Presto 06301 Dehydro Digital Electric Food Dehydrator

First, I dried a bunch of hot Habanero peppers. This machine is fantastic. Buy one. You will be impressed! I do have one problem with the directions for using too much cure with ground beef Jerky. I am experienced making Jerky with sliced meat, but ground beef was new to me. I made some ground beef Jerky last night. I see a problem with directions for the 2 sample packs of Jerky cure that come with the machine. In the directions for the Presto Dehydrators 2 sample Jerky cure packs, It is suggested to mix one pack with one pound of ground beef. (One pack includes Cure & Spices, separated until using). Most cures are like that. I don't know why. Maybe they react if pre-mixed. I had a little over two pounds of real nice freshly ground beef, so I put in both packs as directed. It turned out way too salty, but edible. Note: I mixed the packets very well, sprinkled it evenly on the meat, then I hand mixed the meat for a long time. Then I laid down strips with a "Jerky Gun". Using that is an art in itself! I suggest holding the Jerky gun at about 45 degrees and keep the nozzle touching the shelf while pulling the gun along as you go. You will learn very fast. Note: Jerky Gun is not included. They are sold separately. I bought the Open Country Jumbo Jerky Gun w/3 Tips: Open Country Jumbo Jerky Gun w/3 Tips I started with the 2-slot tip, but the home ground beef had some stringy stuff in it that collected between the slots and clogged it up. I ended up using the wide slot tip. It worked perfectly. There's also a round tip. Slim Jim's maybe? The drying process was perfect after 5 hours @160 degrees. The finished product came out semi-rigid but bendable, very much like regular Jerky. I was expecting "crumbly". I really like that dehydrator, and the cure is good but I don't think they did enough research using the cure with ground beef. I would like to suggest using one pack per TWO pounds of ground beef instead. I think that would work out just about right but I haven't tried it yet. The packs should work fine for sliced beef because it's just a soak and most of it goes down the drain. Lastly, the cure has good flavor. Photo attached. Update: I bought 4 lbs. of 80% ground beef. As I was prepping 2 lbs. with one set of cure (see above) I decided to go ahead and do the entire 4 pounds all at once. Well, everything worked out well until the end, when I noticed the "drip pan" was full of grease, and most importantly, some of the grease had run down the side vents and got all over the inside of the machine. Now I've got to clean it...... Note, I'm an electrician, so I'm comfortable doing this. If you are mechanical at all, you should also be able to clean it, but MAKE SURE IT'S UNPLUGGED! First, I removed all the obvious screws, EXCEPT the ones that are on the fan under the tin part. I studied it for a while and decided that if I cut slots in the white plastic where the red fan wires go through the main piece, I could stuff the 2 circuit boards backwards through the hole to get them out of the way so I can wash the parts in the left sink without getting the circuit boards in the dry right sink wet. The 2 cuts worked out well and will not affect the strength or design of the machine. The heater coil part was also afflicted with grease. You can totally immerse that part in the dishwater to clean it, but it must be dried very well. Mix the dishwater about double what you use for dishes. Yes, I know I killed the warranty. The photo below shows the cuts when I had the parts on the floor with a fan on them. What I have learned: 1). Don't do more than 2 pounds of ground beef at a time. 2). Keep the meat well away from the tray edges. 3). Don't trust your Butcher when he quotes ground beef percentages. (See Graph). Any questions? Just comment. I like to help. That's about it. I'm back in business again with a clean machine. I have another big batch of Habanero's to dry.

