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| Photo from August 2009 |
I knew this was coming because in September I tried to dehydrate pear sauce and never could get it crispy enough to powder. Considering that I bought my Excalibur in the late 1990s, I can't complain about its service life! Even so, in the past couple of years the plastic trays had begun to crack.
But that's typical of plastic and they were still usable. Having the heating element go, however, pretty much meant the end.
I spent some time looking at various makes and models of new dehydrators. Even though I have no complaints with the Excalibur, being all plastic plus having a higher price point caused me to exclude that brand from consideration. Lots of the new ones are stainless steel and less expensive. I compared prices and reviews and finally decided on one that had a promotional discount as well.
The brand is Ultrean. You can get the specifics at that link. I wasn't especially keen on a digital control interface, but they're all made that way now.
Except for the control panel and viewing window, the entire unit is stainless steel, including the trays. I much prefer that to plastic. It's definitely heavier than the Excalibur. Also, this one uses 600 watts as opposed to the Excalibur's 400 watts for the 5-tray model.
It included one mesh liner and one fruit leather tray.
These are plastic. Also noteworthy, the Ultrean's trays are smaller than the Excalibur's but there are eight of them instead of five.
I gave it a try with the last of the green peppers, harvested in anticipation of our first frost. Because the peppers didn't have time to grow and mature, my pieces were small.
The necessity for the finer mesh trays is immediately obvious!
Since I only had the one to start, I put it on the bottom rack to catch pieces that fell through.
Choosing the settings and getting it started aren't as intuitive as turning a knob, but that's just something I'll get used to with use. Of the plastic mesh liners, I plan to cut down the old ones from my Excalibur. Those plus the one included will give me six. I'll need to get more fruit leather trays, however. The silicone ones I recently bought for the Excalibur are too large.
All in all, I'm satisfied with my purchase. A food dehydrator is a staple piece of equipment for me, so it gets a lot of use. The bonus is that in winter I dehydrate overnight in the kitchen, to capture the heat generated during the drying process. Every little bit helps. Hopefully, this one will last as long as my Excalibur did.
I Finally Had to Replace My Excalibur © Nov 2023
19 comments:
Dehydrating is something I need to get more into. I have one with stackable round plastic trays and it is okay but I'm not in love with it. It tends to dry the inner areas of the circle a lot faster than the outer rings, and bottom trays faster than the upper trays and I would prefer something that dehydrates a bit more evenly. But the trays are thick plastic and have held up well all these years. If I ever decide to get more into it, I would like one with pull out rectangular trays like your old and new dehydrators.
Looks like a good upgrade. No doubt you will get years of use out of it.
I don’t do enough dehydrating to warrant the purchase and don’t have a place to store it when not in use.
Enjoy your new toy!
Ed, I've never worked with one of those round dehydrators, so I have no experience. I can say that I never had problems with uneven drying with the Excalibur and find the new one dries evenly as well. Drying will never replace canning for me, but I do like how dried foods are so compact and take up so little room in the pantry. Learning to powder things has been great too. So easy to add a little extra nutrition and flavor to soups, stews, and gravies.
Daisy, I confess I rarely do mass quantities of dehydrating. Except for dried fruits, preparing dried foods for eating takes some upfront planning and time (as do things out of the freezer). I find opening a jar more convenient. But it's excellent for small quantities at the beginning and end of harvest season. Also for making fruit and vegetable powders, and powdered eggs. It was helpful when we had that jar shortage a few years ago! I probably should get into the habit of drying more.
My dehydrator is a Cosori brand but otherwise appears identical to yours. I purchased more of the mesh tray inserts because I had a plan to make fruit leather but I've never gotten around to it. I like the metal trays. They soak clean pretty easy and I always run the dryer for half an hour before I store it away for any length of time to make sure the wire is fully dry. Seems to me like something that could rust even if it is supposed to be stainless.
I have an Excalibur right now, with metal trays. My first one with plastic didn't last long at all. I love the door on your new one. I dropped the door on my current one and it cracked. It just sits on the edge of it. I do use it all the time too. I rise bread in mine and make yogurt in it too. I'll have to remember this brand if mine ever needs replaced.
Alex, the Cosori was the first brand I looked at and then discovered similar brands were almost identical except for different price points. That's a really good tip about running the drying a bit after washing the trays. Especially since stainless steel nowadays doesn't seem to be the same as stainless steel of old.
Kristina, I didn't know Excalibur had metal trays! That's a good improvement on their part because plastic can't be counted on for longevity. I didn't even bother to look at Excalibur but considering they're more than twice the price I paid, I'm pretty much priced out anyway.
I see you have my thirty year expectation of a piece of equipment. Less than that and I'm disappointed!
Boud, I wonder if they are made that well nowadays! I have no complaints about my old Excalibur.
That is a good run, Leigh.
The stainless steel trays are a plus. One of my complaints about my current dehydrator is that they are all plastic trays, and someone fragile at that.
TB, I'm finding that more and more, plastic is a deal breaker for me. Unfortunately, sturdier alternatives are usually not in my budget. On the other hand, I suppose it's a plus to discover I don't need so much stuff.
I'm glad you were able to find an affordable replacement, and I hope you get decades of use! I would like to move away from total dependence on a freezer, but a dehydrator and pressure canner are both still on "wish list" status. Recently saw something about using an air fryer to dehydrate something- maybe just herbs? - so I may give that a try. Of course it would just be a tiny volume, but at least the experiment wouldn't use much energy and I already have the air fryer.
Quinn, it never occurred to me to try my air fryer to dry things like herbs, but it's certainly worth a try! Can you get a low enough temperature to get good results?
I've often wished I had a dehydrator on and off over the years, but the timing was never right. This year I had a bumper crop of herbs, but parsley especially. After several days of drying it in the oven, I thought again it would definitely get some use here. Your new one looks great and the old one looks like it earned it's keep.
Nina, I don't know if I would get one just for herbs, but it has been wonderful for drying fruits, vegetables, and jerky. That really adds some variety to our diet, which I love.
Thanks for this info. I have one of the aforementioned 'round ones' that's pretty much all plastic. My attempts have been fairly successful but there is unevenness and even different drying times occasionally because I think it's cycling on and off. Could be a malfunction. Just kinda thought that's how most were. I told 2nd Man when we get our new house out there, I want to jump headlong into preserving in all methods, and dehydrating is one I'm really looking into. I like the idea of all stainless/metal. Thanks for this info, as always you are so helpful in sharing your experience! Now off to do some googling, ha.
1st Man, good quality food preserving equipment is a must. The round dehydrators are popular, but the reports of uneven drying seem to be common. Excalibur was the standard of excellence for years and years, and as noted, they now make a stainless steel model. They are also among the most expensive! Probably because of their reputation. Still, the others all seem to have very high ratings amongst customers, so I don't think you'll go wrong no matter what brand you decide on.
Wow Leigh, the thought never crossed my mind that I'd have to replace an Excalibur! I just got one last summer and I love it.
Do you have a food processor that you recommend?
Rain, Excalibur makes an excellent dehydrator, so I doubt you'll have to think about replacing it for decades! Did you get one with stainless steel trays?
Tressa, sorry, I don't. I don't even own a food processor.
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