x24,Top3,TopLeft,x25,x12
Precycle
a discovery company

Build a Solar Food Dehydrator

Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA

Jasmin Malik Chua

By Jasmin Malik Chua
Jersey City, NJ, USA | Sun Mar 23 17:21:00 GMT 2008

Eco Bites has the goods on building an inexpensive solar-powered food-preservation machine of your very own. All you need are two cardboard boxes (or timber, if you have the handy skills), a clear plastic sheet, a piece of cheesecloth, and a little tape. Resourceful types can even salvage most of the necessary materials at the neighborhood dump.

Use the illustration (below the fold) as a guide to assembling your dehydrator. When you're finished, place it on a support facing the sun, and you're ready to go. Here's how to test for optimal dryness:

1. Rely on appearance and feel to judge.

2. Test a handful by cooling for a few minutes before deciding if the fruit is done.

3. When no wetness can be squeezed from the fruit when cut, it can be considered dried. Fruit should be pliable and tough. Don't overdry as the fruit is not as nice to eat.

4. Vegetables should be dry and brittle.

::Ecobites.com

Difficulty level: Easy
Tip: Make sure your food is cool before you store it, because condensation build-up can result in mold.

 
  • email
  • digg
  • share
  • print
helpful article? vote for it
{ }
close window

CLOSE X

 

comments on this article

view all post a comment

 
 
 
 
Fisher Paykel - Click Here
 
facebook twitter rss
 
Planet Green on Facebook
 
Reel Impact
 
Green Materials Guide
 
eco-nomics
 
Take a Quiz. Enter Our Sweepstakes!
 

tv schedule

view all

On Now

On Tonight

 
 

today on planet green

view all

Votes

recent
discussed

Organic A-Z: Lemon
POSTED  6 HOURS AGO.  COMMENTS

{ }

K is for Molly and Nabe's Super Kale with Seared Tofu
POSTED  8 HOURS AGO.  COMMENTS

{ }

K is For Sneaking Kale into Smoothies
POSTED  9 HOURS AGO.  COMMENTS

{ }

L is for Shaker Lemon Pie with Blueberries
POSTED  10 HOURS AGO.  COMMENTS

{ }

Organic A-Z: Kale
POSTED  10 HOURS AGO.  COMMENTS

{ }

Ask Emeril Your Green Cooking Questions
POSTED  7 Apr 2009. 46 COMMENTS.

{476}

How To Go Green: Lighting
POSTED  23 Jul 2008. 7 COMMENTS.

{212}

Should You Get a Flu Shot?
POSTED  1 Oct 2009. 3 COMMENTS.

{17}

Do Zoos and Captive Breeding Really Help Endangered Species or Address Habitat Loss?
POSTED  23 Oct 2009. 3 COMMENTS.

{28}

More Fun with Urban Foraging: Crabapples!
POSTED  10 Oct 2009. 2 COMMENTS.

{16}

 

Ads by Google