Solar Food Dehydrator

Several years ago, when we still lived on the mountain, my husband and I saw a solar food dehydrator in Mother Earth News. (You can find a diagram of it online now at http://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/solar-food-dehydrator-zmaz06aszraw.aspx?SlideShow=11) We thought it was a fantastic idea and decided to build one of our own. The magic of living at a lumber mill was that there were always leftover bits of wood and other materials lying around. We managed to construct the entire dehydrator out of scavenged pieces, hinges and all. We did have to buy a kit to make the two drying screens but that was all.

Homemade solar food dehydrator

The dehydrator is basically a big wooden box with a piece of glass on top. We started with an old window and then built the rest of the box around it to fit. Somehow, we found a sheet of metal that was nearly perfect for the reflector inside. We added screened holes for ventilation and doors on the back that could be opened to load the screens full of food and for ventilation. I’m pretty proud of the way it turned out since it was cobbed together from found parts. Best of all, it works wonderfully!

View from the back with bottom door open

Interior with two drying screens in place

Side view showing screened vent holes and top door propped open for airflow

We used the dehydrator quite a lot back then drying strawberries, blueberries, cherries, zucchini, yellow squash, and herbs. Since moving to the southern tier, we’ve used it once to dry a batch of wild hops but otherwise it has remained tucked away in the garage. That is until about a week ago. I had gone blueberry picking and thought it would be fun to dry some. My husband pulled it out of storage and gave it a good cleaning then I loaded it with some washed blueberries.

Blueberries loaded and ready to start drying

It was just my luck that I picked some of the only cloudy days so far this summer on which to get the dehydrator going. It needs extended, direct sunlight to function. You’ve got to turn it throughout the day to keep it facing the sun. After the first day of partial sun, the berries were just starting to dry.

Berries on the morning of day 2

Day two was actually sunny, so quite a bit of moisture was pulled out of the berries. Day three, however dawned completely overcast. I don’t like to keep anything in the dehydrator for more than three days. I worry that if the food isn’t dry by then that it might start to spoil. So, I brought the berries in and finished them off in the oven for about four hours. After all that effort, the blueberries had turned into just over a cup of dried berries and they taste great! It was very much worth it to drag our homemade dehydrator across the state with us.

Chewy, yummy dried blueberries!