Excalibur Dehydrator!

I finally got a dehydrator. I decided to get an Excalibur 9-tray because I found one in my local classifieds for about half price. 200$ CAD for a used-10-times 9-tray with timer, plus 2 fruit leather sheets. If I was to buy one from a store or online I’d probably get the 5-tray, just based on how I’m using it so far. I only use about 5 trays at a time.

My first attempt to dehydrate anything was spaghetti sauce (pictured top). I really want to experiment with dehydrating meals to bring with me for camping or traveling. I spread about 2 cups of chunky spaghetti sauce on one fruit-leather tray. I set it to 145F for 10 hours and it worked really well! It seemed like fruit leather that broke up easily once it was done.

The first re-hydration experiment went really well (pictured below). I put the brittle sauce pieces in a small saucepan with about 3/4 cup water. I put it on the stove over low heat and it turned into spaghetti sauce (after mixing it a bit) in just a couple minutes. I hope to try it again using only boiled hot water, since I may not have a stove-top or microwave when traveling.

I also starting dehydrating my soaked nuts and they are sooo good! I usually make walnuts, hazelnuts and pumpkin seeds. I ordered some pecans and macadamias from online to try soon, should get them in about a week.

I’m having way too much fun with this thing!