Updated review February 6th 2017 I've had my Presto dehydrator for over a month and after using it frequently for over 30 days I can say with assurance that this is a magnificent machine . You can purchase this with confidence and know that you're getting as quality Appliance . It has all of the features that you need for dehydrating meat vegetables or fruit rolls and you can rest assure but it is made with quality and it will be with you for years to come. Mine has experienced years of typical use in the time that I have had and has presented no problems. Original review new presto Dehydrator arrived today. My initial impressions at good. This dehydrator is massive, I could only imagine it with twelve trays. The Product seems to be well made. Information I could not find anywhere was the rated wattage, this Dehydrator is a 750 watt unit. The controls are clear concise and easy. The unit came up to temp quickly, it reached 140 in approx. 15 minutes. Overall noise level is very acceptable. It is on par with a small desktop fan. I was pleased at the material the trays are made from it seems durable and flexible, in the past I have had to trash relatively new dehydrators because the trays were brittle and broke easily. I do not feel that this will be an issue with this machine. I am currently dehydrating bananas and apples. With the stock configuration of six trays the machine held 9 large bananas and 6 large apples cut into quarter inch slices. It could have held more, possibly 12 bananas and 10 apples, however i did not have that many on hand. I checked the internal temp with a meat thermometer, It read almost precisely what the unit was set for with a full load of fruit. The unit came up to temp quickly, it reached 140 in approx. 25 minutes. I also received two packets of Jerky spice and 2 packets of Jerky cure, after checking the ingredients it is very doubtful I will use them, as they contain several chemical preventives and stabilizers. The entire purpose of making my own jerky is to avoid these preservatives.

I bought this because beef jerky should be tough and hard to chew, not sugary and tender. I like sucking on it a bit before being able to actually eat it. I've made three batches and only the second one was bad, but that was totally operator error as I used a cut of meat that wasn't so great and didn't use the right temp. The flavor was good, but the pieces went bad much sooner than the first batch. My second batch is cooking right now and I'm watching the temp closer. I did not use the seasoning packets that came with it, yet (not sure I will). I used garlic, soy sauce, and Worcestershire, marinated it over night, let it drain a bit before adding them to the racks. Per the other reviews I did cover the fruit tray piece with aluminum foil and put in on the bottom before putting the racks on. Haven't had any issues with any drips (letting the marinade drip off for about 10 minutes probably took care of any issues that might happen to others), and I haven't had any issues with it overdrying anything based on where it is on the rack (center or outside). I do put thinner cuts on the upper racks so I can pull them off when done and let the thicker lower pieces cook longer. I have had no issues cleaning the trays. There is a on/off button that will stop it when checking it, but I just let it continue to run for the few seconds it takes. The time/temp can be adjusted while it is running. I tried to toast coconut in it, but it doesn't get it warm enough to officially toast it. It did try out beautifully though and was still tasty. Going to try toasting almonds later and see what that does. It is a bit loud, so I keep it in the laundry room. It is about as loud as my washer/dryer or a bathroom fan, so while doing laundry all day I don't notice it. My son wants to use it for drying pineapple, and once my apples are ripe I plan on dehydrating a lot of them. Plums too.

Great product. Have been using it consistently for last 15 days since I got it. Only problem, it runs on 110 Volts and required an additional expenditure of a Step Down Transformer for India

Funciona perfecto!! Frutas y verduras deshidratadas son lo mejor!! Si están buscando un deshidratador no tan caro y que funcione bien, ésta es la opción!!

Tras unos meses de uso tengo que decir que el deshidratador se ha convertido en un electrodoméstico indispensable en nuestro hogar, hemos deshidratado frutas, verduras y hasta chiles, todo queda siempre excelente y la factura de la electricidad no ha aumentado apenas . A todos nos encanta y disfrutamos mucho de los resultados. Además es fácil de limpiar.

es un producto de fácil uso y muy efectivo

This is my first dehydrator so please keep this in mind when reading my review. Pros - you can make jerky with this and it is digital controlled temperature -making healthy dog treats is a snap -great for dehydrating herbs like cilantro...the stuff that you buy in the store that goes bad soon and you throw out 90% of -amazing for prepping for camping or long term storage -comes with 2 fruit roll up trays -comes with 2 inserts for foods that can fall through the regular tray -comes with 2 sets of spice for jerky and a great instruction manual -breaks down to half the size for storage -easy to use Con - This is where my inexperience comes in. I am not sure if all the dehydrators make the same amount of fan noise. Was expecting some but did not think it would be like that. Ended up setting it up down stairs as I am a bit sensitive to this kind of noise. In general i am quite satisfied with spending a few more $$ and getting a good unit with digital temp control. The standard ones with one temperature limit you a lot. Update feb 2020 I use this in bursts. I like it quite a bit. Very useful for camping. It gets stolen on me...alot... by my mom and neighbors wife.