Excalibur | 9 Tray Dehydrator with Timer | Food Dryer | Up to 26 Hours and Temperature Control | Drying Fruit, Meat and Vegetables

I bought this as a gift for my husband. He adores biltong which costs a lot of money for what it is, so I thought it would be great to be able to make our own. We have had our first attempt, and it was so easy and the machine worked brilliantly. But this machine has also opened a whole new world to us, in terms of raw foods.My husband is wheat intolerant, so we have to avoid bread and biscuits and try to follow the "caveman diet" (natural, unprocessed foods). Raw food has many recipes that use dehydrators to create all sorts of breads, crackers and treats that use natural raw ingredients that replicate the texture of our highly processed diet without the bad bits and with more flavour. I've been having fun experimenting with all sorts of things, and this dehydrator works away in the background drying the foods out. It has a huge capacity, so I have yet to fill it up, but I have needed more than 5 drawers, so it's good to have the big one. Also the timer is helpful, switching it off when it's completed, so I can leave things in at night and not worry about them being overdone. It is rather large (the size of a large microwave) and it does make a gentle hum, but I keep mine in a backroom, so it doesn't bother me at all.My children love the dried fruit that it makes (dried mango is a favourite) and I know it is pure goodness - no added sugars or preservatives that dried fruit from the shops has in it. There are some great raw recipes at therawtarian.com which are simple to make, with great success. And I'm looking forward to perfecting my biltong. I feel I have definitely bought the Rolls Royce of dehydrators that dries things easily and is reliable, and it's going to take a few years for it to pay itself off on the biltong front, but I believe my family's health is definitely benefitting from the healthier direction of our diet and reduced additives that we are eating.

This dehydrater is quite sizeable, so you can put in lots of goodies to dry. It's well worth paying the extra because it works like a dream. It has a very good instruction book, with lots of tips. I've been drying lots of apples and pears. It' suggests drying live food below 50degrees C , in order to preserve the enzymes. So this is what I've been doing, they take about 7 -8 hours and it does a great job. This machine is made in the USA and the quality tells

Use all the time. Good size..

I have only had this Dehydrator for about 10 days so far and I have used it almost every day and I love it, I couldn't be happier the results are fantastic. It has loads of room and the sheets are really easy to clean. My previously dehydrator was cheaper but didn't last, I wore it out, now with that one, one mango took 2.5 trays with this dehydrator I can get one mango on each tray. I also find it very useful for crisping up homemade biscuits.

The media could not be loaded. I'm returning this item as its faulty and the motor is making a huge noise. I had excalibur before so I know the machine well. Such a shame. Requested a refund.

Have bought this item before and very happy with it so we bought a second one. Unfortunately, this time one of the flexible mesh tray inserts was missing. There is no option for leaving feedback to the seller, hence hopefully this review will serve to pass the message on.

Gave it to my parents and they LOVE IT!!Worth it! Mega good to keep u on a healthy eating path. Plus if u have fruite u grow at home its a perfect way to store food rather than letting it go off.

You do have to keep slices uniform and watch for extra dryness at the back and edges