dehydrating foods?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:53 pm

I am getting ready to go back to school, and was wondering if i dehydrated some fresh foods if they would still maintain most of their nutritional value. I definitely try to give them fresh selections as much as possible, it just becomes a bit harder at school. Eg. I dried out some oak leaves, bell pepper fruit..etc
I know freezing is another option, but that removes B1..is that a key vitamin for healthy crabs?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:01 pm

Oh, and i will be putting them under a Ceramic heat emmitter for my iguana to dry them out, because i don't have a traditional dehydrator

blaze88 · Post by **blaze88** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 11:09 pm

dehyrating without strict temprature regulations reduces vitamin C and A.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 12:00 am

So, how low would the temperature have to be?

NaRnAR · Post by **NaRnAR** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 3:16 pm

I figure, my dehydrator is set for 145 right now for large chunks of pineapple and squash. I cant imagine the ceramic heat emitter is going to get much hotter than what an iguana would feel comfortable under (assuming the foods are not within 8 or so inches the emitter) which is going to be far cooler than 145 degrees.

I would keep the ceramic heater not too close to the foods as the closer you get the hotter it becomes. Perhaps set a temperature gage near where the foods are going to be so you can monitor things...and dont get them too close or you can burn them (this being right up close to the emitter).

Make sure whatever surface you dry them on is also heat safe!