Nesco FD-75PR 700-Watt Food Dehydrator
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Nesco FD-75PR 700-Watt Food Dehydrator
Customer Review: Healthy food, long term storage - just what I wanted
Summary: 5 Stars
I've had my Nesco dehydrator for a couple of months now, and I love it. I've made several batches of jerky, which the whole family enjoys. I've also dehydrated onions, apples, herbs, tomatoes (de-seeded and squeezed a little to remove some of the liquid), green peppers, garlic, squash, cherries, strawberries, green beans, corn and even cantaloupe. 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. The best part of having it is that when your potatoes and onions start to go bad, you can dry them and save them to cook with. And I love knowing that the fruits and jerky I give my family are clean, safe and have no added chemicals.
If you plan to dehydrate fruit for snack eating, you might want to dip the slices lightly in sugar before drying. The cantaloupe was a little plain afterwards. Also when dehydrating onions or garlic, it's best to do it outside or in the garage, as the scent can be overpowering indoors. When drying apples or potatoes, soak them in lemon water first to prevent browning.
Next I plan to make some fruit roll-ups in the special tray that came with the dehydrator.
Edited July 2009: I've been making strawberry, raspberry, banana, apple and peach roll ups this summer with great success. Spray the special trays lightly with non-stick spray before pouring in the blended fruits, and they peel out without tearing or sticking. I can't make them fast enough - my kids eat them every day.
Customer Review: Best investment I've ever made!
Summary: 5 Stars
I absolutely LOVE this dehydrator! I looked at a ton of reviews before purchasing a dehydrator to compare rectangular vs round, timer vs no timer, etc. I decided on this little guy because it wasn't enormous, reviews said it wasn't too loud, and I didn't come across any reviews talking about it catching on fire. I came across some reviews about units almost catching on fire for other brands and steered way clear of those!
Anyway, I have started eating more raw foods since the start of the year and wanted a dehydrator because I love to munch on things and I wanted to be able to make my own healthy snacks. It's been 2 months now and this little Nesco has been running 24/7 since I got it!! It's perfect! I perpetually have sliced fruit, veggie chips, flax crackers, fruit leathers, and veggie burgers in it and it's running great!! I keep the temp at 105' so there's really no need for a timer cuz things don't go bad or burn, they just get drier! This is literally the best investment I've ever made!! I haven't bothered really cleaning the trays because it's kind of a pain and it really doesn't need constant cleaning. I wash the fruit leather trays after each use which is much less time consuming. If you are wavering on whether to get a dehydrator or not, I strongly encourage this one!
Disclaimer: I don't use this for anything higher than 105', so I have no advice for meats. However, I highly recommend sliced bananas, pineapples, pears, apples, zucchini, daikon, flax crackers, and anything else you can slice up!! Wonderful, delicious, healthy investment :)
Customer Review: Great dehydrator -- if you need one
Summary: 4 Stars
If you really need a dehydrator, this is a good one (although I've never used any others, so I can't really compare them).
I have made dried fruit and veggie 'chips', fruit leathers, turkey jerky and even tofu jerky. Everything has come out fine although some items took 12 hours to dry completely (which apparently is the norm).
The unit does generate a small amount of heat in the immediate vicinity, and I wonder how much energy it uses (probably not much, but if you use it a lot, for hours at a time, it may add up).
HOWEVER, after a few weeks I had to really ask myself if I NEEDED a dehydrator. Except for the jerky, it's proably easier to buy dried fruit than to dry it myself, and the price differential isn't that great. My favorites are dried apples and bananas and neither come out the way they taste store bought.
In addition, it's not always as easy as just slicing the fruit or vegetable and laying the slices on the trays. Many items require pre-cooking or pre-treating, so it can be a time consuming process.
I've become addicted to the turkey jerky, so the dehydrator turned out to be a good investment (it's impossible to find jerky made from ground turkey on the market!). But before you buy any dehydrator, decide if you really need it and if it wouldn't be easier and cheaper to buy dried food. If you intend on making jerky of any kind, a dehydrator will no doubt pay for itself in short order, but if you're getting it mainly for fruits and veggies, you might come to a different decision.
Customer Review: Everyone's getting jerky for Christmas!
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this for one reason only...JERKY. So far I have no complaints with its design or any other functionality. Other reviewers have noted that it's missing a timer and an on/off switch which is true but to me it means that there's just less that could go wrong with it, and who doesn't have a timer on their microwave, oven or watch?
I have the larger size jerky gun that nicely holds a pound of lean ground beef or turkey. It only takes 2 or 3 trays to hold 1 lb of jerky using my gun. For ease of use in squeezing out the meat, I use the wide tip on the jerky gun and arrange it in a spiral on the tray. There is less problems with constantly having to pinch of the ends and also with this method I only need 2 trays and when it's done, I just cut the long strip of jerky into squares.
With the spices/cure already prepackage for sale here or at my local WM, the ease of the jerky gun and the quick drying with this unit, all my friends, family and coworkers will be getting homemade beef and turkey jerky for Christmas. It'll save me money, the jerky is outstanding and for the people that don't know I have one of these, they will think I went through a lot of trouble to make them homemade jerky. Hehe.
I have not attempted to dehydrate anything else and really don't intend to. I bought this only for jerky and for that it does an excellent job. It's fast, it's dries consistently, not messy at all, and I can make over 3 lbs of jerky in a matter of hours. Yeah...I LOVE IT!
Customer Review: Poor design - didn't work for me
Summary: 1 Stars
I've used a dehydrator for years to dry herbs from my garden which I use all year long. I like the idea of drying them at a lower temperature. The colors shouldn't darken.
This was not my experience. I cut fresh sweet basil from my garden to dehydrate. I layed them in a single layer and set the dryer to 95º. Two days later, they were wilted, but not in the least bit dried. I hiked the temperature to 105º and let it continue drying. Mind you, the unit was operating 24/7. After five more days, the leaves were still not dry; some of them were still just wilted, especially the ones in the bottom trays where there were fewer leaves. I turned the unit up again, this time to 155º. After another 4 days, I checked them. The leaves should crumble when dried. The leaves are still flexible - kind of like paper leather.
I called Nesco and explained my dilemma. They suggested I return it. She said the basil should have dried in 24 hours.
That wasn't my experience. I would not recommend this unit. I don't like the heating unit on the top. Everyone knows that heat rises. Maybe that's part of the problem. The moisture certainly didn't leave the unit when it was in operation 24/7 for 11 days.
My original unit was a Magic Chef from Walmart. I liked the unit because the heater and the fan were in the bottom. The trays were adjustable to different heights. The unit would dry herbs within 24 hours. I wish I could get another one like that.