What are Food Dehydrator Sheets?

Dehydrators have become the most sought after devices today.

Thanks to the ease that they bring in drying the foods, people now find it easy to get the dehydrated food in a short period.

Along with this, the dehydrator sheets have become famous for use in these devices. These sheets have a wide range of applications in the dehydrator and now considered to be the most essential part of a dehydrator.

The food dehydrator consists of various parts, especially the dehydrator sheets.

Each part of the device has a role to play. Right from the heating source to the dehydrator sheets, every part is essential for the device to function properly.

It is common knowledge that the dehydrator effectively removes the water molecules and allows you to get the dried food, without doing any damage to the nutritional contents of the food.

To absorb the water molecules, the dehydrator sheets can be used to line the tray in the device.

The Essentials

Apart from the dehydrator trays, there are few more essential add-ons that you need to place in your device before you start the dehydrating process.

At times, people tend to keep a whole jar or bottle of foods directly into the dehydrator after removing the trays. This is helpful if you plan on getting the whole foods dried rather than the small pieces.

Your food is going to let out the water molecules in the form of moisture, which might stick back and cause the device to fail if your tray is not properly lined with a protective layer. These layers used for such foods are called as the dehydrator sheets.

Dehydrator sheets come in various sizes, according to the dimensions of the trays.

For instance, if you plan on keeping some liquids, semi-liquids, and small portions of food on the dehydrator tray without the sheets, you can see that some of them stick back, and it becomes difficult for you to clean.

To put an end to those problems, these dehydrator sheets are now being used by the people to line their trays.

Need for the Dehydrator Sheets

As mentioned earlier, there are various benefits that you can get out of using the dehydrator sheets top line the trays. Some of the basic advantages that you can get out of using the accessory include,

• The sheets prevent the dripping of the food items from one tray to the other.
• The trays are protected from the marks left behind after drying up the liquid and wet food items.
• The dehydrator sheets come handy when you need to dry up small quantities of wet foods in batches.
• The dehydrator sheets can be reusable or disposed after a single use.

The dehydrator sheets have found their way into the market only the recent times. Along with this, these accessories have been provided with new features that make cooking with dehydrated foods much easier.

More and more people slowly recognize the need for these sheets or the tray liners when they purchase the food dehydrator.

Keeping this in mind, many of the companies have now come up with their own range of dehydrator sheets that you can purchase separately after getting the device.

Dehydrator Sheets- What You Need to Know?

Now that you know as to how the dehydrator sheets can help you with accessing your food dehydrator, it is thetime that you know about the most commonly used type of dehydrator sheets for all your drying purposes.

In the recent times, non-stick coated utensils have become the talk of the town.

Easy to clean and maintain, these vessels do not allow the food to stick on their surface. Similarly, even the dehydrator sheets are now being produced with anon-stick coating on them.

In the previous days, the plastic sheets were mostly used for lining the dehydrator trays.

But with the rising concerns about the use of plastic in a drying unit, the search for new materials that can be used for lining the trays begun.

Today, most of the dehydrator sheets that you find in the market come with the Teflon coating, just like the regular non-stick coated devices.

There are several benefits that you can get out of using the PTFE or Teflon coated dehydrator sheets. These include,

• The dehydrator sheets with this non-stick coating are thicker than the regular coated utensils, thereby avoiding any form of dripping from the food items.
• The non-stick coated dehydrator sheets are resistant to higher temperatures, and you can use the sheets for drying the foods for long periods of time.
• The dehydrator sheets that come with a non-stick coating are easy to clean and wash, as you do not have to scrub out any part from the sheet for cleaning.

Where to Use the Dehydrator Sheets?

As you understand the need for the dehydrator sheets, you need to know about the various types of food items that you can dry using the PTFE coated dehydrator sheets. The list includes,

1) Preparing Fruit Rolls

Considered to be one of the healthy snacks for the children, you can simply blend the fruits in a blender by mixing all the required ingredients with it. You can spread out the mix on the dryer sheets and then set the temperature on the device. You can easily roll them up and give to the children as a snack.

2) Preparing Meat Jerky

This is one favorite snack among the people. Just like the bacon, you can easily cut up the meat into thin strips and marinate them in the required spices. Place the meat strips in the dehydrator, and you can serve them this delicious meat jerky to your friends and family. Some people tend to give them as treats to their pets in the house.

3) Making Sauce Leathers

We all know how sloppy we can get when we try to add sauce to our sandwiches or burgers. In this case, you can fill the dehydrator sheet with the sauce that you plan to dry up to produce your sauce leather.

After drying, you can simply cut them into slices and place them between the bread to make your sandwiches and the burgers. If you observe, you will see that the sauce has the same taste both in the leather and the liquid form.

4) Preparing Yoghurt

We understand that it might get boring for you to have the same dessert after your meals or if you plan on fixing a quick dessert without much effort, then the dehydrator can help you.

Mix the ingredients that you want for preparing the yogurt and spread them over the dehydrator sheet. Yogurt requires a carefully regulated temperature, and once it is done, you get the exact consistency of the dessert, just the way you like it.

As you can see, the dehydrator sheets are repeatedly being used when you need to dry the liquid foods. Unlike the solids, liquids tend to drip when they are heated.

If you wish to prevent any form of flavor mixing, then this is the way of getting through your drying needs. Apart from the foods listed above, the other types of foods that you can place on the dehydrator sheets include,

Care for the Dehydrator Sheets

As you can see that the food items do not mix with the dehydrator sheets, you need to ensure that you flip any of the solid food items that you have placed on the sheets before taking them out.

This makes sure that your food gets completely dried up. As for cleaning the sheets, you can simply wash them under the running tap or wipe them with a wet towel. Needless to say, the next time you make use of the dehydrator sheet, make sure that the surface is dry.

Many of the manufacturers provide these dehydrator sheets along with the food dehydrators during the times of purchase. In some case, you are required to purchase them separately.

During such cases, make sure to get the ones that have the same dimension specifications as that of the trays. If these are too short or big, they lose out on their purpose.

You can also get your hands on the dehydrator sheets that are disposable after a single time use, as they are bit cheaper when compared to the reusable ones.

Conclusion

Choose your sheets carefully, if you wish to get the best experience out of your food dehydrator. These dehydrator sheets have become a necessity for the dehydrators, and you can never miss out on buying them, as they are useful in various ways mentioned above. So choose the dehydrator sheets that work best in your favour and enjoy cooking!