• These flexible sheets have a non-stick surface. Perfect for preparing your fruit leathers, rollups, taffies, granola, pureed fruits, yogurt and many more food items.
• The foods peel off quickly .... cleanup is easy.
• ParaFlexx Sheets are specifically made so you can use them over and over again!

As a consumer, you must decide what method of preservation is the most economical to use. The chart below is a simplified economic comparison of the three common methods freezing, canning, and dehydration of preserving food at home. It was prepared in part by the Family Living Education and the Environment Resources Unit of the University of Wisconsin Extension and reprinted with the university's permission.

From the chart, you can see that it makes sense to dehydrate. The equipment costs for canning, and particularly freezing, are significantly higher than they are for dehydrating. Dehydration is also economically viable because it allows you to purchase large quantities of food in peak seasons when prices are cheapest and to preserve the bulk of your garden harvest. Although large quantities of food may be frozen or canned, there may be considerable difficulty in finding sufficient space to store them. Thus as you have seen, dehydration offers a whole new and wonderful world of variety and interest in food preparation.

If the equipment is used for less than the full amortization period, the cost per pound of food increases significantly. Also if small amounts of food are processed, the average cost per pound will increase.

The most obvious question, of course, is: Exactly what is dehydration? At one time or another, we all have experienced dehydration. For instance, after exercising and perspiring heavily, someone has probably told you to be sure to drink plenty of fluids or your body would dehydrate. When you exercise, the body becomes hot and begins to perspire. This heat causes the moisture to be drawn out of your body through the pores in your skin. When it reaches the skin's surface, it is evaporated by the passing air currents. This leaves your body with a liquid deficiency; therefore, being dehydrated.

For dehydration to take place, as you will note, two basic conditions must be present:

• Heat -- enough to draw out moisture, and
• Air Circulation -- to carry the moisture off and evaporate it. To dehydrate most effectively, the air should be able to absorb the released moisture.

Food dehydration, like body dehydration, depends on these two conditions. But, unlike body dehydration (which can be harmful), food dehydration, or food drying, is done with a specific purpose in mind: to preserve the food from spoiling in the most natural way possible. That is, food dehydration can be defined as a process of inactivating enzymes, or removing water (moisture) from a food to a point at which bacterial and other spoilage microorganisms are inhibited from growing. Properly dehydrated or dried food can last for months without refrigeration.

There are other ways of preserving foods. Freezing and canning, of course, are very popular. Unlike these other preservation methods, however, dehydration does not kill or cause deterioration of enzymes.

Enzymes are the chemical properties found in all living things that control the growth cycle, causing them to mature and/or ripen. When you bring a green tomato in from the garden and see it turn red in several days, you are witnessing enzymes in action. What this also shows, however, is that the action continues after the food is picked, eventually causing it to over ripen and decay. Dehydration suspends the action of these enzymes, putting them into a state of inactive or suspended animation until the food is rehydrated--water is added.

Perhaps the best example of the dehydration/rehydration phenomenon is the factual, scientific discovery of live fish being hatched from eggs previously dehydrated by the sun. In Africa, during severe droughts which could sometimes last for years, all lakes, streams, and ponds would dry up, leaving the eggs to dehydrate in the sun. When the rains did finally fall again, the eggs would rehydrate and live fish would emerge. These fish eggs were actually dehydrated, preserved, and eventually rehydrated, proving the validity of this life-saving process.

Most food can be dehydrated. Fruit and vegetables are among the easiest and most popular for the beginner. But only top quality food should be dried. Select fresh, firm, and perfectly clean food, free of bruises or blemishes. Fruits and vegetables at their peak of ripeness will have the richest flavor and be more nutritious. Immature food will lack color, over mature fruits will be soft and mushy, and over mature vegetables will be tough and woody. Many people believe that inferior produce can be used for dehydration because it will be all wrinkled up when it is dried anyway. This is not always true. Vegetables and fruits (in fact, all produce) should be in prime condition. The quality of the food that you place in the dehydrator determines the quality of the dried food that is processed.

In addition to fruits and vegetables, meats, fish, herbs, cheeses (including tofu), yogurt, and even pickles can be dried at home. In fact, almost anything that has water in it can have the water gently removed.

Fresh produce, which can be dehydrated immediately, is our best source of natural vitamins, sugars, and minerals. Once it is harvested, some of this nutritional value is lost. If fresh food is left to sit on a counter in a store or at home, the vitamin content deteriorates even further. By drying food rather than holding it fresh, most losses can be checked.

