When you're ready to transition into a raw food diet, which does not include the use of foods cooked over 118 degrees, you'll probably rely heavily on the use of a commercial food dehydrator to prepare numerous meals for yourself and your family. Although you can succeed on a raw food diet without the use of one, you may find it easier to use a dehydrator over sun-drying if you live in a cold or humid climate; and easier to use a dehydrator over oven-drying, since many ovens cannot maintain temperatures suitable for dehydrating over a prolonged period of time, according to the University of Missouri Extension's Food Preservation Team.
Significance
While on a raw food diet, you can use dehydrators to prepare a wide variety of fruit-, vegetable-, grain- and nut-based dishes that are more palatable when the food's excess moisture is removed during the dehydration process. Dehydrated breads, crackers, tortilla chips and cookies are some examples of the foods that do not taste good or hold their shapes well without the use of a dehydrator. Additionally, raw food dieter specialists believe that when you dehydrate raw foods at temperatures less than 118 degrees the foods retain all of their natural vitamins, minerals and enzymes, although no scientific evidence exists to support these claims.
Convenience
Most commercial dehydrators contain multiple compartments that you can fill with numerous recipe ingredients. Therefore, you can use one dehydrator to make several recipes at one time that you eat throughout the span of a week or more. You can also dehydrate excess produce that would otherwise spoil if the moisture was not removed from the food.
Flexibility
Although many raw foodists use Teflon sheets in food dehydration preparation, you can also use a wide variety of common household products to line dehydrator trays, says registered dietitian Nancy Berkoff on VegetarianJournal.org. Berkoff suggests lining dehydrator trays with brown bags to dehydrate firm foods such as apples, onions and carrots, and plastic wrap or waxed paper to dehydrate raw spread or cake recipes. You can also use unbleached canvas and cotton cheesecloth to line dehydrator trays.
Considerations
You do not need to purchase a commercial dehydrator to dehydrate your raw food. You can use the sun or a 150 degree oven to mimic the drying process of a dehydrator. However, if you live in a humid or mostly cold climate, sun dehydration may not be an option for you as your food may spoil before it is completely dried, says the Food Preservation Team at the University of Missouri Extension. The Team also says that oven drying is not optimal either because many ovens cannot maintain temperatures lower than 200 degrees. Therefore, your food can spoil in your oven before it is completely dry, also.
Warning
Dehydrated foods can be subject to moisture re-absorption during storage, warns the National Center for Home Food Preservation. Therefore, you should package and store your dehydrated foods immediately after dehydrating to avoid the risk of spoilage, says the Center. First, place your cooled dehydrated foods in plastic freezer bags, plastic freezer containers, home canning jars or in vacuum-sealed bags in amounts that will be used in recipes to avoid repeatedly exposing the foods to air and moisture. Then, store your dehydrated vegetables for up to six months at 60 degrees F and store your dehydrated fruits at 60 degrees F for up to one year, says the Center.
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