Pros: Excellent way to preserve food by drying. This machine is fast and with Jerky kit.
Cons: None I found so far.
The Bottom Line: Since my last dehydrator died I found an improved unit that included easy to make Jerky Kit. What a bargain now I have more ways to play with my food.
grandgram's Full Review: Nesco American Harvest Fd 35BJW 5 Snackmaster Entr...
Since my last Dehydrator gave out on me last year I decided I needed another for some program that I was working on. I needed to do some research on Amazon.com as this seems to be the place I shop at most of the time. One of the first items to come up was a Nesco American Harvest Snackmaster Dehydrator w/Jerky Kit that interested me right away. Imagine a Kit to make Beef or Turkey Jerky I was sold while I noticed that it had the motor and fan on the lid which was another plus for me. My old dehydrator had the motor and fan on the bottom. This may be the reason after many years it finally gave out after food being dropped to the bottom of the unit. Any way that was another reason I wanted this item.
The price from Amazon.com was $39.99 and along with free shipping was another reason to order this dehydrator. It came in two days as I pay the special yearly fee to get anything I order in two days so it isn’t entirely free but I like the quick shipping. Since I order many things through Amazon.com even grocery items I gets these items to me fast. This Nesco Snackmaster Dehydrator came this week and I have been having fun trying different recipes and foods. This unit is faster than my old one as the motor and fan in the lid has a nozzle that protrudes between the drying trays which speeds up the drying process. This is a blessing as time saver plus electrical savings.
Since I had apples, lemons and oranges on hand these where the first items I tried. I used a coring and slicing mechanism to prepare the apples after pealing. I then cut these into thinner slices and then soaked them for a while in lemon water to cease the darkening. The next apples I pealed and cored then sliced them whole into rings and after the bath in lemon water and drying them I shook cinnamon/sugar mixture over them before putting in the dehydrator. That makes for a sweeter snack to be added to other dried fruit. With the oranges and lemons I just cut them into circles with rind on as this worked great and will go into potpourri mixture and they dried really nice. I am anxious to try tomatoes, peppers and mushrooms as I always wanted to use dried tomatoes and these vegetables also work in soups or in cream cheese dips.
Next I had to try the Jerky Works Kit it comes with a jerky gun with three sets of different tips as strips and sticks. It suggests that you can make jerky out of lean ground beef in four hours. This I had to try as the kit also comes with spice and drying packs that you add to the ground beef. The spice packs are of different flavors so I tried the original, it also comes with Cajun, Fajita, Hot & Spicy, Pepperoni and Terriyaki. It was easy mixing the packets into a pound of lean ground beef. The instruction on how to fill the gun which was easy to follow and I first tried the strips. It instructs you to shoot the strips right onto the dehydrator tray and cut off the length you want. I filled one and half trays with one gun filling of meat. With the meat left I filled three and half trays with the large stick nozzle on the gun. This took no time at all and I turned on the dehydrator and even the motor is silent running. After a few hours I had to check and I could tell they were drying very fast and yes I had my beef jerky ready in four hours. They tasted wonderful but I liked the strips best they are about two inches wide and you can make them as long as you want. The size of your round drying trays will let you know about the right size to make them, mine were five inches long but some were just three inches to fill the space on the tray.
After that experience I am now ready to get some ground turkey and try some of the other spices. This dehydrator will also make fruit leather or roll up sheets. I have this type of drying tray left from my old machine so will have to try that again. I used applesauce plus mixed it with strawberries or raspberries as these make great snacks to take with me on the golf course. I will be able to use my old roll-up tray with this dehydrator to make the fruit leather. I have the old trays from my other machine but I don’t think I will expand it that much as these trays will dry faster and fills my needs just fine. Who knows when in harvest season when vegetables and fruit are plentiful I may just fill it to the top. Dried food snacks keep very well and work for me as extra energy while playing golf.
I will include a recipe I have used in the past with my other dehydrator for Trail Mix
Dried Fruit Trail Mix
1 cup dried apples
1 cup dried banana slices
1 cup dried plums
1 cup dried apricots
1 cup dried cantaloupe
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup mixed nuts
Place all in a large bowl and stir to mix well. Store in large jar then divide into small plastic bags to take on hiking, golfing or picnics. The variety of fruits is up to you but I usually use more nixed nuts as it adds an extra salty taste. BE RESOURCEFUL, BE CREATIVE ALWAYS LOOK FOR SOMETHING NEW!
Snackmaster Entrée has a top mounted fan with 425 watts of drying power Easily dries fruit, vegetables and jerky quickly and evenly Comes with 5 tray...More at Amazon
Fantastic prices with ease & c...(Stock status: N/A)
Specifications: This unit features Nesco/American Harvest's innovative Top Mounted Powerhead that dries food quickly and evenly with superior result...More at Amazon Marketplace
425watt dehydrator extracts the moisture from food to make tasty healthy snacks, Adjustable thermostat makes it easy to set the temperature, Patented ...More at Target
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