American Harvest FD-1000 User manual

Executive Editor
David Dornbush
Editor
Scott Reinhard
Dehydration Expert
Deanna DeLong
Creative Director
Mike Esson
Printed in the U.S.A.
Bolger Publications/
Creative Printing
We hope that you will find this book a helpful
guide in learning to use your new American
Harvest®Dehydrator. It was prepared with you, our
valued customer, in mind.
10% Post
Table of Contents
General Drying Guidelines............ 3
Fruits............................................11
Vegetables.....................................19
Jerky.............................................25
Herbs ...........................................29
Crafts & Drying Flowers..............35
Breakfast Recipes.........................45
Desserts, Cookies & Candies.......47
Condiments, Dressings,
Stuffing & Sauces ....................53
Salads...........................................57
Soups............................................58
Snacks ..........................................59
Index ...........................................61

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If you have any
questions about
drying times or
service, please
give us a call.
We are here to
serve you.
1-800-288-4545
T
Thank you for choosing
an American Harvest
dehydrator. Here at
our international headquar-
ters in Chaska, Minnesota,
we’ve been developing and
producing our dehydrators
for over twenty years. We
bring you the best in
patented drying technology
and let you enjoy fast, easy
drying in the convenience of
your own kitchen.
Have fun!
David Dornbush
Chad Erickson

Selecting food to dry
Select the best quality produce at
the peak of ripeness and flavor. Wash
carefully to remove debris, dust,
and insects. Cut away any bruised or
damaged sections.
Loading Trays
Lay food pieces evenly on trays. Don’t
overlap food pieces as this will inhibit
drying. As each tray is loaded, place
it on the dehydrator to
begin drying.
General
Drying
Guidelines
There are no absolutes
and quite a few
variables in food dehy-
dration. The only way to
become proficient is to dry, dry,
and dry some more! Certain varieties of
produce, the humidity in the air, and
even methods of food handling make a
difference in the drying time and quali-
ty of dried product.
• Experiment with different drying
temperatures, thicknesses of produce,
pre-treatment versus no pre-treat-
ment and different rehydration meth-
ods. You will determine what works
best for your particular needs and
preferences.
• To save nutrients and produce a
quality product, it is necessary to
work fast preparing foods to dry.
When placed in your dehydrator,
they need to dry continuously at the
recommended temper-
atures and times. Do
not turn off your
dehydrator and leave
partially dried foods
sitting on the trays.
The food may spoil or
develop off flavors.
• Spread all foods evenly to dry
in single layers. If slices overlap, the
areas that are overlapping will take
twice as long to dry.
• Do not add fresh produce to a par-
tially dried batch. It will slow the
rate of drying for both products.
It is possible however, to combine
partially dried foods on to
fewer trays.
• Many people have more than one
American Harvest
®
dehydrator. If
you have two, it’s easy to combine a
load from both dehydrators after a
few hours and start a new batch in
your second dehydrator using the
remaining trays.
3

Drying Time
Because of the unique design of the
patented Converga-Flow®system of
your American Harvest®dehydrator,
you’ll be surprised at how quickly
most foods dry.
Drying times may vary, depending on
the type and amount of food, thick-
ness and evenness of the slices, per-
centage of water in the food, humidi-
ty, temperature of air, altitude and the
model of American Harvest®dehydra-
tor you are using. Drying times may
also vary greatly from one area of the
country to another and from day to
day, depending on the climactic
conditions. Keep records to help
you predict future drying times for
specific foods.
Drying Temperature
Foods dried in the American
Harvest GardenMaster®dehydrator
generally dry more quickly than in
other models.
Fruits, fruit rolls, and vegetables
should be dried at 130° to 140°F (55°
to 60°C). By drying foods in this
temperature range you will minimize
the loss of heat-sensitive vitamins
A and C.
Because, all foods sweat when they
first begin to dry, the temperature may
be set higher than 140°F (60°C) dur-
ing the first couple of hours of drying.
The actual temperature of the food
will remain 15° to 20°F (6° to 8°C)
lower than the air temperature for the
first couple of hours.
Meats and fish should be dried on the
highest temperature setting of your
dehydrator. Since meats and fish do
not contain vitamins A or C, these
higher temperatures do not affect
nutritional value. These temperatures
also keep bacteria and other spoilage
micro-organisms, common to meats
and fish, to a minimum during the
first stages of drying when they tend
to multiply.
Nuts and seeds are high in oil, and if
higher temperatures are used, they
will tend to become rancid, develop-
ing off flavors. The best drying tem-
perature for them is from 90° to 100°F
(30° to 40°C).
Herbs and spices are most flavorful
when they first open and should be
harvested while very fresh, before
they begin to blossom. Because the
aromatic oils are very sensitive, tem-
peratures should be 90° to 100°F (30°
to 40°C) for drying. Herbs generally
dry in an hour or two. Take care not
to load trays too heavily as this will
prolong the drying time.
Dried flowers, herbs and spices used
for potpourri should be dried at tem-
peratures ranging from 90° to 100°F
(30° to 40°C.). These low tempera-
tures maintain aroma and colors.
Use these guidelines for the founda-
tion of your dehydrating techniques.
Expand on them as you gain skill and
confidence with experience.
5

