Sure! What better way to take advantage of local, seasonal food than by dehydrating the bounty of the season. That is what I recently decided to do. Our family LOVES dried blueberries all year. We put organic blueberries on sunbutter and toast. Oh so yummy, and healthy too. The downside is that organic dried blueberries are very pricey. We have a number of local growers who don’t use a bunch of nasty pesticides. Even better, to save money, you can go and pick your own. That’s what we did the last weekend. The blueberry recipes are flowing out of my kitchen.
I decided to invest in a dehydrator. Well, I can’t just go buy a dehydrator, I need to research. I started thinking about the material used in dehydrators. With all the buzz about BPA, I decided a dehydrator made from polycarbonate might not be the best health or eco choice. As a matter of fact, I decided to avoid plastic dehydrators all together. I’ve gone with a stainless steel case, and stainless steel racks. It is the closest to an inert material next to glass. Stainless is as close to leach-free as you can get, again, next to glass. The stainless is more expensive, but there is a long warranty, so I hope it will be the last dehydrator I buy. I also figure it will pay for itself in dried blueberry savings alone: wink, wink. Much of the stainless steel on the market is recycled, plus stainless is infinitely recyclable. There are a number of stainless dehydrators on the market. I did find one dehydrator where the case was BPA, but the trays were polypropylene. Polypropylene is considered a food safe plastic. The dehydrator I decided on is rectangular with the drying element in the back. The research and reading I did convinced me this is the most efficient shape and process. I also ran across non-electric dehydrators, which would be the greenest, but some of the reviews moved me to an electric one. I expect the dehydrator by the end of this week. Once I get it, and try it out, I will write a review.
Here are some of the websites I looked at:
So which one did you get? I am in the market for one myself.
I was going to wait to tell until after I tried it out, but I got the Sausage Maker/Dehydrator from Harvest Essentials.
Awesome, I can’t wait to read your review!
Greengirl – It’s Sept. 2010, so I would imagine that by now you have tried out the SS dehydrator. I am holding my decision until I hear your review (& others) on this one. Please – do tell.
I am very happy with the dehydrator. It did a fantastic job. I also feel so much better knowing I’m dehydrating on a surface that does not leach. I do wish the company would offer a stainless steel mesh to put over the trays. The smaller blueberries, as they dried, began falling through the grates. Maybe with enough interest, stainless steel mesh will be offered.
Which Sausage maker dehydrator model and type did you buy?
Any luck on finding stainless steel mesh? – It’s a little odd that a company that sells stainless steel units would offer vinyl non-stick drying sheets and plastic drying screens : ( Many thanks for your blog!
The Sausage Maker/Dehydrator from Harvest Essentials. I have a link to it in my Dehydrators to Go Green? post. I have not found the stainless steel mesh yet, but I haven’t looked since the fall. I will search again, and if I find it I will post it. Thanks!