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Drying Food in Oven vs. Using a Dehydrator: All You Need to Know

Written by Gillian Lightman Updated on July 16, 2020

Food preservation is a safe and efficient way to make food last longer without losing its nutrients, and drying food in oven is a great method to do this. Another way is with a food dehydrator that saves time and energy, but can be a bit pricey. If You Want to Preserve Food, Then Drying Food in Oven or Using a Dehydrator is For You

Both are good options, but there are some downsides and positives to each. In this article, we’ll show you the benefits of foo dehydrating.

Let’s discuss the 5 reasons why drying food in the oven is better:

Reason #1: It’s cheap and accessible

While a food dehydrator is considered a luxury, an oven is often a necessity. Thus, most of us have one in our kitchen and can use it without any problems.

It’s not only easy to use your oven, but it is a cheap method for dehydrating food without the added costs or tools.

Unlike a food dehydrator that can cost hundreds of dollars, you most likely already have an oven ready for use.

Reason #2: Most ovens can be adjusted to a low temperature

Even though ovens are designed to work at higher temperatures, they can still sustain lower temperatures.

The food drying temperature is ideally between 50°C – 70°C or 120°F – 160°F, that is so food dehydrates slowly.

It may take you a bit of time to adjust your oven, but it can remain in this low-temperature setting.

Make sure you check your food often to see that the temperature remains constant, by using an accurate thermometer.

As a rule, a convection oven is better for drying food, as it can maintain the temperature constant more easily.

Reason #3: Drying food in the oven doesn’t take too many steps

Unlike what many believe, drying foods in the oven doesn’t take much work. All you need to do is follow these simple steps:

Slice your food into thin strips or slices
Arrange them in a single layer on a rack with good airflow
Arrange the racks in the oven and begin drying
Move foods every couple of hours, or more often if needed
Most foods will be dry within 6-12 hours, but let them cool down before storing

Reason #4: You can dry many foods at the same time

Given the fact that an oven is more spacious than the regular food dehydrator, you can fit more than one kind of food at a time.

Instead of wasting time and energy drying foods in several batches, which can take some time, you can use your oven to dehydrate all at once.

Using many racks and/or baking sheets you can place several foods at different points in your oven to dry them simultaneously.

Reason #5: Drying foods in the oven will give free up counter and storage space Food dehydrators are often bulky and big, which doesn’t always fit in everyone’s kitchen, particularly if you already have limited counter space.

Because the oven is often a built-in appliance, you won’t have to worry about the extra space needed for food dehydration.

Unlike the food dehydrator, the oven is already part of your day-to-day appliances, so you won’t have to free up space at all.

repost from: https://ultimatefoodpreservation.com/drying-food-in-oven/