Excalibur Food Dehydrator Review

Are those Chef Glenn’s boots in the food dehydrator?

I propped the boots up with a paint stick with the open tops facing into the fan and heating element at the back of the unit. My soaking wet boots dried out in four hours.

I can fit a pair of boots into my Excalibur Food Dehydrator because the trays slide in and out rather than stack. Dry boots are nice, but we’re talking about drying meats, fruits and veggies- and lots of them.

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The photo shows 9.5 pounds of strawberries on nine trays. I waited for strawberries to go on sale and saved twenty bucks off the regular price. I load up the dehydrator with surplus tomatoes in the summer and in the fall it's time to dehydrate apples.

High Capacity per Tray

No Hole in the Middle

When I dehydrate drippy foods like chili and stew, I cover the trays with non-stick Paraflexx® sheets.

To make Bark and fruit leather, I pour a puddle in the middle and spread the liquefied fruits and vegetables from corner to corner.

It's easy with plenty of surface area to work with and no hole in the center to get in the way of my spatula.

To check on the progress of food as it dries, I slide the trays in and out.


Before I traded up to the Excalibur, I owned a Ronco® Dehydrator which had no fan. You will grow a beard waiting for six bananas to dry if your dehydrator has no fan.

Features to look for in a Food Dehydrator:

Adjustable Temperature Control- Different foods require different temperatures.

Timer- You may need to set your dehydrator to shut off while you are asleep or at work.

Top or Side Mounted Heating Element and Fan- Drippings and crumbs clean up easily which is not the case with some bottom mounted units.

Horizontal Airflow- Units which blow air through the trays rather than across will require frequent tray rotations and make it impossible to make Bark and Fruit Leather. (Air can't pass through the non-stick sheets)

Capacity- More capacity means greater savings when produce goes on sale and less time running the dehydrator.

Ease of Use- It is easier to check on food with trays that slide in and out rather than stack. A hole in the middle of the trays gets in the way when spreading blended fruits and vegetables for bark and fruit leathers.

The Nesco-American Harvest Gardenmaster® and L’Equip® Food Dehydrators are two hole-in-the-middle dehydrators with stacking trays. L’Equip® comes with six rectangular stacking trays and can be expanded up to 12 trays. Gardenmaster® FD-1010 comes with four round stacking trays and stacks up to 30 trays high! (Not recommended for short people)

When it comes to ease-of-use, I’m not sure the tower approach stacks up. Imagine trying to peek in on your peaches on tray number two with ten trays stacked on top. Oops, the bananas were on tray number two. Where the heck are the peaches?

When I did the math, I determined that purchasing the extra trays needed to bring these units up to the capacity of the 9-tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator would have cost me more.

On the other hand, giving up capacity and ease-of-use for a lower initial price was tempting to a frugal guy like Chef Glenn who squeezes the last gram of toothpaste from the tube with vice grips.

I chose the Excalibur and never looked back. I have dried hundreds of delicious homemade backpacking meals and snacks with it saving hundreds of dollars compared to buying store brand backpacking food.

And, my boots smell better.

Excalibur Dehydrator

The 9-tray Excalibur model #3926T has worked exceptionally well for me. It is made in America and you can purchase directly from the factory with a five or ten year warranty. The Excalibur folks also wrote the book, Preserve It Naturally- The Complete Guide to Food Dehydration which includes outstanding photography, charts, and instructions to show you how to dehydrate food.

Visit Excalibur Dehydrator to learn more.

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