With dehydrating, you preserve more nutrients than with methods of preservation that involve cooking food. The higher the temperature is during processing, the more nutrients are lost. Although dehydration depends on heat, it requires it at much lower temperatures than cooking does--usually not over 145°F. The effect of water removal on nutritional changes of dehydrated food is minimal except that some vitamin A and vitamin C are lost during dehydration. (This can be kept to a minimum with proper pretreatment.) Dehydrated food must also be properly handled, prepared, dried, packaged, and stored under appropriate conditions and used within one year. For example, if improperly packaged, dehydrated vegetables can lose up to "50%" of the vitamin A during the first six months of storage.

The taste of some dehydrated food is intensified because we are removing water--not sugars, flavors, or nutrients. Herbs become more flavorful. Some vegetables, such as carrots, taste more concentrated, and any food that contains sugar tastes sweeter. Even though food with sugar taste sweeter, the caloric value is the same as in the fresh food because you are adding nothing. Children love dried fruits such as bananas, apples, and pineapples. Many dried foods, especially those used in cooking, are indistinguishable from fresh. For example, cooked, dehydrated spinach tastes just like garden fresh spinach. Part of the variety and versatility that dehydration offers, however, is that some other foods taste different in the fresh and dehydrated states. For instance, let's consider grapes and raisins. Both these snack fruits are delicious and inviting, but each is unique in flavor, texture, and appearance. Many people don't realize that they both are one in the same; except for the fact that the grapes are fresh and the raisins are dried, or dehydrated. Another example is pineapple. There is nothing better than a succulent, fresh piece of pineapple that enlivens each taste bud with every bite. But, there is also nothing like a tantalizing piece of dried pineapple with its burst of new flavor and texture which only dehydration can give. Of course, you may not care for the taste of flavor of every dried food. Experiment--you won't know what you'll like or dislike until you try it. Remember, if you don't like the taste of consistency of a particular food, it can generally be reduced to a powder and used as a seasoning.

Dehydration is the process of restoring liquid to dried food. Of course, properly dried food can easily be rehydrated. It returns practically to its original size, form, and appearance. If properly handled, it will retain much of its aroma and flavor as well as the minerals and appreciable amounts of vitamins.

Meats and herbs do not need to be rehydrated before cooking. For other foods, first rehydrate and then cook as you do fresh food. While most vegetables are prepared by cooking, some such as carrots can be eaten raw after rehydration. Vegetable snacks and chips are, of course, eaten in the dried state.

There are many ways to rehydrate fruits; in water or in fruit juice, for example. Try rehydrating blueberries in grape juice or apples in apple juice. The same principle applies to fruit leathers. Rehydrate vegetables in vegetable juice like a multi-vegetable mixture juice. Some vegetable are excellent when rehydrated in milk.

Herbs, vegetables, meats, and fruits can be added to your favorite recipes. When doing this, keep in mind that as a general rule you should allow 30 minutes to 1 hour to rehydrate when added to a soup or a stew. Green beans are an exception; they rehydrate best when soaked overnight in the refrigerator. Small pieces of dried food need only 15 to 30 minutes of soaking. Rehydration time can be speeded up by pouring boiling water over any kind of dried food or by using one of the many steamers currently on the market.

The amount of water used for cooking should be as near as possible to the amount which the food will take up. It is better to add water during any cooking process than to start out with more than needed. Like fresh food, dried food, if overcooked, will lose both texture and flavor. Dehydrated, blanched vegetables can be prepared for the table in a short time. Fruit can be simmered to make them softer or plumper.

Why buy fruit rolls, dried fruits and other healthful snacks at the store when you can buy fresh and make them yourself for much less with an EXCALIBUR Dehydrator!

Do a little comparison shopping, and you won't believe the sky-high prices for dehydrated foods!

Use the EXCALIBUR to start making your own dried foods now, and you could save a bundle on your grocery bill the whole year through!

Don't hit the trail before you load your backpack with naturally delicious food dehydrated in the Excalibur easy-to-pack snacks like trail mix, jerky and dried fruit!

Before heading to the local food store, let us tell you how easy and inexpensive it is to make your own food for camping and hiking with the EXCALIBUR Dehydrator.

Just slice or dice the fruit and vegetables you want to pack. Put them on the trays, close the door, and turn on your Excalibur. Come back in a few hours and your dried foods will be ready. It's that easy!

You'll pay a premium price at the store, but with the EXCALIBUR you can make everything from healthful trail mix and granola to tasty fruit rolls, banana chips and dehydrated veggies all for much less than you'd pay at the store!

Save Time and Earn Extra Income on Craft Projects!

Usually drying flowers or fruit for crafts can be a time-consuming process. With the EXCALIBUR, you can cut your drying time dramatically and make lots of beautiful crafts!

The convenient removable trays are easy to clean -- and they give you plenty of room for large craft items. Whether it's dough art... decorative wreaths... dried arrangements... or potpourri, all your projects can be easier and more enjoyable with the EXCALIBUR. Think of all the profitable possibilities for the next craft bazaar!