Help! Selecting a food dehydrator

**jmw_man** · 11-14-09, 11:07 AM

So my freezer is full of ground deer meat from my last fallow kill. My girl and I want to make jerky. Where are my jerky experts at?

My brother makes jerky and he said that he uses a dehydrator by American Harvest/Nesco from walmart. He said the important thing is to make sure that can heat up to at least 150 degrees.
My girl is interested in making other things like fruit rolls, banana chips, vegetable chips, and whatever else you can make.

This is Nesco's website: http://www.nesco.com/category_449f7f..._39febe0b9343/

I'm having trouble choosing because the prices vary quite a bit and for the most part they all seem to do the same thing. Any suggestions?

**LOMAR** · 11-14-09, 10:57 PM

Iv had banana chips from a food dehydrator, but the only venison jerky I had was from a smoker. I dont even know how jerky from a dehydrator would work...

**TehSpaz** · 11-14-09, 11:30 PM

best/onlytrueway to do jerky is to smoke it.

the crap you buy from a grocery store/gas station is dehydrated....and normally pumped full of MSG.

Lil smoke shop next to my parent's print shop (by lil, I mean it's a guy who comes in every day, cuts his own meat, and dresses people's kills) has a smoke house right outside his building. He does jerky in it and smoked jerky (which many people have never had) is absolutely ASTOUNDING!

/*edit*\
sorry for not addressing what you need help with....I know absolutely nothing about home dehydrators :-P

I'd just say look up reviews on all of em...see what people think.