Dehydration Experiment I - Before

The winter rains have started here in Oregon, so there's really no chance of our figs drying on the tree. I looked though some online recipes yesterday for fig jam and preserves, but didn't think canning was the best option.

Sami and I had wondered if we should try a food dehydrator. They tend to be kind of expensive though, and some of them use a lot of energy.

I didn't really expect to find anything on craigslist, but I was curious and Fridays are slow days in the library. I typed "dehydrator" in the search button and a few options came up. One lady in Hillsboro (near where Sami works) was selling one for 15$. We decided that was an OK price for an experiment and Sami picked it up on his way from work.

I looked inside the thing to figure out the model number and see if I could find any instructions or advice on the pros and cons of this particular dehydrator. Apparently ours is a Ronco (as seen on TV infomercials). I found a mix of good and bad reviews on Amazon.

So, this morning I got up and picked some figs, grapes and tomatoes for our first test run. There are two trays of grapes, two trays of figs and 1 of tomatoes. I started the dehydrator at 9:30 AM. According to reviews it may take 24-48 hours till things are completely dehydrated. We'll see. I'll post the results later this weekend.