Living in a hot country, it seems logical to use the sun to de-hydrate food, to create delicious raisins, sun-dried tomatoes, preservative-free dried apricots and more, from locally-grown produce in season, when the prices are good.
However, hot sun goes with high humidity in Cyprus, so any produce that’s being dried must be brought inside overnight. Insects abound in the summer months, so fine netting must be used to keep them away. And in the middle of the day, the sun can scorch anything left in its glare.
So after much discussion and research, I decided to spend some birthday money on an electric dehydrator. I chose the Lakeland version at £50.99 for several reasons:
1) I trust the brand in general, and their guarantee
2) The price was reasonable - some dehydrators can cost £200 or more
3) Their postage to Cyprus, via courier, is a very reasonable £7.50, for any size order
4) I wanted to order some other items from Lakeland
5) The majority of reviews on the Lakeland site were positive
ASSEMBLING THE DEHYDRATOR
I know from experience that if I put an appliance away I will forget to use it, so wanted the dehydrator out on our counter top. I had to move some of our other appliances around to make room; it’s not small, being about 33cm (13 inches) in diameter, and needs at least a little space around it when in use.
I read the short instruction guide, skimming the obvious safety information (don’t immerse the base in water, keep away from curtains, don’t let children operate the dehydrator....) and noted that there was a system of notches on each of the trays, meaning that each one had two possible heights, to allow for varying sizes of fruit and vegetables.
The appliance works simply by blowing air at a temperature of about 85C up the middle and through the trays, gently drying the fruit and letting the water evaporate into the air. There are small holes in the lid to allow it to escape.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE DEHYDRATOR
I did feel a moment’s disappointment that this appliance felt rather lightweight and flimsy. The instruction guide told me that the trays could be washed in the dishwasher, but my instinct told me that I should hand-wash them; the plastic is slightly flexible, and could, I felt, easily be broken. Besides, they’re rather too big to fit easily in my dishwasher.
I was also slightly surprised to see how much food preparation was going to be necessary before dehydrating anything, according to the guide. Fruits, it told me, had to be peeled and then dipped for a few minutes into dilute fresh fruit juice. Vegetables, were supposed to be peeled and then blanched in boiling water. I began to wonder if it was going to be more trouble than it was worth.
FIRST EXPERIMENT WITH THE DEHYDRATOR
Saturday rolled around, and I decided to experiment. We had some apples which had gone a bit soft, some plums that needed to be used up, and some bananas that were past their best. I was cutting up a pineapple for fruit salad, so decided to dehydrate a few slices of that, and I wanted to do a tray of grapes, to see whether or not it was worthwhile making my own raisins. Grapes are in season here at present, and raisins tend to be pricey. However I knew that they would reduce quite dramatically when dehydrated, so I weighed them before putting them in.
I did as the guide told me, using some diluted lemon juice to dip everything in - a rather messy process, but I know from experience that fruit can go brown quite quickly if not treated in some way. I peeled, and I sliced, and I laid everything out neatly on the trays. I also had some coconut meal, left from making coconut milk, and knew that it was possible to dehydrate that, to make coconut flour. Since the holes in the tray grid are too big to take coconut meal, I improvised by cutting a hole in a suitable sized muslin square and spread the coconut out on top.
Then I put the lid on, switched it on, and went about my day.
DEHYDRATING SUCCESS
The aromas filling our house were quite amazing, as the morning progressed. I kept wanting to check what was going on, but of course the process is quite slow, so nothing much happened for the first couple of hours. However, by the time the dehydrator had been running for about four hours, I could see that the coconut looked completely dry, so I turned it off, and took that tray out. The instruction guide had said that it was worth switching the trays around to ensure even dehydrating, so I did that, and then turned it back on again.
When the coconut had cooled I put it in the blender for a few minutes. Later in the week I used it in a cookie recipe requiring coconut flour, and it came out well. As I make coconut milk at least twice every week, and coconut flour is expensive, I felt that it was worth having for that alone.
I continued checking every hour or so. After about six hours the bananas - which I had sliced - felt quite firm, as did the apple pieces, so I removed them, let them cool a little, and then tasted them.
Oh, my!
The apples were sweet, pliable, and delicious. The bananas were still slightly squidgy - I could have left them for longer to get banana chips, but my husband had told me about slightly soft banana pieces that he remembered from his teens - and these were very much as he had hoped.
The plums and pineapple took an hour or so longer, and the grapes/raisins longer still. The instruction guide had said that grapes might take up to 24 hours so I was expecting that. I didn’t really want the dehydrator to run overnight, so I switched if off when we went to bed, and on again in the morning. By about lunchtime the following day they looked and felt as if they were done - and tasted just like luscious raisins. 200g of grapes had reduced to about 40g of raisins, so it’s only financially worthwhile when we can find inexpensive grapes in bulk: but it’s undoubtedly worth it in terms of the flavour, and the lack of any additives.
