Excalibur Black Door Electric Food Dehydrator, 5-Tray, White (Discontinued by), Medium

I've worked in professional restaurant kitchens for close to a decade, and I've worked with Excalibur dehydrators in many of them, so when I was searching for an option for my home kitchen this was the one I was the most familiar with. Excalibur products are American-made and backed by either a 5 or 10 year manufacturer warranty, which speaks to the quality of the product! In all my years working with them I have never seen one fail or require any kind of service but it is comforting to know that if mine does fail I could get it serviced by the manufacturer.It's very simple to use and the range of temperature adjustments offers a lot of precision, from low heat for preserving delicate herbs to higher heat for jerky. It comes with a comprehensive and easy to read manual and a cookbook packed with ideas for how to preserve different kinds of foods. This is a great addition to any kitchen, especially if you have a garden or find yourself with an excess of produce! I use mine to create fat-free chips from fruits and vegetables, to dry my homegrown herbs and spices, and to create healthy snacks like fruit leather or jerky. The trays and the dehydrator itself are easy to clean, produce doesn't stick to the trays but I do sometimes cover them with saran wrap if I am drying fruit leather or working with something like turmeric that would stain the light colored plastic.This dehydrator does everything I could need it to and more... the only thing I could complain about is that it takes up a large space on my counter, but it's so useful that I really don't mind. I think I'll be happy with this product for a very long time!

This dehydrator dries material by moving warm air horizontally over the holding trays. There is a control that allows the temperature to be varied with settings for various materials. A fan moves the warm air. We do not have a timer because we prefer to dehydrate by feel. This is a good design because the works cannot be contaminated by dripping or food particles, and large items can be dehydrated by removing one or more trays to give overhead room. The material usually dries sufficiently overnight (oriental persimmon halves). Our tree produces loads of this great fruit, and the dehydrator gives us dried fruit for easy preservation. I hightly recommend this product so far (one month of use). We put the unit out on the porch or in the garage to keep the fan noise low.

I researched dehydrators before purchasing, and felt I had made an investment in a quality product that would serve me well, and that research paid off. I LOVE this! I have dehydrated zucchini chips (no oil, no fat, no salt,amazing flavor),at least 50 lbs of tomatoes by now, pears, figs, strawberries, strawberry/peach fruit leather/chips, raw coconut/cashew/lime cookies, raw portobello/vege/nut burgers (amazing), pears, chicken and carrot dog treats, and mushrooms. I sort of wish I had purchased the 9 drawer unit, as I am filling it as fast as I can with one batch after another, and have borrowed a smaller Excaliber dehydrator from a friend, and have it full all the time. It does take space, and I have mine running on my craft table in my art room. That way I don't have to listen to it 24/7 nor dedicate my kitchen space to it. Finding silica gel packs to add to my jars of dried food was a little tricky, and I had to search for and purchase those online. My daughter suggested I make my own out of rice sewn into little muslin bags. I will try this. You just throw the used bags into the dehydrator overnight for a new dry unit when you need to. The deluxe series comes with an amazing cookbook and dehydration guide. The variable temperature settings make it possible to do everything from meat to delicate herbs without over or under heating. And you can dehydrate at settings for raw food that preserve enzymes and vitamins with nearly NO nutritional loss! I would definitely recommend this to anyone interested in dehydrating. Do spend the extra few dollars to purchase the film sheets used for making leathers and squishy stuff. I used them for the vege burgers, cookies, leathers, and dog treats.

This is a great dehydrator. It works well & does a fantastic job. It's easy to use & easy to clean. Since the recall & problems with jerky for dogs & started making my own. The first one I got quit after using it 3 times. Got this one to replace it and was glad it died. This one is so much better than the basic ones. If I decide to use it for other projects I have no fear it will do a wonderful job.

I had been using one of those circular convection dehydrators for my venison jerky. It worked...and the jerky was good. However, it was so slow...really slow. And I was rotating trays all day long to keep the lower trays from cooking the meat instead of dehydrating. This Excalibur box is great. The rear heating element, combined with the even flow of blowing air, evenly dehydrates all trays simultaneously...no more tray rotation (oh yeah!). Finished product is excellent and dry...not cooked. And what was taking 18 to 24 hours now takes about 12 hours. My other half says that the "noise" of the fan is annoying...maybe to her. I grew up with window unit AC and think it's pretty quiet. The five tray unit is perfect for 5 lbs of ground meat distributed from a jerky gun...about 1/2 tray left to spare. The only thing I would change would be to add a shut off timer...but I knew it didn't have one when I made the purchase. Great unit, love it.

I have tried contacting the company several times but have yet to hear back.It was my 40th birthday and my friends pooled together to get me this. I live in Spain so with shipping it was around 250 euros.Unfortunately, this dehydrator doesn't work. I am not sure if it was damaged in transit or simply has a problem but I am unable to send it back due to the high price of shipping.I have asked for another one or to refund me.I cannot afford to buy another one. I couldn't even afford to buy this but my friends did.Terrible, no reply, broken. 0 stars for service and product functionality.

Hice mi compra, por mi trabajo de galletas decoradas y me súper encantó por el tamaño y por la calidad lo recomiendo 1000 % y aparte que esta súper bonita

Calidad y precioBuenísimo!

For a long time I was very unhappy with my dehydrator as I felt like it wasn't doing ANYTHING to dry or warm up my food (I am on a raw food diet and use this for my "cooking"). I couldn't figure out what was wrong for months and I had very little time to fiddle with it. I finally ended up buying a thermometer that I could put inside the machine to test the heat, and found out that I have to turn the knob to 130°+ in order to heat the dehydrator up to, and keep it steady at, around the 115° mark that is suitable for raw food. Very disappointing as I had been dreaming of this machine for months before deciding to purchase it and then it took me months of troubleshooting to figure out what was wrong. Now that I can monitor the interior temp. with a thermometer I do enjoy "cooking" with this dehydrator but it is a but of a hassle. I've done all of the troubleshooting in the manual and looked up tips online, but nothing has worked to make it heat at the temperature indicated on the temperature knob.