It’s been a few weeks now that I have dried fruits, vegetables and beef jerky. I used the Gardenmaster Pro from Nesco. I received this handy machine from the folks at Nesco to review. I have used other food dehydrators in the past and for me drying to preserve food is simple, safe and very easy to do.

I like drying foods to store for snacks for my kids, especially when I find sales on fruit or meat. I can easily use a food dehydrator to preserve those great finds.

Dried foods are ideal for those on the go like me because I can easily pack these snack foods when we need to go to sports practices, long trips or camping.

There are many different types of dehydrators but two different kinds are designed on the market to produce drying. One is the horizontal air flow and the other is called a vertical air flow.

The horizontal air flow is like a little heat blower where the heating element and fan is located on the side of the unit. The advantage of the horizontal air flow are that the trays are designed to eliminate flavor mixture and reduce liquids from falling through the trays or through the heating element.

The vertical air flow which I demonstrated have the heating element and fan located at the base of the appliance. If different foods are dried you may have some issues with flavors mixing due to the loss of moisture during the process and also note that you may experience leaking through the main vent of the heating element.

The Gardenmaster Pro comes with the base (1000 Watt Powerhead), 4 trays, cover, the additional attachments like the Clean-A-Screen and the Fruit Roll Sheet. One is a mesh tray to use for those smaller drying items and and the other tray is solid that you can use for drying fruit rolls. I also use it as a barrier to catch liquids. In the box you also get a packet of dry rub for jerky, instruction booklet and handy recipe guide. The unit measures 17 x 15.5 x 14.

The benefit of this model is that you are able to purchase main grid trays up to 30 trays to expand your drying. Just be mindful what you plan on drying. Be sure you sequence your food items to stack evenly.

For example, if I were to dry fruit it will be rotated just for fruit that drying period, then the next drying schedule would be vegetables and then meat for the next one. I wouldn’t mix fruit and meat together in the trays. That would be my recommendation.

My review on the Gardenmaster Pro is very positive. It’s straightforward with the temperature dial that has 7 temperatures to choose from. The on/off switch is lighted, and very easy to use. When I prep my food all I need to do is to arrange them on the trays and dial the right temperature control. I also really like the design of the appliance and it’s very light. It stacks well for storage and is easy to clean.