FURTHER EXPERIMENTS IN DEHYDRATING
The first dehydrated fruit disappeared rather rapidly, assisted by some friends, so the following day I experimented some more. This time, I decided not to bother with the pre-treating, since we didn’t mind if apples or bananas went brown. I didn’t peel the apples, either.
A friend had mentioned that her mother used to make ‘fruit leather’ in a dehydrator, by spreading raw apple sauce or other fruit puree thinly until it solidified. I had some previously-made fresh fruit salad which was starting to go soft, so I used my stick blender to turn it into a puree, cut some greaseproof paper to fit a dehydrator tray, and spread the fruit puree out.
Once again, everything was delicious. The fruit ‘leather’ took about four hours, and seemed quite brittle when I removed it, but as it cooled it became softer. I cut it into slices with scissors, and we found that it peeled very easily from the backing paper. When I offered a piece to the friend who had suggested it, she said it was exactly as she remembered. The bananas and apples did not seem any browner than the pre-treated versions had, and the apple peel added a nicely crunchy texture. So I was pleased to learn that dehydrating was not going to be as time-consuming as I had feared.
A couple of days later I bought more fruit on special offer, and some tomatoes, too. Once again, I didn’t pre-treat anything, just washing and slicing; I cut some ripe plums into quarters after stoning them, and sliced bananas lengthways rather than crosswise. I used some pears rather than apples, and had more coconut meal too.
Once again everything came out well. The pears were the least successful. They didn’t have a lot of taste, and felt a little rubbery - but were nonetheless quite edible. The bananas, according to my husband, were perfect. My personal favourite was the plums - I had thought that dehydrated plums would be like prunes, but they weren’t: the flavour is intense, like the best kind of plum without the sometimes squashy consistency. They are decidedly moreish.
Since then I have run it almost daily, dehydrating several kilograms of plums bought on special offer, more bananas, and a good batch of grapes. All results so far have been delicious, and I have frozen some of the dehydrated plums, to keep for the winter. Theoretically they should keep much longer than fresh fruit, but I can’t guarantee that every molecule of water has been removed, and unlike commercial companies I’m not going to add sugar or any other preservatives.
RUNNING NOISE AND COSTS OF THE DEHDRATOR
One the things that had put me off the idea of a dehydrator for a while was that some people had mentioned that they can be noisy, and expensive to run. Electricity is highly priced in Cyprus, and we didn’t want to add to our bill too much. So we were quite relieved to learn that the dehydrator is 250 watts in power, meaning that it only uses one unit of electricity in four hours. This is considerably less than many other appliances, and means that the running costs are not excessive.
The noise is not a problem, either. It sounds like a fan - which is, basically what it is! - or a quiet hairdryer. We’re so used to fans, or even air conditioners running here that I hardly noticed it at first. I’m quite noise sensitive, but this was not the kind of sound to be disturbing. Indeed, it’s a good thing that it makes the noise, because it reminds me when it’s still on, now that the novelty has worn off a little and I’m not checking it every hour.
GENERAL THOUGHTS ABOUT THE DEHYDRATOR
I wish I had bought one of these appliances years ago! I don’t know that it’s going to save us much money, since the resulting dried produce is so delicious that we want to eat most of it within a couple of days. But I do now have several jars with dried plums, bananas and so on, as well as a few boxes in the freezer, and plan to keep an eye on special offers.
When apricots and figs are in season, often very cheaply here, as they’re grown locally, I hope to dry some of those, too, to keep for the winter months. We love dried apricots and figs but have been concerned about the preservatives used, and are looking forward to drying some ourselves. I’ve now used some home-dried tomatoes in a recipe that called for expensive sun-dried tomatoes in a jar, and it came out just fine.
For anyone who considering dehydrating fruit at home, I would highly recommend this simple Lakeland appliance. The current price is £50.99 and it can be bought from Lakeland shops, or online via www.lakeland.co.uk. There’s a phone number on the website if there are any problems, or if you prefer to order via the phone.
2022 UPDATE
Ten years after writing this, our dehydrator is still working, although less frequently than at first. The novelty wore off, and soft fruits were no longer in season. So we packed the appliance in a cupboard to make more room on the work surface. It has emerged a few times each year when there's a glut of inexpensive soft fruit or tomatoes, and I buy a crate costing a couple of euros. The results are good and take up much less room in the freezer than the equivalent product lightly stewed, which is my default.
I did discover that unless dehydrated fruit is being eaten within a few days, it should be frozen. The result is not the same as commercially dried fruit or tomatoes, and we were very disappointed when some of the early experiments, stored in airtight jars, started to grow mouldy. So now I store those we're going to eat soon in the fridge, and the rest in the freezer in small pots. They thaw quickly and don't lose either taste or consistency.
Unfortunately this particular dehydrator has been discontinued, but Lakeland currently offer a different version at a similar price, and with the added bonus of adjustable temperature levels.
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