Beef jerky is the clear first choice that comes to mind. Ok I lie - I'd make pork jerky if I had a dehydrator.

I'd probably also use one to make something akin to sun dried tomatoes.

Beef jerky!!

(And other things too.)

Beef Jerky!!

Well, if you want to try a raw food/vegan diet, its perfect!

http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/vegetarian.htm

Jerky! It's awesome.

If you have an herb garden you could dehydrate some herbs...? I have no idea if that would work or why you'd want to dehydrate them if you have your own garden. Maybe to store for later? Hmm.

Definitely beef jerky! WAY better than the storebought crap.

Dried peaches are tastey, we would use the ones off of the tree that we couldn't eat and hadn't gotten around to canning. I'd stick to drying peak-of-season stuff if only because it's cheaper. Off season stuff might actually benefit from being dried as it concentrates the flavors but it's not something I've tried.

Wow, I never thought of using it as a dough proofer! THANKS!

I got one last summer and it is a fabulous way to preserve all the herbs my mom grows. I was just thinking this week that with some rosemary left, we almost made it until we plant again.

If you have a dog you can make great, natural, dog treats! One is the jerky as already mentioned, another is dried sweet potates which are great for dogs. I usually make some with garlic powder and some with cinnamon. (Toss them with a bit of oil, add spice, dehydrate.)

There are some books on dehydrating that you might want to check out from your local library to get ideas and recipes. Enjoy your new kitchen toy!

I've used them for herbs. I had one herb that was growing so fast and taking over the garden faster than we could sue it, so I cut up a bunch of it and dehydrated it!

i would find a good raw foods cookbook as many have an emphasis on dehydrated foods. I remember seeing a recipe for a herb/vegetable puree that you would spread out on parchment paper and dehydrate to make a tortilla-like wrapper for spring rolls and wraps!

Only after my cat sat on half of my last batch of pasta did it occur to me to use the dehydrator; definitely will next time.

I have not done anything fancy with mine, mostly because we moved to a place with limited kitchen storage and it's out of sight/mind. We just tried all different kinds of fruits, and our favorites luckily were the cheapest: bananas and apples.

I'll look at the raw food recipes, though.

ooo, the wrap idea sounds great... i wonder how those hold up though?

the only experience i have with a dehydrator is for use with mushrooms... growing up in northern michigan, we would get pounds and pounds of morels every season, and what we didn't gorge ourselves on, we dehydrated. they were awesome thrown into spaghetti during the winter!

I recently rec'd a dehydrator as a gift and it was cool to read through this and actually find some useful ideas!

We had a bumper crop of bell peppers, and hot peppers last year -- I dehydrated the bells and stored them in mason jars, and the dried hot peppers I made into chili strings --- they've lasted wonderfully for over a year now, and I just pull a couple off the string whenever I need them. The bell peppers I use in all sorts of recipes -- they're especially great in crock pot recipes and have a flavor as though they were roasted.

I've also done tomatoes (then packed in olive oil), herbs, greens (for soups in the winter), and crackers. I've seen recipes for fruit chews and all sorts of fruit chips too. Lots of stuff you can do with it, and if you have a garden it's a great non-messy alternative to canning.

My brother used to make tofu jerky for long distance bike trip energy (marinate with tons of soy, ginger, etc. and then dehydrate).

Also, my favorite: homemade fruit leather. Puree fruit and then dehydrate the puree to make fruit leather.

Dehydrated kale! The perfect veggie chip. They're amazing, especially with a little nutritional yeast added.

I used to live in LA and found this fabulous raw food restaraunt in Santa Monica (They have a great cookbook too with lots of recipes for your dehydrator including their famous onion bread):

http://www.rawvolution.com/?q=rawvolution_cookbook

• Drying food scraps to go in the composter

Don't those people know that compost needs moisture to work? And, pre-processing compost ingredients? What a ridiculous waste.

This is a little quirky, but if you're into hiking/camping, there are whole cookbooks of dehydrated recipes that you can make instead of getting the high sodium, pre-packaged ones from a store. The whole meal goes in a ziploc or two, and then you just add hot water, seal the bag again, and wait ten minutes!

