It seems to dry food quicker than the times listed in the product manual and recipe book. It is very easy to clean, just soak the trays in soapy water and they come out clean. I plan to grow tomatoes, peppers and dill this summer to dehydrate. I will be hitting the farmers market for other fruits, vegetables and herbs. Please, if your dog loves jerky like mine, don't buy the stuff in the stores (about 95% of them are made in china), buy this instead, and it will pay for itself in a very short time, and you know what you are giving your dog is safe. Also recommend buying a recipe book, does come with a few recipes, but I like to try different things. The Nesco FD-75PR 700-Watt Food Dehydrator was my first foray into food dehydration. I did apples, pears, peaches & pineapple first and they turned out quite good for a first attempt - much better than buying at the grocery store in little packages! It includes 2 seasoning packs for jerky but we found them to be more salty then flavorful, so we now make our own! Awesome product, easy to clean too!
The persimmon slices I dried with the Nesco machine were beautiful and tasty. I pretreated the first batch with crushed Vitamin C pills and the second batch with a mixture of pineapple and lemon juice. Avoid dehydrators without blower motors as they will take forever to make jerky and that means bacterial growth- this one works like a dream! Does exactly what you need it to do - which is drying veggies and fruit.
It makes food science all that more fun. Dehydrating seems to concentrate flavors.
Can't beat the price, and my dehydrator has had only a few days' rest since I got it. It's been humid here so most things have to dry longer than usual. The machine works quickly, and the efficient fan means you don't have to keep shuffling the trays to get everything evenly dried. The temperature settings are nice too, since not everything needs the same amount of heat.
You could get away without tray rotation in the Nesco, although I still do it. The Nesco is easily twice as fast at drying, maybe three times as fast, than the Ronco, although it still, of course, takes longer than you'd think. I recommend this product for home use. I have never written a review before and have purchased many things online before, but I have been so pleased with this little "cheap" dehydrator, that I felt I needed to write this. I gave it 5 stars because it is great. It does have one minor flaw. I didn't have to do any rotation and the jerky was done evenly throughout. The fan is quiet - like white noise and the unit puts off a little heat but only right around where it is sitting (where else is the air passing around the food at 160F going to go).
And if the kitchen is near the master bedroom and you're planning on leaving the dehydrator going overnight, you may find that the constant "whirr" sound disturbs your sleep. Mileage is going to vary on this issue.
The persimmon slices I dried with the Nesco machine were beautiful and tasty. I pretreated the first batch with crushed Vitamin C pills and the second batch with a mixture of pineapple and lemon juice. Avoid dehydrators without blower motors as they will take forever to make jerky and that means bacterial growth- this one works like a dream! Does exactly what you need it to do - which is drying veggies and fruit.
It makes food science all that more fun. Dehydrating seems to concentrate flavors.
Can't beat the price, and my dehydrator has had only a few days' rest since I got it. It's been humid here so most things have to dry longer than usual. The machine works quickly, and the efficient fan means you don't have to keep shuffling the trays to get everything evenly dried. The temperature settings are nice too, since not everything needs the same amount of heat.
You could get away without tray rotation in the Nesco, although I still do it. The Nesco is easily twice as fast at drying, maybe three times as fast, than the Ronco, although it still, of course, takes longer than you'd think. I recommend this product for home use. I have never written a review before and have purchased many things online before, but I have been so pleased with this little "cheap" dehydrator, that I felt I needed to write this. I gave it 5 stars because it is great. It does have one minor flaw. I didn't have to do any rotation and the jerky was done evenly throughout. The fan is quiet - like white noise and the unit puts off a little heat but only right around where it is sitting (where else is the air passing around the food at 160F going to go).
And if the kitchen is near the master bedroom and you're planning on leaving the dehydrator going overnight, you may find that the constant "whirr" sound disturbs your sleep. Mileage is going to vary on this issue.
About the Author:
We have another dehydrator (FD-60) but the FD-75PR is quieter. Landscaping Blocks.
