do the stainless trays stick more after drying the food than plastic and how do you deal with that if so? I wonder about shredded zucchini or herbs
836776
I would put down some wax paper first. I have a commercial dishwasher I run them through about 10 times to get them reasonably clean.
836777
It does stick more and is very hard to get food off of. I actually returned mine and got the one with the plastic. To fix the sticking you would have to by the paraflex sheets which defeats the purpose of having stainless steel. Did mangoes and they stuck horribly. I like to dry strawberries and there is no way I would do them on the stainless steel.
836778
We have used it to dry herbs and peppers. So far nothing has stuck to the stainless trays.
1784304
I just saw a dehydrator on ebay with stainless steel shelves for $269 with free shipping. It is STX DEHYDRA 1200W - XLS 10 TRAY COMMERCIAL 100% STAINLESS FOOD DEHYDRATOR. I think they are on there quite frequently. I, too, am looking for a good dehydrator, and the reviews on this Amazon one are the best I have seen. I have seen a lot of review on the ones with stainless steel trays and they apparently are NOISY. I have a small house and don't want a ton of noise, which is one of the reasons this one on Amazon appealed to me, but the plastic trays are a definite drawback. I think I will keep looking a bit longer, but I may end up going with this one, plastic or not. :-)
1539371
I belong to a CSA and a produce buying co-op, and sometimes we get things my family will not eat raw. I shred or blanch or slice and throw it in the excalibur. I love mine. I dry herbs on a low setting. I have also dried: onions (stinky while drying), chard, kale, shredded beets, zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes, shredded potatoes (cook first), celery, mushrooms, radishes (shred), sweet peppers, hot peppers, spinach, savoy cabbage, parsnips, lemon/lime/orange zest. I have not done garlic yet. I dry strawberries and bananas in bulk - 9 flats of strawberries and 120# of bananas in the last 2 months. I have 2 this size and a 4-tray, and they are used often. There is a great how-to site about "dehydrating to store" food. Do a search on that and you will find an amazing wealth of information.
2169380
I always place the poached tray on the plastic tray, because it shouldn't be directly in the water. Hope this helps. Misty
15950
I use mine commercially for numerous items. I find I get more even drying by rotating trays.
302600
even if you use the dishwasher they have to be hand dried on the inside of the roll.. stainless steel will rust if not dried well ..hope this helps
714203
you can get the plastic tray at their website for $20 and the wooden+plastic tray for $29.95 www.keekaroo.com. also, I wouldn't recommend using wet foods without the plastic tray. there are cracks between the wood pieces in the tray that food gets into that are almost impossible to clean/dry - plus, cleaning the wood often removes some of the finish
759785
I recommend the fruit roll up screens for seeds. I use these trays mainly for drying herbs.
1651868
The sistema company told me he products are meant to 'heat up' rather than 'cook'. It seems that food getting too hot will cause a problem with the interior plastic. I've bought a lot of their products, too- I use them with caution now. QVC made them seem flawless and indestructible! I also hand wash them.
903769
Funny you should ask now, as I just cleaned and put mine away after making beet and sweet potato chips last week. I'm pretty sure I have seen extra trays available, as well as other extras like fruit strip liners.
1736217
After it cools, I use a dish rag and mild dish detergent. I rub dry with a paper towel and coconut oil. The coconut oil seems to help take the stickiness out if you happened to cook something that caused that. It doesn't totally come out, but it's better and the more you use the coconut oil, the better the pan gets. I'm not as happy with that aspect of the pan (that it gets sticky/tacky)...I feel it requires more work than just a stainless steel pan.
1126964
I use them all the time like that, except I put produce on them in AZ heat. They really help keep things fresh. However, I think Flexi Freeze works a little better. I sometimes can feel the sticky gel stuff on my hands.
924000
The key is prevention. Blot excess moisture from the food before loading the trays
993830
You might have to lightly oil or butter the sides of the form. Or use spray Pam. These are very high quality forms and I use for lentil burgers - they don't stick for that.
1843450
what I do is put some ina bowl withwater and microwave awhile till the water gets hot and then let them soak AND REHYDRATE. I USE THEM MOSTLY IN SOUPS FOR FLAVOR The dried shitake have more flavor than these...try making some mushroom barley soup.
420943
The trays are stainless steel. The food doesn't absorb any metallic taste. The thermometer is adjustable. My husband does a lot of dehydrating and jerky making and really likes the unit.
2136711
I kept enough water in the bottom tray that I didn't have that problem. Plus I kept the food covered with aluminum foil until ready to serve. The food was gone after that. I enjoyed using this product. I had 6 of these set up and used.