It's more of a curiosity if you're not trying to haul meals for a week into the backcountry, but still....

I use mine to preserve herbs I grow in the summer for use in the winter. Much more aromatic!

You can make yogurt too!

Though I'm not a raw foodist (just a vegetarian), I'm reading this cookbook called Raw (http://www.amazon.com/Raw-Uncook-Book-Vegetarian-Food/dp/0060392622/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237501977&sr=8-1).

I know it sounds weird, but I unwind in the evening by reading cookbooks right before I go to bed.

In any case, it seems that dehydrators are must haves for serious raw foodists - used to make crackers and bread, among other things.

I've never had one, but a friend did. I seriously suggest slices of kiwi fruit. They are absolutely delicious, in fact I hunt for them at food markets all the time but are never able to find them.

I use my dehydrator for the avalanche of tomatoes from my garden each summer. I grow assorted flavors of grape and cherry tomatoes especially to dehydrate. Once dried, I store them in mason jars in a dark cabinet and they last forever. They are fantastic added to salads and other dishes during the dark days of winter. The flavor is so concentrated and really does taste like a summer tomato. I do not use oil to store them.

I dehydrate bananas and sweet potatoes to give to my dog as treats. She loves them and I know that there is no added sugar.

I make my own nut milk (soak 1 cups nuts over night, drain, blend with 4 cups water, add some vanilla and maple syrup), then dry the ground nuts to use as flour. Also, I make Mark Bittman's coconut milk by blending a cup of coconut with 2 cups of hot water, then dry the coconut again to throw in muffins.

I have a question. When you use your oven as a dehydrator, can you do two foods at once or will they affect the flavor of the other food? I want to make tofu jerky and try the dried kiwis, but I don't want the flavors of each to mix.

This thread has sent me down memory lane..we had a dehydrator growing up! (It may still be in my parents garage..)
We ate a lot of fruit leather--apricot, plum...
My parents would buy crates of fruit at the Farmer's Market in peak season, and dry them, we could munch on them for a while.
I believe they did do savory stuff as well such as teriyaki flavored beef..
Also banana chips when our bananas were about to go bad.
About how it works--just keep checking your drying stuff every 1/2 day or so to see if it has reached the right consistency.
Enjoy..I'm craving that apricot leather just thinking about it.

I don't want to be a buzz kill, but pork jerky is not very safe. Pork is very susceptible to infection by worms and prions, some of which can survive the drying process.

I suppose if you cooked it first, it would be ok.

I have to admit the feeling of jealousy at finding an Excalibur for that price.

I used a friends dehydrator one summer and it is now my favorite preservation method. (ok, I still like to can tomatoes)

Dehydrating zuchinni is the best, throw some in soup and to comes back to life with the perfect texture and the flavor of summer.

Tomatoes are wonderful-I sliced them thin and dried them-I toss some in when I used my canned tomatoes and it "thickens" a little but still gives a rich tomato flavor.

I dried chard (and want to try kale) and use it in pretty much anything. I breaks up into little bits, almost powdery, and my kids never even know they are eating it. It looks like some kind of seasoning.

I have also taken extra mixed veggies (tomato, bell pepper, carrot, celery, onion, garlic, greens) dried it, and then put it through a blender or food processor. I use it like a veggie broth powder. It is really good for food allergies because you can out what ever you want in it. The only think you have to remember is when you actually use the dried items a little turns into a lot more. :)

Overall I think any veggie or fruit would preserve well. I would check your library and see if you can find a book or two that would have ideas and directions as well.

Is "fruit leather" the Yankee term for fruit roll-ups? (I'm from Texas.)

My Mom always used to just pop open a jar of apple sauce, spread it around in a circle, and bam - instead fruit roll-up.

My mom makes dried plums, that are so awesome, in her dehydrator. You will never want to buy those slimy ones again. She also makes delicious, crunchy, dried green apples and thin, crunchy bananas. They are so much better than store bought.

I love my dehydrator - I use it to make macaroons, granola (with maple syrup but no sugar), flax seed chips, and I'm going to try out a recipe for potato chips this weekend -- all raw. I don't eat 100% raw (or even 100% vegetarian), but I've found that eating raw when I can has a huge impact on my mood and concentration.