Similar Content to: Food Mill

A utensil used for drying and preserving foods by removing most of the natural moisture contained in the food, thus reducing the potential problems with spoilage that occur with fresh foods. The typical result of the dehydration process is a food that is smaller in size and may have a flattened or irregular shape.

Foods can be dehydrated by placing whole or sliced items in the sun or by simply allowing them to air dry on open racks with screening or holes that permit heat and air to reach the outer surfaces of the item being dried. Electric dehydrators are available as applicances that are commonly used to air dry various foods, which are placed on circular drying racks that rotate around air currents to hasten the drying process. The racks are multi-tiered to enable larger amounts of food to dry at the same time. Typical foods that are dried are a variety of different fruits, vegetables and meats, such as apples, bananas, apricots, grapes (raisins), chillies, herbs, tomatoes, mushrooms, and turkey, buffalo or beef jerky. Dried foods can then be stored for long periods of time to be used as snacks or food to be preserved for camping and outdoor activities.