Hamilton Beach Digital Food Dehydrator for Fruit and Jerky, Vegetables and More, 5 Trays, Adjustable Temperature, 48 Hour Timer + Auto Shutoff, Grey (32100A)

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Great for dehydrating chicken for dog treats

The media could not be loaded. “This is the best beef jerky ever!” is the most common thing I hear when family and friends try samples from our HB Dehydrator. I’m sure I could get similar results with competing products, but the price was right on this one.I wanted a dehydrator to make dried fruit and meat for storage. When I was a kid, my grandma had me pick peaches from her grove. Some we canned in Mason jars; others we dried on racks in the sun and packed away. I don’t have a peach orchard now, but I thought I’d relearn the food preservation process and teach my grandkids how to dry fruit and meat. This dehydrator was an excellent starting point.After a few months and dozens of batches of jerky and fruit, I can confidently recommend this to anyone curious about food dehydration.The only issue so far is storage—it’s proving tricky.First, because everyone eats it like candy. No batch lasts for more than a couple of days, so there's nothing left to store.Second, I haven’t discovered the right process for making jerky that lasts in storage. Even in vacuum-sealed Mason jars with desiccant packets, the driest meats still seep moisture. The easiest fix has been to leave them on the counter, covered with paper towels, letting the desert air do its job while people gobble the bits.I’m a complete novice at this, so any problems are likely my own fault. To the experts wondering, “Are you…?”—yes, I’m trimming the fat, trying both marinades and dry rubs, patting it dry at every stage, and even cooking it in the oven after dehydrating. Still, I’m experimenting.For now, 8–10 hours seems to be the sweet spot for earning that “best jerky ever!” award from the family. When my three-year-old grandson rejects it, saying, “I want fluffy jerky,” I know I’ve gone too far. So, I’ll stick to the fluffier side for now and worry about storage later.This dehydrator has me hooked enough to eventually upgrade to a commercial-grade model. In the meantime, it’s a great entry point—inexpensive, easy to use, and capable of making “the best jerky ever.” Especially the fluffy kind.Regards,badphd

I've wanted one of these for a while. So far I've dehydrated some bananas and they came out great! I'm ready to stick everything in there now and dehydrate it! Seriously though, this is great for making some healthy snacks. Sure you can buy them but this way I know what's in mine. Of course there is some noise with it running but they all make noise...theres a fan

I have been having a blast with this thing. It works so well! The night it arrived we went out and bought a bunch of fruit and just filled the whole thing up. Set it up overnight, and had dehydrated fruit for breakfast (and yes, our stomachs hated us for it, but it was SO GOOD).The next trial was spices. I do a lot of gardening, and had a massive Oregano bush out back on the patio, so I harvested the whole thing and filled it all up. This was the one "Ehhh" area of the machine. It did a wonderful job dehydrating my oregano, don't get me wrong! But it only comes with ONE fine mesh tray, which I mean, is okay, I can put it at the bottom. But that "fine mesh" isn't very fine. A lot of the dehydrated oregano leaves fell down into the machine. It wasn't a huge deal, not even enough to take off a star, but I DO recommend getting some actual fine mesh if you ever plan to do your own spices.The machine is great though. It's super lightweight yet feels durable, it's compact, and it's reasonably quiet. It's a little quieter than like, a box fan on low setting. It's also really easy to use, and comes with an excellent manual explaining how to dehydrate different foods, what temperatures to use, and how long, even with a list of different fruits and veg! Really all you do is set the temp, set a time, and leave it. Anyone can use this thing. It's great!

Perfect size for a batch of jerky. Easy to use with timer and heat.

Perfect dehydrator. Evenly dries fruit, from the top tray to the bottom with no need to rotate. Very easy to clean, the trays are very durable and food does not stick to them. I love the temp and timer feature. It comes with a recipe guide telling what temp and time to set for certain standard items, which was helpful--no guesswork. It doesn't take up much counter space but fits quite a bit of sliced food per tray. I can dry about 5-6 apples at a time. With all trays full, it takes 10 hours at 135 degrees to dry apples and they end up with incredible flavor! I have never had a silent/quiet dehydrator so the sound of this one was expected - it is equivalent to a fan set on low. I actually prefer the soft fan sound so that I can hear when it stops running/completes a cycle so I can start the next batch. It's also very handy that it auto shuts off after the time is complete, b/c I can start new batches at any time of day and let it run overnight.

Love this dehydrator. I use it for dog treats, fruit rollups, apples slices. Have had no problems with it. Only thing I would like to have is more fruit leather trays, It only comes with one.