Hi there, I only recently found out that some decorators use food dehydrators for drying their sugar items. I have been decorating for 15 years & can't believe it's taken me this long to find this out (thanks CC users, you are AWESOME!) I am in the process of purchasing one with enough spacers to give me the height I need to dry my figurines. Just wondering if anyone can give any advice on them, how long they take to dry differerent things, anything! I don't really know anything about them & are they worth the money? I currently just air dry everything which takes weeks. Thank you so much, Irene

I have used the dehydrator for many different things, but for your sugar work, you will have to experiment with the time element. So much is a factor in sugar work, humidity for sure. The thickness of your particular piece would be a factor, Most things I would say will take several days to dry well. If you will be doing alot of things in sugar, then this process may help in speeding up your pieces.

can't help with your question, but just wanted to welcome you to the forums, Irene...

hope you had a fantastic christmas....

cheers

kylie

I use a food dehydrator pretty regularly I found it actually got too hot and was melting the sugar as well as dehydrating it. I had to start increasing the airflow to ensure that it was drying and not just melting the sugar. It works great though, cut's my drying time down from a few days for a thick piece to hours. Great when you have a big order or a competition.

www.kincaellan.com

I'd look for a unit that had a control for the heat and for the fan speed, as well as the ability to accomodate larger items. this may sound silly but Cabellas sells some nice dehydrators

I don't know about the sugar work, but I LOVE my dehydrator. It was a present for my hubby last year, but I've been the one to use it I'm always making fondant and gumpaste things at the last minute and I can dry peices in a few hours with the dehydrator. They are not always completely dry throughout but work fine for most things. I always think of ideas while I'm working on a cake so it's nice to be able to make things and have them dry quickly. The fence on my skeleton cake and the musical notes on wires for my topsy turvy were all done at the last minute and dried in less than a half hour!

Courtney

It's not exactly the info you need for your sugar items but it may be helpful....

I make beef jerky for my hubby and my friends and it takes about a full 24-36 hours for it to be a nice texture... I bought mine about 8 years ago for hubby from walmart (for the beef jerky reason ONLY lol) and I have no idea where it is right now as everything is in storage lol. We haven't used it in about 5 years though lmao but they are wonderful for many different things.

You can dry fruit, make chips, jerky, tons of different things you can do. I made banana chips and dried orange slices one time... while I was pregnant the banana chips were delicious lmao. The orange slices went out and got hung in the tree for the birds to nibble on. The one I bought was inexpencive compaired to what they sell for now and it has I think 10 trays and you can use as many as 10 or as little as 1. It also came with a recipe booklet that gives you tons of great ideas on what to make and how long it needs to be in the machine as well as marinades for certain foods and stuff.... I feel it's a great investment even if not able to be used for what you want it for Makes great sugar free snacks for the kids

I have one and I love it!! I make veggie chips, apple chips and dry my royal icing decorated cookies with it. Love it, love it, love it!!!

Just the post I needed! I was watching the Celebration Cake Challenge on FoodTV last night and saw one of the competitors using a dehydrator for a flower.

I know different make/models will differ, but can you please post what your average drying time & temp is?

Bobwonderbuns, please explain about your royal icing cookies. I'm assuming you just put them in their for a little while for the frosting to set?