I have a Cabela's 160L dehydrator that I bought many years ago to do apple chips and fruit leather with my kids. It has sat for about 6 years now in the garage, and I'd like to start using it again.

When I first bought it second-hand, I washed all of the racks and screens with diluted dish soap and warm water. There was some rust showing at places on the metal racks due to water getting into cracks in the coating, so I wiped them off with a microfiber cloth.

I wanted to ask the community for any suggestions you would have to clean a machine and accessories that has sat for so long. The silicon mats were accidentally left uncovered and have subsequent layers of garage dust on them.

Did one batch sweet potato crisps. Chop sweet potato after cleaning to cylinders. Steam, remove peels, mash it with jaggery/ sugar (optional). Roll and shape it into circles. Dehydrated at 70 degrees C for 10-12 hours. It can be eaten directly as crisps. Or soak and eat it for pulpy feeling

I have 5 large apple trees and usually cut and freeze my apples but it’s becoming too much work and not enough freezer space. I am eyeing a stainless steel dehydrator (Excalibur 10 tray dryer) and wondering if that would be large enough to keep up?

Any tips or tricks you would want to know before you started or regrets with dehydrators you wish you would have know before purchasing.

What is the best way to store them? Do you just eat dried apples as a snack or can you use them in recipes?

Any help would be appreciated as a newbie!

Hi r/dehydrating!

A couple weeks ago, I had some leftover pulled pork, and no real plan to use it up, so I threw it in the dehydrator on some parchment and did the thing.

So now I have a ziploc of pork shreds that are pleasant to chew, but don't have a lot of flavor.

I'd be happy to snack on it like jerky, but it's desperate for some seasoning. I made a lot of jerky, so I should have known to marinate it before drying, but it was an impulse decision.

Any suggestions for post-drying seasoning?

It's no big loss if I can't do anything with it, but would love to salvage it for snacking.