Food Dehydration is the removal of the water process from a material. In the past, people sun-dried foods to preserve them.
Today, food can be dried in large commercial food dehydrators to produce high-quality products.
A commercial dehydrator is a dehydrator used for commercial purposes by companies selling different kinds of food products.
These commercial food dehydrators are recognized as a boon for food package industries all across the world.
These food dehydrators are an essential part of the packing industry. For that reason, only packaged food packets are preserved for a longer time.
Top 5 Commercial Dehydrator
Commercial dehydrators are worth an investment!
Dehydrating food items provide a lot of benefits like health and cooking.
Moreover, dried food is compact and can be stored in containers easily, and adds flavor to many food items.
A commercial dehydrator can be a fantastic investment even for the average family who intends to sell dried goods at fairs or carnivals.
It’s not just food that can be dried in them either; flowers can be dried for art, and clay can be dried for jewelry and ornaments if you are artistically inclined.
There are many ways to make money from dry goods, and that’s not to mention the money you save from buying dried foods from the health food store.
How to Choose the Best Commercial Dehydrators?
Presently, several different types of suppliers are available who offer different kinds of food dehydrators of various sizes, shapes, and other purposes. If you are planning to buy one, then you must do proper research before getting one.
A commercial food dehydrator requires some source of external energy to operate. Commercial food dehydrators usually work on the solar or electrical power supply.
The basic parts of dehydrators used for commercial purposes include fans, heating elements, air vents that allow air circulation throughout the chamber, and food trays where the food is placed for dehydration.
The fans, heating elements, and air vents function simultaneously to extract the water content in the food. The heating element brings about the warming of the food to expel moisture from inside. The fans remove the warm moisture-contained air, throwing it outside the dehydrator through the air vents.
Most commercial dehydrators have a fan attached underneath or in the sides, which blows hot air onto the food items to dry them. The hot air thus blown helps the water to evaporate from the food items gradually.
There are many other commercial dehydrators that dry food using convection heat. Such dehydrators use electricity and do not make any noise. But, they take twice the time to dry food items compared to the other.
While choosing dehydrators, you should decide on what kind of items you are going to preserve.
If you plan to preserve meat and other food items, you may require one with a thermostat adjustment.
If you are working and can’t wait to switch off the dehydrator, choose one with automatic timer options. You can set the timer, and accordingly, it will get switched off automatically. You can also rest assured that your food is not over-dried or over burnt by using a timer.
Size
There are many food dehydrators in different sizes available in the market. If you have a large vegetable or fruit garden and plan to preserve food in large quantities, try investing in a big Commercial Dehydrator.
Heat and Air Flow
The most important thing that should be kept in mind when buying a Commercial Dehydrator is the even heat and airflow. It would be frustrating to find out that the products we are drying in a dehydrator are not evenly dried. This can happen only if the heat and airflow don’t spread evenly. The products closer to heat and airflow dry fast, and the ones that don’t take more time.
If you choose the stackable tray model, the heat and airflow spread evenly, basically due to the nature of the design. The shelves in this model slide out like an oven, and so the heater and the fan are situated at the back of the model, which spreads heat and airflow horizontally and equally to all the trays.
If you choose the shelf tray model, especially the ones available in the regular department stores, you may have even heating and airflow problems.
These dehydrators have their heat and air source at the bottom of the unit, and so the food items at the bottom get their maximum share and dry fast, and the ones at the top take a lot of time comparatively.
There are more quality commercial stackable dehydrators available, which spread heat and air evenly. However, these are much expensive, comparatively.
Materials And Quality
When you buy a commercial dehydrator, you want it to last, as you are making a big investment.
Check for multiple-year warranties. Products that have multiple-year contracts are good, quality products.
Mostly, all products are made of FDA-approved food-grade material. If you are concerned about plastics as they may cause fumes, go for the all stainless steel model.