Testing for Dryness
Food must be carefully monitored
near the end of the dehydration
process to prevent overdrying.
Overdried foods lose quality in
texture, nutrition and taste. To test
for dryness, remove a piece of food,
allow it to cool, and feel with your
fingers to determine dryness:
•Fruits should be pliable and
leathery with no pockets of mois-
ture. To check if fruit is dry, tear a
piece in half and watch for mois-
ture beads along the tear. If there
aren’t any, it is sufficiently dry for
long term storage.
•Fruit rolls should be leathery
with no sticky spots.
•Jerky should be tough but
not brittle.
•Dried fish should be tough. If the
fish is high in fat, it may appear
moist due to the high oil content.
•Vegetables should be tough
or crisp.
Packaging
Some pieces may dry in a shorter time
than others and should be removed
and placed in an airtight container
while allowing the rest of the pieces
to remain in the dehydrator until
sufficiently dry.
Package all dried foods promptly to
prevent contamination by insects and
to prevent stickiness and rehydration
caused by humidity. Store dried foods
in airtight, moisture proof containers.
Home vacuum packaging devices are
ideal for packaging dried foods. They
extend the shelf life of dried foods
3 to 4 times. Home vacuum packaging
can be done in bags or glass jars.
Manufacturers’ bags, designed for use
in home vacuum-packaging, are
moisture proof and airtight. Glass jars
are vacuum sealed using a lid with a
rubber gasket. Only glass jars which
have been tempered for canning
should be used. Other storage jars
may explode under the pressure of
vacuum packaging. Be sure to follow
the manufacturers’ instructions.
Bag sealers can also be used to pack-
age dehydrated foods. Bag sealers do
not remove air within the package,
but the bags are moisture-proof and
airtight. Squeeze the pouch tightly
against the food to remove as much
air as possible before sealing.
Plastic freezer bags can be used.
Plastic storage bags not labeled for
use in the freezer generally are not
airtight nor moisture-proof and
should not be used to store dried
foods.
Since most packaging materials are
transparent, store packaged dried
foods in a plastic or metal container
which will not allow the light to
penetrate. Do not store fruits and
vegetables together in the same stor-
age container because flavor and
moisture may transfer.
Fruit rolls are best if removed while
still warm. Wrap in plastic wrap and
place in airtight moisture-proof
containers for storage.
Onions and tomatoes are especially
prone to absorb moisture from the air
and should be packaged immediately
after removing from the dehydrator.
6

If foods are insufficiently dried, or
are exposed to moisture from faulty
packaging, they can lose quality and
nutrition, and can even mold during
storage.
Labeling
All dehydrated foods should be
labeled with the name of the product,
date dried, and quantity or weight.
Clear labeling allows you to rotate
foods so that you minimize waste and
nutrient loss.
Storage
The storage area should be cool, dry,
and as dark as possible. The darker
and cooler the storage area, the longer
the dried foods will last with good
quality and nutritive value. For every
18°F (10°C) drop in storage tempera-
ture, the shelf life of dehydrated foods
increases 3 to 4 times.
The ideal storage temperature for
dehydrated food is 60°F (15°C) to
below freezing. The ideal storage
place is your freezer or refrigerator,
particularly for storing low acid foods
such as meats, fish, and vegetables.
All fruits dried with skins intact
should be packaged and frozen for a
minimum of 48 hours to prevent any
possibility of insect infestation.
Record Keeping
Recording the following information
can be helpful in improving
your dehydrating techniques and
determining quantities of food to dry
each season.
•Date dried
•Quantity dried, including weight of
produce before and after drying
•Drying time, temperature, and
humidity
•Packaging: size of containers and
packaging materials used
•Storage temperature
•Length of storage time before use
By labeling storage containers with
the contents and date dried, you can
keep track of your supply, rotate as
needed and avoid mix-ups.
7

Rehydrating Dried Food
Eat dehydrated foods dry or rehydrate
for use in recipes. Rehydrate by
placing dried foods in a container
(with enough water to cover food)
and soaking for 30 minutes to 2 hours
Boiling water rehydrates foods more
quickly than cold water or water at
room temperature.
Fruits or vegetables may also be
rehydrated in liquids other than
water, including fruit juices, cider,
vegetable juices, milk, consommé,
etc. Refrigerate these foods while they
are soaking to reduce any risk of
spoilage.
Do not add seasonings, especially salt
or sugar during rehydration because
they slow the rehydration process.
Cooking Dried Food
After rehydrating food, cook it as you
would normally. If foods are cooked
before they are fully rehydrated, they
will cook in a shriveled state and will
not be plump. Most fruits and
vegetables will rehydrate to about
80% of their fresh state. Consequently
they are a little more chewy than a
fresh or frozen fruit or vegetable, even
when rehydrated.
Dried food used in cooking will
absorb additional liquid, so adjust
the recipe accordingly by adding
more water:
• Vegetables –add 1 additional cup
of water for one cup dried food.
• Stewed fruits – add 2 additional
cups of water for each cup of fruit,
allow to stand for 1 hour, and
simmer until tender.
• Pies or fillings – use 1 additional
cup of water per 1 cup of fruit –
less, if you desire a thicker
consistency.
Note: When using fruits in baking or
for ice cream, they may be softened by
covering with boiling water and
allowing them to stand for 5 minutes.
Drain, then chop or blend, depending
upon use.
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