YEAH! I have one and I love it. From raising bread to making homemade yogurt. One of the better investments I've made so far

I got my Excalibur last summer but haven't tried raising bread or making yogert in it yet.

I love my dryer though.

Heather --- We've only used ours for drying fruits and vegetables so far, but it's definitely pulling its weight around here!

Mona --- I totally agree!

I read an article about making fruit leather where they mix the fruit with zucchini as a base, and can double their fruit leather output. Have you ever tried stretching it that way? The article mentions 80% zucchini and 20% fruit, but I can't believe that would be very good. Half and half, maybe...

Eric --- I have to admit, that sounds kinda...awful. That said, I have quite successfully stretched rarer fruits by adding applesauce. Applesauce probably would have made this batch of blueberry leather a little better, actually --- unlike my strawberry and peach leather, the blueberry leather didn't seem as keen on peeling off the sheet, and apples tend to add some flexibility.

Have you ever tried dehydrating in a solar oven? I've seen plans for solar dehydrators but we get way too much rain and humidity to make that work. A solar oven would seem to have just that extra bit of heat needed.

Thoughts?

1. --- I've played with drying fruits in a hot car, and it does work, but is pretty painstaking since the temperatures can easily get too high, and if it turns cloudy for an afternoon, they can go bad. I suspect a solar oven might get too hot (although I've been wanting to try one for cooking).

Like you, we live in a climate that's subpar for drying without a fancy machine. If we lived in the desert, though, I'd be building a solar dehydrator ASAP. (Well, actually, I'd probably be making plans to move out of the desert. )