Food Dehydrator Owners Manuals

Obtain food dehydrator owners manuals for major dehydrator brands including Nesco, Aroma, Deni, L'Equip, Ronco, The Sausage Maker and Weston Supply.

Halloween - Pumpkin Seeds - A Food Dehydrator

After you carve the perfect pumpkin, use a food dehydrator to create delicious, toasty, crunchy pumpkin seeds.  Follow these dehydrating steps:

• Separate the seeds from the pumpkins's fibrous strands by running the seeds under cool water
• Spread the seeds on a piece of parchment papaer.  Clip the parchment paper to the food dehydrator's drying trays using a paper clip
• Dry at 100 degrees Fahrenheit until the seeds are firm and dry throughout
• Let the seeds cool off
• Season to taste.  Experiment with olive oils or other oils, parmesan cheese, pepper, salt, cayenne pepper, lime or lemon juice, cinnamon or brown sugar

Food Safety Regulators - The FDA and USDA

The Food and Drug Administration is responsible for the safety of most of the food consumed in the United States but their regulatory authority does not cover meat, poultry and egg products.  Meat, poultry and egg products are regulated by the US Department of Agriculture.  However, the FDA does regulate game meats, such as venison, ostrich and snake.  Clear?

An Apple A Day Keeps The Doctor Away - October Is National Apple Month

Per the U.S. Apple Association, today's well known saying of "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" was derived from the old English saying, "Ate an apfel avore gwain to bed, make the doctor beg his bread". The original author of this very popular apple saying has been lost to history. However, the old expression remains true. Studies have shown that apple consumption  helps fight breast cancer, inhibits the onset of Alzheimers disease and reduces the risk of pancreatic cancer and other cancers and heart diseases.

October Is National Apple Month - Eat An Apple A Day

The U.S' dietary guidelines suggest eating 3.5 to 6.5 cups of fruits and vegetables per day.  Further, it is recommended that at least 2 of those 3.5 to 6.5 daily cups of fruits and vegetables consist of fruit. Celebrate national apple month by incorporating apples into your diet.  What equals one cup of apples?

• 1 small apple
• ½ large apple
• 1 cup sliced, raw or cooked apples
• 1 cup of 100% apple juice or cider
• 1 cup of applesauce or
• ½ cup of dried apples

Dried apples can be made with a food dehydrator.  Simply slice apples into 1/4 inch thick or less slices and dry in a dehydrator.  Using a food dehydrator weight calculator you can calculate that about 14.7 ounces of raw apples will dehydrate into about 4 ounces or approximately 1/2 cup of dried apples.

October is National Apple Month - Apples Are a Great Fruit To Dehydrate

October is National Apple Month. A recent study** on the consumption of apples led researchers to note: “We found that adults who eat apples and apple products have smaller waistlines that indicate less abdominal fat, lower blood pressure and a reduced risk for developing what is known as the metabolic syndrome.”

Eat apples raw, baked or stewed, in salads, with yogurt, as chutney or in pies. Apples are an excellent fruit to dehydrate or to make into fruit leather with a food dehydrator. Follow these steps to make apple fruit leather with a food dehydrator.


** From Fulgoni, V., Fulgoni S., Haaga, S., Ebert, A. Apple consumption is associated with increased nutrient intakes and reduced risk of metabolic syndrome in adults from the National health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2004)

Ground Beef & E. Coli - Safe Handling and Safe Food Dehydrator Use

Ground beef is particularly vulnerable to harboring the E. Coli pathogen. Ground beef, or hamburger meat, is not a single cut of beef. Indeed, per a recent New York Times article, ground beef is often; a) a mixture of different grades of meat from the same cow, including "meat trimmings" which can include a very high percentage of fat, b) meat from different cows and c) meat sourced from different slaughterhouses. It is this very multi-sourced mixture of ground beef that makes the meat susceptible to E. Coli.

For example; different slaughterhouses follow varied levels of food safety, the cuts of meat that go into ground beef are cuts of lesser quality that are nearer the hide and extremities of the cow and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is stretched thin and allows a lot of self policing by the meat processing companies. Lastly, per the New York Times, "Unwritten agreements between some companies appear to stand in the way of ingredient testing. Many big slaughterhouses will sell only to grinders who agree not to test their shipments for E. Coli, according to officials at two large grinding companies. Slaughterhouses fear that one grinder’s discovery of E. Coli will set off a recall of ingredients they sold to others."

How do you protect yourself against E. Coli in ground beef?

-Stay away from frozen or prepackaged ground beef
-Buy ground beef that is freshly ground at your market
-Thoroughly cook the ground beef
-Wash and sterilize all counter areas, utensils, cookware and dishes before and after use

If you are making beef jerky, the USDA recommends, heating the meat to 160 degrees+ Fahrenheit, before placing the meat in the food dehydrator, in order to kill any harmful bacteria that may be present in the meat. Use a meat thermometer to check the temperature of the meat. After preheating the meat, place the meat in the food dehydrator and dry until the beef jerky is done.

The USDA references a study which emphasizes the importance of preheating ground beef before drying in a food dehydrator. Per the USDA study "For ground beef jerky prepared at home, safety concerns related to E. Coli are minimized if the meat is precooked to 160 degrees Fahrenheit prior to drying."