June 14th, 2005 - Dehydrator arrived!
My dehydrator arrived yesterday. Can’t wait to use it–luckily, I’m taking Thursday and Friday off so I don’t have to wait for the weekend! (Maybe–I might have to wait until the *following weekend. We’re having company and I’m not sure I want to fuss with something new while they are here. We’ll see.)
You can make granola with a dehydrator. I love granola (although I think my fruit bread is cheaper, so I’m trying to eat more of that instead). I was wondering which is uses less enegery–1 hour 15 minutes in the oven or using the dehydtrator. Recipes range from 2-7 hours and my dehydrator is a 500-watt appliance. I managed to find a list of typical wattages for home appliances (no idea whether I should trust the source but they looked about right). It likes an electric oven as 5000 watts. That means that an hour in the oven is equivalent to 10 hours in the dehydrator. (Say, I wonder what temp that oven’s at? Well, granola’s cooked pretty low. But even if the 5000 is for 350 degrees, the granola only takes a few hours in the dehydrator so I think I come out far ahead.) Also, you don’t have to stir it in the dehydrator every 15 minutes–that’s the part I least like about making granola. Hence, I believe I will use the dehydrator!