwheat groats in overnight and the next morning they were dry and crunchy. Now it's drying some flax crackers. Yay! Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
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