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What's your favorite food dehydrator for tomatoes?
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 1:47 am
by Shule
I'm in the market for a food dehydrator or two, mostly for a whole lot of tomatoes (cherry tomatoes and sliced tomatoes), but also for wonderberries, tomatillos, sliced thick-walled peppers, melons, herbs, blackberries, fruit leather, and other stuff.
What food dehydrators have worked the best for you, for tomatoes?
Do you have to slice your cherry tomatoes, or can you dry them whole?
I'm thinking about a Nesco Gardenmaster. I'm hoping for something good quality that will last for at least several years of heavy use (and more than pay for itself in the resulting dried fruit). Ideally, it would fit a lot of stuff to dehydrate, and be easy to wash.
Re: What's your favorite food dehydrator for tomatoes?
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 6:47 am
by FarmerShawn
Excalibur. I have two 9-tray ones, and dry lots of tomatoes. I tried several of the round ones, some well-rated, including the Nesco, and the Excalibur just dries much faster (by hours) and more evenly and consistently.
Re: What's your favorite food dehydrator for tomatoes?
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 7:01 am
by Setec Astronomy
Ha, I was also thinking about a dehydrator, and I was looking at some Excaliburs and they are around 400-600 watts, while that Nesco Gardenmaster is 1000 watts...clearly there is some different drying philosophy there unless the Nesco has so much power because you can stack so many levels on it, but from what FarmerShawn says, it's more than that.
Re: What's your favorite food dehydrator for tomatoes?
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 7:07 am
by Labradors
After trying out a second-hand cheapy dehydrator, I splurged on an Excaliber which is amazing! With the cheapy one you have to move the trays around from time to time, and everything takes a long time. The Excaliber is faster.
This year, I intend to dehydrate rather than can my leftover maters and, with that in mind, I am growing mostly cherry tomatoes which I halve before dehydrating. They make wonderful "sun-dried" tomatoes
.
Linda
Re: What's your favorite food dehydrator for tomatoes?
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:24 am
by Dee
Another vote here for the Excalibur 9-tray. It is the biggest splurge I have ever made on myself, and I have never regretted it! It works as well now as it did when I bought it (well over 10 years ago).
Re: What's your favorite food dehydrator for tomatoes?
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:27 am
by Ginger2778
I have a 9 tray Excalibur, I am so happy with it. Its been 7 years so far. Buy the silicone sheets to make fruit leathers too. Every time I use it, which is often, I think how much I love it.
Re: What's your favorite food dehydrator for tomatoes?
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 12:02 pm
by Setec Astronomy
Those of you that have the Excaliburs, do you have the ones with the knobs, or the fancy electronic controls? Any opinions on whether the electronic control is worth it?
Re: What's your favorite food dehydrator for tomatoes?
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 12:19 pm
by pepperhead212
Another Excalibur user here, and when I got it, I got the one with knobs - slightly cheaper, but I liked the fact that it didn't shut off automatically. This is not something that I want the dehydrator to do - I want to shut it off when I have checked it, and whatever is in there seems dry enough!
Whatever brand you get, make sure it has a thermostat. The first cheap one I got, probably $19.99, had no thermostat, and ran hot. By the time peppers were dry, they were also dark brown. Good for some things, but you don't always want this.
Re: What's your favorite food dehydrator for tomatoes?
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 1:25 pm
by Setec Astronomy
pepperhead212 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 12:19 pmWhatever brand you get, make sure it has a thermostat. The first cheap one I got, probably $19.99, had no thermostat, and ran hot. By the time peppers were dry, they were also dark brown. Good for some things, but you don't always want this.
Were you drying hot peppers or sweet peppers?
Re: What's your favorite food dehydrator for tomatoes?
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 2:21 pm
by Ginger2778
Mine has a knob. It's perfect. Electronic isn't necessary, you just turn it to the desired temp, let the food dry, then turn it back off.
Re: What's your favorite food dehydrator for tomatoes?
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 3:59 pm
by Shule
For those with an Excaliber, which one of these models did you get?
https://excaliburdehydrator.com/pages/dehydrators
Would you recommend purchasing from a particular place?
Re: What's your favorite food dehydrator for tomatoes?
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 5:20 pm
by Ginger2778
Mine is the 3900T. I got it from Wal-Mart online, about $200.00 and free shipping. It was years ago though.
Re: What's your favorite food dehydrator for tomatoes?
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 5:47 pm
by Ginger2778
I found this which is very close to my model. Free shipping. Excalibur company actually charges $50 more for it!
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Excalibur-39 ... thena=true
Re: What's your favorite food dehydrator for tomatoes?
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 6:09 pm
by Barb_FL
I have the Excalibur also (3 seasons now) as recommended by Marsha. For cherry tomatoes I use to cut them in half, but I now just puree them in a blender and pour like a pancake on the sheets, and into the dehydrator. It saves so much time not having to cut.
When they are done, I let them cool off on the sheets (minutes) and then break them into chips and into a freezer bag into the freezer. I think they taste way better too.
