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Stockli Dehydrator Review
Trail Testers Recommended 100%
Fresh Banana slices before
When you look around the outdoors shops there is quite a good selection of dried foods these days, but hardly any of it is organic. So I decided to try out a Stockli Dehydrator from Juiceland, to see how easy it would be to make my own.
The model I used for the test is the cheapest one in the Stockli range, retailing for £89.99 including VAT. This is an all plastic unit, being made from food safe, corrosion proof, taste-free polypropylene. It comprises the base unit, three trays, lid and a recipe book.
All the Stockli dehydrators feature a precision thermostat variable between 35ºC - 70ºC and are fitted with a safety cut out, which will automatically shut off the machine, if you have overfilled the trays and blocked the airflow.
The top of the range model comes with a timer and stainless steel, instead of plastic trays and costs £109 inclusive of VAT.
The Stockli is lightweight and has a small footprint at 13” diameter, so it will fit easily on your kitchen worktop. The base unit is five inches tall and each tray two inches tall. Each tray can hold 500g of produce and its possible to stack 10 trays one on top of the other, to process five kilos at once. Juiceland can supply additional trays at £7.90 and £12.90 respectively.
In addition to the dehydrator I also borrowed a Freshfield heat sealer and vacuum packer, from Juiceland. Once the drying process is completed the best way to store the food, so that it does not suck up moisture from the air, is to vac pack it.
fruit leathers, then you have to line the tray. Juiceland recommend Excalibur branded sheets at £4.95 each, but for fruit leathers I found inexpensive baking paper worked just as well.
A fruit leather takes around 12 hours on the maximum heat setting. Fortunately the machine is very quiet in operation, so can be left running all day, or all night as you prefer.
When you are done just drop the trays in the dishwasher.
On one occasion I set the machine going at midnight and set my alarm for 8am. Unfortunately I slept in and by the time I remembered that I had left the machine running the fruit leather was firmly welded to the paper. For an additional tenner you can buy the machine with a built in 12-hour timer, a must have feature, in my opinion!
When I was in Norway my fellow skiers thought my home made organic trail mix, apple slices and fruit leathers, were the best they had ever tasted.
Would I stump up for the dosh for one of these? Absolutely! - Dawn Smith
Stockli Dehydrator
And after...now tasty banana chips
Stockli dehydrator has a very small footprint
Always leave enough space for the air to circulate
The unit uses the vertical air drying method, whereby the base unit draws in the outside air, heats it to the required temperature and the fan pushes the air upwards, through the trays and out through the vent in the lid. As the warm air rises the moisture content in the food is slowly evaporated and carried away into the outside air.
Stockli uses vertical air drying method
The Stockli is very easy and straightforward to use.
When drying foods such as mushrooms or other “dry” foods just slice everything as thinly as you can and lay the pieces out on the tray. Do not overlap the pieces, making sure that you leave room for the air to circulate. You do not have to stick to one variety and can lay out slices of whatever on each tray.
When dehydrating soups, casseroles, or making squishy
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SRP £89.99 - £109.00
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