Saturday, June 19, 2010

Dehydrator Lust

I....have dehydrator lust.  I admit it!  I just got this email from a great blogger and want it bad.  But instead of trying to convince my self that I need it now, I will just enter the contest to get one (go ahead, you can too! you KNOW you want to ;) then go and feed my chickens.

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Keeper of the Home: Naturally Inspired Living for the Christian Homemaker

1000th Post Party Giveaway: Deluxe Excalibur 3900 9-Tray Dehydrator ($220 Value)



It's been a hard secret to keep, but at last I can announce that after the smashing success of our Excalibur Dehydrator giveaway last fall, it's time to give away another one!
I've owned a 9-Tray Excalibur for about a year and a half now. I keep it on my kitchen counter the way that most people have a microwave or toaster oven. Yes, I use it almost that often!
As someone who uses my dehydrator so extensively, I can't imagine going back to the cheaper model I used to have. This is the ultimate dehydrator. It is absolutely top-notch and I cannot say enough good things about it.

In my previous review, I mentioned the main reasons that I chose to go with an Excalibur Dehydrator in particular:


  1. Large, square shaped trays (as opposed to round with a hole in the center). The means no more wonky-shaped fruit leather. No more grains falling through the cracks into the dehydrator motor. Less wasted space in arranging items on the tray.
  2. Adjustable trays. You can remove the tray above if you're drying something tall to give it more space. You can remove all of the trays to do something like mason jars with yogurt, or for rising bread. You can remove the bottom half of the trays to do pint sized jars of yogurt and still keep drying nuts or herbs or fruit on the upper trays. The possibilities are endless!
  3. Trays that slide out through the front. With a round dehydrator, I had to lift off all of the top trays in order to access something in the middle or on the bottom. With the front access, I can just open it up and pull out the exact tray that I want to see.
  4. A heating/fan unit along the back, rather than down at the bottom. This allows for more even heating of the entire dehydrator and items that finish more or less at the same time.
Read the rest of my previous review.

There are so many things that I use my dehydrator for! These days, the most common is probably for making crispy nuts (nuts that are soaked and then dried). I also use it frequently for making granola, for soaking and dehydrating oats for granola bars, for drying herbs or vegetables, for making dried apples or pears or fruit leathers, for making "cheese" crackers... just to name a few.
One additional feature about the model that is being given away is a 26 hour adjustable timer, so that you can set the dehydrator to turn off while you are out or during the night, so that you don't over-dry things or waste energy! This is new since I bought mine, but it would be such a handy feature to have!
To learn more about my thoughts on the Excalibur Dehydrator, definitely check out my review.
Another great place to learn more is in this promotional video. I wanted to embed it into this post, but wasn't able to. It's worth clicking through and visiting their website, though, so that you can get more of a feel for how the dehydrator functions and what makes it unique.

So who wants to win themselves a Deluxe Excalibur 3900 9-Tray Dehydrator ($220 value)?

To streamline giveaways a bit more, we are experimenting with a new system. Rather than leaving multiple comments to get all of your extra entries, simply click on the link below and complete one survey, checking off the entry options that you have completed! That's it!

Click Here to Enter the Giveaway!

Giveaway ends Friday, June 25th at 4pm PST.