COSORI Food Dehydrator with 6 Trays

Es mejor de lo que pense comparado con el precio, es liviana pero no es frajil, las regillas son de excelente calidad, la puerta cierra sin problemas, ponerla en marcha es super facil y me gusta que viene con un recetario con muchas ideas de alimentos diferentes deshidratados para preparar, sin duda la recomiendo

So far I’ve done about six full batches including apple, pear, strawberry, tomato, and asparagus. All seemed to take a bit longer than my dehydration handbook but that is not a cause for concern.

I tested the interior temperature with an instant read thermometer. From a cold start, the temperature rose above the set point but settled within an hour or so. Again, no concern. After settling, the unit seemed to hold the set point temperature quite accurately.

So far, no messes to clean inside, but it appears that it would be easy enough to clean. I do have to soak the wire racks for a bit after doing strawberries. I think the heavy sugar content causes small bits of berry to stick.

I would not call the fan quiet, however. When it’s running, it’s noise is like white noise, fading from noticeable to being part of the ambient room noise. So far it has never become irritating.

Years ago we owned a low-price, air-from-the-bottom style unit. I was never impressed by either the design quality or the resulting dry product. Like many fad purchases, it’s use rapidly diminished and it was relegated to basement storage, and eventually a donation to Goodwill Industries. This unit has more promise to be more heavily used during the summer months when produce prices are lowest. However, I think this will go in storage for the rest of the year, due to its size on the countertop.

I would recommend it to friends. I would not buy it again because I expect this one to last as long as I need it.

********UPDATE June 27, 2019*******
I had a chance today to do a little performance testing on electric usage. For purposes of the test there was no food used. The cabinet contained only a remote, instant read thermometer.

When the heating element and fan are on, the unit draws about 615 watts. When only the fan is on, it draws about 20 watts.

When testing with no food, the inside temperature cycles between 132 deg. F and 145 deg. F when the unit is set for a drying temp of 135. So your average temp while drying will be perhaps 5 deg. higher than expected. For me, no big deal. I can either live with it or set the temp 5 deg. low.

My next test involved drying tomatoes. I used Campari brand “on the vine”. These fruits are about 1”-1.5” in diameter, so were quartered. Some “rogue” sizes were cut into 1/5ths or 1/6ths to try for size uniformity.

Campari’s are available at my local Costco in 2 lb. packages and my local Aldi in 1 lb. Your local stores may not carry the brand. I like those a lot because of their uniform size and ripeness. My first1/2 batch turned out beautifully, with very intense flavor. Because I do not core these tomatoes (much too small to bother) my drying time is probably longer. The first batch took about 18 hours, but with two interruptions during the process.

I’ve started the second batch today – a full 6-trays, holding 8 lbs. of fruit. They will be taking about 15 more hours but I can relate a couple of observations. First, I started with a pre-heat of 135 deg. About 10 minutes into the “cook”, the temp had fallen to about 95 deg. It slowly began to work its way back up. I was not surprised by this, since the physics of dehydration dictates that energy is used by evaporating water. The fruit was at its wettest at the beginning, of course. After two hours of drying, the temp inside the box is up to 117 deg.

Secondly, I did a review of the electric usage about 30 minutes in. Interestingly, the usage dropped from about 615 watts to around 15-20 watts for several seconds EVERY TWO MINUTES. My guess this is either a safety measure or a longevity issue for the heating element. With the internal box temperature not yet at the set temperature, I did not see the temperature cycling that I saw in the early, empty box test.

I shall post more significant observations in the future, as warranted.

Gracias a este aparato pude iniciar un pequeño negocio y en menos de un mes recupere lo que invertí en la maquina, excelente calidad en todos los aspectos.

This is my first dehydrator that I actually used. I bought thinly sliced “sizzle” steak from Walmart. 165 and 6 hours later and I had perfect beef jerky. I tried 7 hours…too long. DRY and brittle. I am now using 5.5 hours and I really like the results.
The trays are easy to slide in and out (pay attention to the grates, the picture isn’t clear but the grate part should be up, so the tray slides on the smooth metal frame into each slot-prevents scratching). When the meat or whatever sticks, it is harder to clean but overall pretty basic. Food will get stuck on the grate a tiny bit. I can see the plastic tray (which I use on the bottom to “catch” the grease-super helpful with bacon) getting food stuck to it, so I bought silicon trays to use. No report yet on those.

Overall I am enjoying this new toy to experiment with. I want to try making powdered eggs. Cucumber chips. Apples turned out well when I sliced and stuck them in with the first batch of meat. 6 hours. I will do an actual mandolin sliced batch too.