A dehydrator is an appliance or an engineered system designed to remove water from substances such as absorbents or food. It mainly comprises of a heating element, a fan and air vents. The food dehydrator is used for drying and preserving foods by removing most of the moisture contained in the food, thus reducing the potential problem with spoilage that occur with fresh foods. 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 permits heat and air to reach the outer surfaces of the item being dried. As a result of the dehydration process is that the food may end up being smaller in size and may have a flattened or irregular shape. Click here to read more about the best food dehydrators according to consumer reports.

Below are some of the top best food dehydrators according to consumer report 2018.

• GOURMIA GFD1850 FOOD DEHYDRATOR WITH TOUCH DIGITAL TEMPERATURE CONTROL.

This dehydrator includes 10 trays so you can create different types of dehydrated foods in one convenient batch at a fraction of the cost of commercially dried food. Its digital temperature setting provide accurate drying times and temperature to make it super easy for you to start creating delicious dried foods. Gourmia food dehydrator is designed with a clear door that allows you to monitor the progress of drying meat, beef jerky, fruit slices, or any other dried food snack. At Gourmia, we take the quality of our products very serious. We also provide a bonus cookbook to customers, to help them create all types of delicious creations using our dehydrator.

• AMERICAN HARVEST FOOD R FD-61 PACK.

This nesco harvest food dehydrator kit comes with 16 pieces to get you start making beef jerky in on time. The American food dehydrator has a top mounted fan of 500 watts of drying power. The dehydrator it comes with 5 trays and is expandable to 12 trays. Additionally, it comprises of 5 packs of spices and cures, a jerky gun with 3 different tip attachments, 2 fruit roll sheets, 2 clean screen drying screens and finally a receipt book.

• PRESTO DEHYDRO FOOD DEHYDRATOR.

This $40 food dehydrator has over 1,000 5-star review and is extremely easy to use and it makes great fruit leather and beef jerky. The presto dehydro comes ready to make meat jerky and dried fruits and veggies, but additional kits contains mesh screens, fruit roll screens and accessories for fancy snacks like fruits leather have to be purchased separately.

In sum, food dehydrators are less expensive, all natural, portable , reduces waste and makes food taste better. Dehydration was an early form of food preservation, since it only required a safe place to store the food while it dried up. The water content of food is usually very high,

It removes moisture from food retains various bacteria from growing and spoiling food thus reduces the weight of the food.