Nesco Snackmaster Express Dehydrator Review

As we are fast approaching the gardening season, I started on the search for a dehydrator to help meet my needs as far as preserving foods. As we all know with the economy still not that great, more and more people are starting to grow their own fruits and veggies to enjoy year round. It just seems like the fruits and veggies we grow ourselves are packed with so much more flavor than those we buy from a chain store. Not to mention that I am not a fan of dried fruits that can be purchased from the store. Mainly because it is so hard to find ones that are organic and that do not contain added suger. With that being said, I was excited to put the Nesco Snackmaster Express to work.

First off I want to let my readers know that this was my first experience with a dehydrator. I have had fruits and veggies that friends have made in their own dehydrators, but I have always been a little scared to give it a try. Since my family has changed our eating habits and eat mainly gluten free and organic, this just seemed the way to go.

The dehydrator manual says to pre-treat before you start the drying process. I started to per-treat with apple juice and realized that I didn't have any on hand. Since I tend to just play things by ear and experiment, I decided to give it a try without pre-treating. So all I did was slice my apples and placed them in the dehydrator. Set the correct temp and let them dry for right at 3 hours. When I tested them, they were perfect!! I did have to let my pickest eater (my 2 year old) give them a try. He ate a slice of the dried apple and asked for more. That's when I knew that everyone else in the house would love it.

I was not only impressed with the ease of drying the apples and how wonderful they came out but that it can be used for so much more than just fruit. The Nesco Snackmaster Express FD60, comes with a special tray just for making "fruit roll-ups". All you do is use a puree that you have purchased or already have on hand. The Snackmaster also can dry vegetables and herbs that can be used in all types of casseroles, soups, stews, etc. throughout the year.

If you are craft, then you can even use the Snackmaster to dry plants and flowers for use in potpourri, flower arrangements and so much more!

The Nesco Snackmater Express FD60 has received approval from everyone in my house. I am looking forward to start drying cherries, as the trees are already blooming. My husband on the other hand, is ready to expirment with making jerky. Also, something that I have forgotten to mention is that is so easy to clean the Snackmaster. All I had to do was let it soak in a sink of warm water for just a second and it wiped clean with no problems at all.

Introducing the Snackmaster® Express™. Its sleek, contemporary design features 500 watts of drying power, and generates maximum speed and quality for dehydrating fruits, vegetables, beef jerky, and venison jerky. Helps dry food in hours, not days like ordinary food dehydrators. The top mounted fan eliminates liquids dripping into the heating chamber!

Features of the FD60:

• Adjustable Thermostat. The adjustable thermostat allows you to dry different foods at proper temperatures (95-155 F), providing the flexibility to product the best drying results.
• New-Powerful Top Mounted Fan: Top mounted fan and 500 watts of drying pwer generate maximum speed and quality for dehydrating fruits, vegetables, and jerky. Helps dry food in hours, not days like other food dehydrators.
• Expandable FD-60 comes with 4 trays, but is expandable to 12 trays with optional Add-A Tray.
• Vita-Save Exterior: Opaque Vita-Save exterior helps block harmful light which destroys nutrional content of food being dehydrated.
• Patented Converga-Flow drying system forces air down the exterior pressurized chamber (not through the trays.) The hot air is forced horizontally across each individual tray, converging on the core for fast, even and nutritious drying. No flavor mixing and no need to rotate trays.