Re: What's your favorite food dehydrator for tomatoes?
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:01 pm
by kath
Another Excaliber fan here (9-tray, knobs), having used it for about 10 years for all kinds of fruits and veggies. Just wanted to say that trying to dry fruits like cherry tomatoes & blueberries that have thick skins, they need to be at least pricked, or sliced, in order for them to dry in the center in a reasonable amount of time. Love how much you can fit in it! I do rotate/turn trays when drying certain things to make them dry more evenly, but you can also just remove items as they dry and leave some things in longer.
Re: What's your favorite food dehydrator for tomatoes?
Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2020 4:56 pm
by pepperhead212
Setec Astronomy wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 1:25 pm
pepperhead212 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 12:19 pmWhatever brand you get, make sure it has a thermostat. The first cheap one I got, probably $19.99, had no thermostat, and ran hot. By the time peppers were dry, they were also dark brown. Good for some things, but you don't always want this.
Were you drying hot peppers or sweet peppers?
Hot peppers, of course!
Those Thai peppers, and others that dry up bright red, would look like they had been toasted, in that first dehydrator. Something like that would burn, if cooked any more in oil, as is usually done.
Another tip - order the clear plastic door, if getting an Excalibur. It's much better to be able to see the items that are drying.
Re: What's your favorite food dehydrator for tomatoes?
Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2020 8:21 am
by worth1
Texas when the humidity drops like it has.
It is in the thirties now and wont get up past the fifties.
This morning is fantastic and good drying weather.
Re: What's your favorite food dehydrator for tomatoes?
Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2020 5:23 pm
by GoDawgs
Barb_FL wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 6:09 pm
I have the Excalibur also (3 seasons now) as recommended by Marsha. For cherry tomatoes I use to cut them in half, but I now just puree them in a blender and pour like a pancake on the sheets, and into the dehydrator. It saves so much time not having to cut.
I got my Excaliber (9 tray/knobs) two years ago so I'm still exploring. Barb, thanks for that tip about whizzing up the cherry tomatoes. Hopefully I'll be inundated with them this year and dehydrating puree will be very handy, not to mention tasty!
Re: What's your favorite food dehydrator for tomatoes?
Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2020 6:50 pm
by habitat-gardener
Barb_FL wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 6:09 pm
I have the Excalibur also (3 seasons now) as recommended by Marsha. For cherry tomatoes I use to cut them in half, but I now just puree them in a blender and pour like a pancake on the sheets, and into the dehydrator. It saves so much time not having to cut.
When they are done, I let them cool off on the sheets (minutes) and then break them into chips and into a freezer bag into the freezer. I think they taste way better too.
That sounds really wonderful. Do they need to go into the freezer? I've dehydrated fruits and vegetables to leave more freezer space for things that needed to be frozen. (My partner thinks the best use of freezer space is ice cream, especially homemade cashew-based!)
Several years ago I had a productive garden and a new-to-me round-tray dehydrator, so I dried everything. It was a basic on-off, no fan, multiple trays. It ran nonstop for about 4 months! (iirc I got it at a rummage sale for $5!)
And then last year a friend gave me a 6-tray Excalibur she wasn't using. So far I've dried tomatoes and lemons. It has the sheets, so I plan to experiment with fruit leathers as well.
The main difference is that the fan makes the Excalibur quite noisy in a small house. I was able to run the other one night and day because it was so quiet. The Excalibur, on the other hand, is impossible to ignore. I've turned it off temporarily if I wanted to talk in the kitchen while cooking!
Re: What's your favorite food dehydrator for tomatoes?
Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2020 7:33 pm
by Ginger2778
habitat-gardener wrote: ↑Wed Jun 10, 2020 6:50 pm
Barb_FL wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 6:09 pm
I have the Excalibur also (3 seasons now) as recommended by Marsha. For cherry tomatoes I use to cut them in half, but I now just puree them in a blender and pour like a pancake on the sheets, and into the dehydrator. It saves so much time not having to cut.
When they are done, I let them cool off on the sheets (minutes) and then break them into chips and into a freezer bag into the freezer. I think they taste way better too.
That sounds really wonderful. Do they need to go into the freezer? I've dehydrated fruits and vegetables to leave more freezer space for things that needed to be frozen. (My partner thinks the best use of freezer space is ice cream, especially homemade cashew-based!)
Several years ago I had a productive garden and a new-to-me round-tray dehydrator, so I dried everything. It was a basic on-off, no fan, multiple trays. It ran nonstop for about 4 months! (iirc I got it at a rummage sale for $5!)
And then last year a friend gave me a 6-tray Excalibur she wasn't using. So far I've dried tomatoes and lemons. It has the sheets, so I plan to experiment with fruit leathers as well.
The main difference is that the fan makes the Excalibur quite noisy in a small house. I was able to run the other one night and day because it was so quiet. The Excalibur, on the other hand, is impossible to ignore. I've turned it off temporarily if I wanted to talk in the kitchen while cooking!
I don't notice the fan on mine at all. I have a roofed patio, so I have it running outside.