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Got 3 trays of peppers in the old dehydrator. Jalapeno, Serrano and Tabasco, had to accomplish something today. My Thai pepper plant is still producing, hoping to get another handful of peppers from it this week.

Update... went out noticed a few more jalapenos in the garden had turned red. Enough for another tray. Grabbed the Thai peppers while I was out. Got them all sliced and in the dehydrator.
 
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Amish Heart said:
Hey Snappy...you have to blanch them or they turn out discolored.
Filled two Excaliburs with chopped tomatoes. I have 8 flats of tomatoes sitting on my kitchen floor.
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Thanks! I was hoping I could just soak them, but I guess not. Appreciate you!
 
Thank you Dani,

I don't have any help, but my daughter in law likes cooking and has a knack for scratch cooking. I compliment her every chance I get, and she is getting more adventurous. She raised and butchered some meat chickens last year but won't do it again. At least she knows how, now.

We only see them every 3 months or so.

She is a rural Dr and doesn't have a lot of free time, but went for a walk with a colleague who is a mushroom picker. They (her and my son) were driving through for a meeting somewhere, and dropped them off. They were afraid to eat them. Son only knows, "give them to mom and dad. They'll eat anything".

I already prepped them a bit last winter when I was house sitting for them. They have no idea that their unused sauna is packed to the rafters. My son thinks we are hoarding kooks.
 
Got my peppers out of the dehydrator sometime last night. These are all I need for the next 18months. 1.5q of jalapenos, small jars of tabasco and serrano's. And a little spice bottle of Thai peppers.

There are still plenty of peppers in the garden of each type. I'll get a 2yr supply easily. I'll vacuum seal them in small pints or half pints.

Peppers 11Oct22a.JPG
 
Got 7 trays in the dehydrator. The last of the jalapeno's and thai peppers. I had 4 trays of Serrano's. I kept back a few of the deep red serrano's to go with my tabasco's for my pepper sauce.

Should get the rest of the sauce made tomorrow. There might be a couple trays of assorted peppers left over which I'll dry.
 
A big double arm load of parsley.

I literally stuck 3 little pots of parsley in the ground in the spring; never removed the pots and didn't get around to planting them in the garden. I ignored them and didn't even water them in drought conditions.

Those little plants rooted through the bottom of the cups and turned into huge bushes.

Frost was going to hit hard last night so I cut 2 off at the base and I am going to have at least 6 loads worth. I dug the last one up, cut the pot off and planted it in a five gallon bucket just because it's a great looking plant.
 
I had a 10 tray, no name dehydrator and the fan motor seized up. My Husband used to take it apart and convince it to work but I'm not sure what he did. A few months ago it seized up again with a load of tomatoes in it. I tried everything to get it running and finally got so mad I put the whole darn thing, half-dried, half-rotten tomatoes and all, outside to take to the dump.
Now I'm looking at replacing it because I really like to dry things for storage.
Are the Excalibers really worth the money?
Has anyone used the little round ones with the fans on the bottom, doesn't the fan get a lot of water on it? I know when I do something juicy, like peaches, there's a lot that drips before it's dried.
So many choices out there. I'd appreciate some recommendations. I'd like to avoid plastic if possible, it always bothered me a bit to have the plastic trays.
 
I asked those same questions. Excaliburs are expensive but when/if they crap out, you can buy replacement parts much cheaper than a new dehydrator. It's easy to fix them yourself.

If anything is likely to crap out, it's the thermostat or the fuse. Buy a spare of those and I cannot see having to chuck anything. I haven't used my spares yet on my newer dehydrators, but I did have to replace the fuse and thermostat on my old one which my DIL is still using.

I went with Excalibur for size, I wanted big, and the fact that the fan is at the back, not the bottom. I can't fathom having stuff drip onto working parts, and the subsequent air flow doesn't make sense to me either.

I don't know if they make stainless steel trays rather than plastic, but I use 14" pizza pans lined with parchment paper for the wet sticky stuff like eggs and leather.
 
I have two, won an excalibur in a contest. My old one is an 8 tray, round, Nesco "garden master". Both have their uses. The nesco is great for small or thin items, like apple slices. Fine for 80% of my drying needs. (15yrs old and still going strong)

The excalibur can do thin but is great for large or oddly shaped items too. I use it for medicinal herbs that need drying. Some of them can be bulky.

If I could have only one I'd choose the excalibur. It's more versatile. But it's nice to be able to load up two dehydrators at peak times.

Drying a (2)aaa.JPG
 
Peanut said:
I have two, won an excalibur in a contest. My old one is an 8 tray, round, Nesco "garden master". Both have their uses. The nesco is great for small or thin items, like apple slices. Fine for 80% of my drying needs. (15yrs old and still going strong)

The excalibur can do thin but is great for large or oddly shaped items too. I use it for medicinal herbs that need drying. Some of them can be bulky.

If I could have only one I'd choose the excalibur. It's more versatile. But it's nice to be able to load up two dehydrators at peak times.

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I have that same Nesco, hey, it works!! It's not for everyone!!
 
I found a dehydrator and put it in my cart; I always do that and think about these bigger purchases for a while before I actually buy it, just to try and be sure I'm making a good decision. It started at $199, went to $297, and now it's back down so I think I'm going to go ahead with it. (Argh, it was at $188 earlier today, now back to $199.) It has good reviews, is stainless, and I really like the take-apart design, I always struggled to properly clean my old cabinet style dehydrator.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09MCKYP3S/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_4?smid=A15IAEIEQG3SWY&psc=1
 
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