Build a Solar Food Dehydrator

(Page 4 of 4)

August/September 2006
By Eben Fodor 
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Cooking with Dried Foods

Most dried vegetables can be quickly and easily rehydrated in soups or by including a bit more water in recipes such as zucchini bread. For great additions to stir-fry and pasta dishes, you also can rehydrate vegetables by soaking them in water for 10 minutes to an hour.

You can mix dried fruits with things such as hot cereal, muesli or granola to add sweetness and nutrients. They also can be blended with seeds, nuts and grains to make wholesome energy bars. Solar dried tomatoes taste sweet and are delicious when eaten plain, marinated in olive oil and garlic, or made into a tomato pesto.

Many dried foods are excellent when eaten as they are. In fact, drying can improve the flavor of some foods. Bananas are fantastic fruits, but dried bananas are heavenly. A Roma tomato is almost too bland to eat fresh, but when dried, it’s a treat your taste buds will savor. Watery Asian pears are sometimes a little disappointing, but when dried, they are among the finest treats on Earth.

Eben Fodor is the author of The Solar Food Dryer, a Mother Earth News "Book for Wiser Living" from New Society Publishers. He is an avid organic gardener with a background in solar energy and engineering.

Highly recommended by the Mother Earth News editors: The Solar Food Dryer book, by Eben Fodor. If you are thinking of building a solar food dryer, or you just want to learn the basics of how to preserve food by dehydrating, this is the best book available. Includes full details on how to build a very effective solar-powered dehydrator. Order now.

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Comments

  • WoundedEgo 9/11/2009 8:08:11 AM

    I've been thinking that my slow cooker would make a simple, small dehydrator somehow, since it maintains a steady 125 degrees Fahrenheit temp on the "warm" setting.

  • Alex 8/14/2009 11:47:29 AM

    Here are more solar dehydrator plans:

    http://www.efn.org/~itech/Solar%20tunnel%20dryer/Solar%20tunnel%20food%20dryer%203_2008.html

    http://www.jrwhipple.com/sr/soldehydrate.html

    http://www.dehydratorbook.com/solar-dehydrator.html

    And I know this isn't solar, but it's from Alton Brown, so worth taking a look: http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/Season11/dried_fruit/witheringbites.htm

  • ryan 7/12/2008 4:04:23 PM

    Like so many things nowdays the price has got to be right. This article leads you to believe that there are some plans to build the solar dehydrater , but NOT. The person who wrote this article has used up the dictionary to say what could have been said in 3 sentences. Anyone who reads Mother Earth has the basic knowledge of dehydration , and does not need to read this overworded article. You have got to be kidding about the price of knowledge of solar . You say that the ones on the net are made out of cardboard , well in these times it might just be all we can afford. I will find a solar dehydrater on the net and I will not have to buy your overrated missle to do it.

  • Stacy 7/7/2008 4:10:53 PM

    Just doing a simple google search turned up several free plans for solar food dehydrators for those of us that are um, frugal. Here area a couple links that I was able to find:
    http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/abeng/plans/6244.pdf
    http://ecobites.com/self-reliance-diy/diy-solar-food-dehydrator.html

    Enjoy!

  • Kerina 7/5/2008 3:25:48 PM

    As with the others before me, is it possible to get a design for a solar dehydrator. I am on an incredibly tight budget right now, as alot of us are and am not able to buy the book. So if you cold send me a design, that would be terrific. Thanks much-kerina

  • Travis 7/2/2008 1:25:36 PM

    Hello,

    Wondering how much nutrient loss is due to food exposure to the sun? I guess for years we have dryed our food over standard light bulbs so it shouldn't be any worse. Still, it seems like the "cardboard box" design done with wood and glass would be more efficient and a better design. For one, you could use a larger piece of glass without having to make your drying racks bigger and two, you could use a piece of glass that is already cut but may not be the exact demensions of your rack's/box. Lastly, it would be a pretty easy retrofit of an old lightbulb style box. Just build a box a couple inches deep with glass on the front and some kind of heat sink in the back with vents on top and bottom and line up the top vents with vents in the bottom of your dehydrator. This article may not have had any usefull info in it, but at least it got me thinking...
    Thanks,
    travis

  • brendan 12/16/2007 6:44:48 PM

    I'm a peace corps volunteer in el salvador and think my community
    could really benefit from solar food drying. Can you email me a
    design?

  • Jeannine 9/9/2007 2:46:47 PM

    need diagram on how to construct one.
    Mother Responds: The ilustrations for the dehydrator are in the
    Image Gallery at the top right of the article, under "Related."
    Also, see an earlier comment above&nbsp;regarding the author's web
    site.

  • Terry 7/11/2007 9:45:27 AM

    Please let me know cost of plans and I will remit immediately. I
    would like to build this solar dryer and demonstrate it to my
    preparedness group. Thank you Terry Powers
    &nbsp;
    Mother Responds: the illustrations for a solar dryer are in the
    Image Gallery, to the top right of the article, under "Related." To
    build this exact dryer, you will need to view the author's
    book.

  • RobM 4/13/2007 8:31:58 AM

    The plans are available on the author's website:
    http://www.solarfooddryer.com

  • Karen 3/28/2007 7:45:17 AM

    I would also like a design for the solar food dehydrator. Will you
    send me one.

  • ahmad 3/7/2007 3:39:00 PM

    could send me a design thank you

  • Muhammad 3/6/2007 6:47:05 AM

    I've got to build a simple dryer for a school project. Could you
    please send me a design urgently

  • Matthew 3/2/2007 12:32:50 PM

    I've got to build a simple dryer for a school project could you
    please send me a desgin urgently

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