Gift Ideas: Top 5 Best Dehydrators for Pros
Your friend or family member don’t miss a chance to brag about their latest kitchen gadget or the newest recipe they’ve mastered? Eating healthy and saving money on food are their fields of expertise (or, at least, they want them to be)? They’re interested in survivalism or spend all of their weekend camping in nature? If you’re unsure what would make a perfect gift for them, you’ve come to the right place. Food dehydrators are growing in popularity. These straightforward gadgets transform the centuries-old technique of drying food into a modern, improved process that’s simple, fun, and convenient. No wonder all kitchen pros want one for their kitchen and survivalists think of them as an essential to include in your preparation. The compact dehydrators also come super handy while camping—helping you prepare foods with long shelf life, which can be eaten as is or used in recipes.
Now it’s time to select the right match. These are top 5 dehydrators that are best for pros—any single one from our selection below is bound to impress the recipient of your thoughtful gift.
#1 Excalibur 3926TB
If you really want to impress someone with your gift, this luxurious food dehydrator by Excalibur won’t fall short. Industry standard, it is equipped with 9 removable trays that give you a total of 15 square feet of drying space—accommodating a wide range of foods for drying, all the while making sure that you won’t ever feel like you could use more room. If you remove the trays or arrange them differently, you can even use this dehydrator to make yoghurt and raise bread. To boot, while you’re drying the food, you won’t have to rotate the trays, as Excalibur’s patented Parallex Horizontal Airflow ensures everything is dehydrated evenly. The low temperature (from 115°-118° F) while drying also ensures that the food preserves enzymes and nutrients, elevating the texture of your foods without compromising the boost they provide to your immunity. We could continue with the list of pros for this dehydrator, but you get the point.
#2 Rosewill Food Dehydrator
This Rosewill’s dehydrator is a great example of how a high-quality food dehydrator for professionals doesn’t have to be crazy expensive. Affordable but no less powerful than some of its priciest competitors, it includes 6 food-grade stainless steel trays, that can be expanded to 12 if needed. It’s non-stick mesh screens allow you to dehydrate foods of different shapes and sizes, including fruit slices, vegetables, nuts, fruit puree, fruit rollups, crackers, and herbs. The energy-efficient, rear-mounted dual fans will dehydrate your food to perfection and they can be fully controlled with a built-in digital timer and thermometer that allows you to regulate temperature from 95°-167° F.
#3 CO-Z Commercial Grade Stainless Steel Electric Food Dehydrator
If you’re looking for a food dehydrator that can accommodate the large family of your gift’s recepient or you know they’ll be using it for professional and commercial purposes, you’ll want to keep in mind the size of the dehydrator. Because, in these cases, the famous saying—the bigger the better, will hold true. CO-Z Electric Food Dehydrator doesn’t only boast a large capacity with its 10 drying trays, but mighty performance as well. It’s impressive specs will wow even a seasoned pro. Yes, you’ve got that right. It has a stainless steel design that’s built for durability, 1000 watts of power that let’s you dry tons of food in one go, and a thermostat that can be adjusted from 95°-155°F, allowing for safe dehydration of a variety of different foods including meats, nuts, and vegetables. Now what’s not to love about it?
#4 Tribest Sedona Express
Dehydrators for professionals don’t have to be large. This Tribest dehydrator proves it, with compact design and powerful performance—fit for a professional drying experience. Horizontally designed, it has 11 trays, thereby a large capacity, but at the same time it doesn’t take up too much counter-space, making it a kitchen-friendly gadget that you wouldn’t have to store in the cupboard—making it unlikely that it’ll ever come out for use (yes, we too have lost causes in our kitchen). Offering plenty of possibilities, it goes up to 167° F, conforming to USDA beef jerky preparation guidelines and as low as 77° F for fermenting cycles and raw food preparation. The machine has a maximum drying time of up to 99 hours—allowing you to set it up and leave it so you can come back to sublime end results without cracking up the temperature too high.
#5 BioChef Premium Commercial Dehydrator
If you need a state of the art dehydrator, and budget is not an issue for you, you can’t do better than the BioChef Premium commercial grade dehydrator. Truly a beast of a machine, it has 16 stainless steel trays, a robust motor that packs 1000 watts of power, and a timer that ranges from 104°F-194°F to allow for cooking of varied foods (think beyond your usual jerky, fruit roll-ups, and veggie chips). For real professionals, a commercial grade dehydrator like this one is the best choice on the market. After all, they will need the large capacity that comes with it and the fact that it doesn’t require rotating of trays will only please them more. This particular dehydrator by BioChef comes with a 3-year commercial warranty on motor and parts, and a 5-year domestic warranty.
Ready to take the leap yet? Don’t worry, you can’t go wrong with any of the above choices. Just think about what your friend or family member may be using it for and make a selection by matching these options to their needs.