General Drying Guidelines - Eastman Outdoors 38265 Instructions And Care

CAUTION: When handling raw meat of any kind, clean and disinfect all
cooking and preparation surfaces, tools, and cutting boards before and
after use. See FDA safety measures at www.foodsafety.gov.
Experiment with different drying temperatures and thickness of meats or
produce. You will determine what works best for your particular needs
and preferences. Use the following guidelines:
1. To produce a quality dried product, it is necessary to work quickly
when preparing foods for drying.
2. Make sure to spread all foods evenly on the trays and in single
layers. If care is not taken to prevent overlapping of food, the areas
that are overlapped will take twice as long to dry.
3. Foods placed in your dehydrator need to dry continuously at the
recommended temperatures. Do not turn off your dehydrator until all
food is dried. Do not leave partially dried food on the trays which will
result in spoilage.
4. Do not add additional food to a batch of already partially dried food.
It will slow the rate of drying for both products.
Periodically check each tray for proper dryness of foods. Remove foods
that have reached the proper dryness, pat them dry with a paper towel
to remove any excess fat, and then store them in a clean dry container
and in in your refrigerator while waiting for the remainder of the food to
be done.
SELECTING FOODS TO DRY
Select the best quality produce at the peak of ripeness and flavor. Wash
carefully to remove debris, dust and insects. Cut away and discard all
bruised and damaged sections.
LOADING TRAYS
Lay food pieces evenly on trays. Don't overlap food pieces, as this will
both prolong drying time and it will leave partially dried areas of food. As
each tray is loaded, place it on the dehydrator to begin drying.
DRYING TIME
Drying times can and will vary, depending on the type of food, the
amount of food and its thickness and evenness of the slices. Other
factors affecting drying time will be the amount of water in the food,
humidity and temperature of the room, and altitude. Drying times can
also vary greatly from day to day, depending on the humidity in the air.
Keep records to help you predict drying times for specific foods.
DRYING TEMPERATURE
The actual temperature of the food will remain 15°F to 20°F lower than
the room air temperature for the first couple of hours in the dehydrator.

General Drying Guidelines

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