A food dehumidifier helps preserve foods without the use of chemicals, and it’s a great appliance for anyone who wants to stock up on additive-free snacks, parents looking to feed their kids healthy treats or gardeners with an oversupply of produce.
Unleash Your Culinary Creativity with a Food Dehydrator
The process of drying or “dehydrating” foods has been around since antiquity, and it works by removing enough moisture from the food to prevent bacteria, yeast or molds from growing. It’s important to blanch and pretreat vegetables before drying, and most fruit needs to be placed on a screen or rack to keep insects from getting to it.
To get the best results, look for a dehydrator with a rear-mounted heating element, which promotes even temperature and air flow. And be sure the unit you buy has plenty of space for your trays—overcrowding can impede airflow and overtax the heat capacity, leading to uneven dehydration and bacterial activity before sufficient moisture is removed.