West Bend Back to Basics FD-600 - Manual (Page 7)

POPPING BACKS
When drying fmit halves, especially apricots, it has been suggested that
popping the back (“inside out”) will speed the drying time. This is true,
but it also resuits in the loss of the nutritional juices to the bottom of the
dehydrator. Instead, cut each half in half again to give the end product
more nutritional value, a brighter color, and faster reconstitution
capabilities. Apricots will turn black during drying if too ripe.
CHECKING
Some fruits have a natural protective wax coating, such as figs, prunes,
grapes, blueberries, cranberries, etc. To speed drying, rt is necessary to
pretreat these fruits by dipping them into boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes,
depending on the size and toughness of the skin. This makes the skin
more porous by removing the natural wax coating and thereby speeds
up the drying time. The faster drying helps reduce the nutritional loss.
This process is called checking because small lines appear on the fruit
skin and allow the moisture to escape. The lines are too fine to be
visible.
ROTATING TRAYS
Your new Food Dehydrator is designed to rely on natural heat
convection to carry away moist air from the food. Trays should be
rotated during the processing period to insure even drying. Trays
nearest the bottom exposed to the hottest driest air will dry more rapidly.
So simply move them up and move the ones on top to the bottom.
DRYNESS TEST
Fruits should be pliable and leathery with no pockets of moisture. There
is a tendency to over dry fruits until they are tough and hard. Overdried
fruits do not store as well as properly dried fruits, do not taste as good,
and have less nutritional value. Properly dried fruits should contain
about 15 to 18% moisture and feel soft but not squishy.
Vegetables should be tough or brittle. They store best when they
contain about 5% moisture.