Dehydrators are either a box type with drawers or round with stackable shelves.

We recommend food dehydrators that score at least 80% overall.

Fruit leather is a dehydrated fruit puree. Fiona uses food with a high moisture content to assess the dehydrators ability to dry evenly, using the fruit roll accessory provided with each product.

We make beef jerky as there's an importance on food safety as well as dehydrating evenly. The jerky should bend like leather and have a slight resistance to biting.

We dehydrate kale (a popular healthy snack food) to assess the food dehydrators ability to dry to a crisp texture.

The CHOICE Expert Rating (or overall score) is made up of performance (60%) and ease of use (40%).

We check how easy the food dehydrators are to assemble and store, how easy the controls are to use and how easy the machines are to clean.

The performance score is made up of the results of the five cooking tests, weighted equally.

We make semi-dried tomatoes to assess the food dehydrators ability to dry evenly and quickly.

We dehydrate apples (a food with moderate moisture content) to assess the food dehydrators ability to dry evenly.

This is the Recommended Retail Price.

Based on using the dehydrator once a week for six hours at 60C (or medium).

We run the dehydrators at 60°C and measure the noise from 1 metre away. 

A timer allows you to set and forget. A timer that alerts you when the process is finished is also handy.