First of all, we would like to dispel the myth that food dryers are a seasonal appliance and are only needed in the summer. Fruits, berries and mushroom dryers will be very useful in winter, though we will not gather anything in forests and gardens. For those who are thinking about discarding unused food all year round, a food dryer is really needed.

Who needs a food dryer

A food dryer is a simple device. It consists of a base with a heating element, several shelves for food and a lid to make things run tightly and safely. The air is heated to 40-60 degrees Celsius, it circulates evenly and thus evaporates moisture within hours, fruits, berries, vegetables, herbs or even meat. Such temperatures are still safe and foods are not boiled or baked. They retain their useful materials, although they decreases double or even more.

Food dryers are needed in all homes where organic food is highly valued. This device is very suitable for families with young children. Home-made potato and vegetable chips? Why not...

For raw foodists, this is the main cooking device because it does not heat the food.

Everybody who sports and wants to eat healthy products all year round is a great helper.

Many people wonder - what dishes can be prepared from dried vegetables? Berries are understandable - desserts, milk shake, flakes or just by them selves (let's remember the taste of dried apples in the middle of the royal winter ...) And for whom to dry the vegetables? Who needs dried cabbage or tomato? If there is a kitchen proccesor at home, it is perfect for soups, stews. Pieces of potatoes and beetroot in salt and dill and dried in such a desiccant do not afford to buy chips for a hundred times healthier. Here's how you can use it.

How food is drying

Take the foods you want to dry. Wash, dry, cut into pieces if necessary. Then put one kind of food on one tray and the other on the other. Charge all 5 trays (5 trays are standard in the dryer set, but you can buy them in some models as well) and set the temperature. The optimum temperature is 50 degrees. If the food is very juicy, some products will have to be dried to such a temperature longer.

Baking paper can be placed on the trays to prevent the food from sticking to the plastic surface.

When you finish drying, put the food in sealed containers that will not leave the moisture and keep it dry.

What can be dried?

The most popular are dried fruits and berries: strawberries, strawberries, apples, pears, oranges, mandarins, lemon, grapefruit, grapes, plums, bananas, pineapples, etc.

It is also popular for drying vegetables, potatoes, beets, tomatoes, peas, beans, carrots, cabbage, zucchini, pumpkins, garlic, onions and so on.

Mushrooms - a separate category. They can be dried with chopped or uncut heads. Just bigger pieces will dry longer.

Herbs are a rather rarely dried matter in Lithuania. Needless. Dries, parsley, yolk, cloves, basil, rosemary and other herbs can be dried. You can also choose from herbal fields and dry tea.

Dried meat - an American snack, but small pieces of beef or thin pork sausages can be dried in the food dryer. And here's the dried fish - even a very Lithuanian dish is relevant to everyone who is fishing and loves to catch hard but aromatic fish.

Do you have leavings of bread? It also fits into the dryer - you will have breadcrumbs or toasts for soups.

You will surely find something to use the dryer after every big party at home when some food remains.

How to choose a dryer?

The criteria for choosing a dryer are just three, because the device is quite simple.

• Horizontal or vertical. The horizontal dryer is usually in the form of a cube and the trays are placed as drawers by inserting and pulling them into the rails. The drawers are usually metal. Their number is changing. Smaller dryers have 5, larger - 9 drawers. This is a good choice for managing the space between the drawers. Vertical - when the trays are placed on top of each other. These trays are made of heat-resistant plastic. Such a dryer is usually round. Which is better? The temperature is evenly distributed horizontally, as the air circulates from the rear and enters all the trays immediately. The vertical is good in that it can increase its capacity by purchasing several additional trays. So you have to look at the individual needs. Obviously, horizontal food dryers are more expensive because they contain more metal than plastic.
• Power. The more W, the faster the heating element becomes. The more W, the more power is consumed because the drying time and temperature do not change. Choose medium-capacity dryers.
• Size. There are larger and smaller food dryers. If you have a lot of food, choose a bigger one. If you dry your food only occasionally - lower. This saves space in the warehouse. The bigger the dryer, the more expensive it is, so everything depends on the available budget.

There are several features to consider when choosing:

• Timer. Food dryers should have a timer to easily detect the need to dry food for 5 hours, not more.
• Automatic shutdown. Fruits, berries and mushrooms are recommended to be dried at night. Just turn on the timer for 5-6 hours in the evening and go to sleep because the auto-off feature will make sure no fire or food overheats.
• Quiet operation. Although it is not a washing machine where decibels are important, but this device allows some sound that can be bothering in some cases. Models with silent operation are quieter.

Both horizontal and vertical dryer drawers can be washed in the dishwasher. As we said, use baking paper to keep food intact.

The prices of berry, fruit and mushroom dryers are quite varied. You can buy a tumble dryer for a few tens of euros. Over 100 euros cost higher and professional food preparation dryers.