I have a Sweda food dehydrator, which I got for free from my mom’s garage. I don’t have the box or manual or any info about it. This is my first dehydrator. There is no temperature control, nor a timer.
It looks like this: http://allentown.craigslist.org/hsh/523423255.html and this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&i…:1:2v_
SO - is this dehydrator going to work for me? I have this fear that it’s actually getting hotter than it’s supposed to for raw foods. Does anybody know how hot this thing gets? And I could use some tips. Like, the top of it has some vents that I can open or close. When would I want to do it open vs closed? Closing it would just hold in more moisture, right? Would it also make it hotter?
Also, what’s up with the teflex sheets, like I read about in Rawvolution? Aren’t raw foodies concerned with the affects of teflon on their food?
Comments
When I first went raw, I had an old dehydrator and had to make do with it for a few months. It had no temp or time controls – just on and off. There were vents at the top for letting out additional heat. The trays would rise up a bit if you turned them to further reduce the heat. I used a thermometer to check it – even with everything as open as possible, it went to 175 degrees!!! I found objects around the house to raise each tray up even higher and kept playing with it til I was able to get all the trays to 100 degrees. I probably heated the whole room when I used it. It was annoying and wasted energy, but the recipes kept me excited about staying raw. I really appreciated the new one when it came.
I have a Sweda which I got used also. I can not find a book or instructions for it. On the bottom of the heating unit there is a plastic shield that can be set to allow air flow. I have found that if you leave these closed the temp goes over 135 even with all the top vents open. If you open the bottom vents and top then I can have temps around 110. You have to turn the heating unit upside down to adjust the vent.