Raw Food And My DIY Dehydrator

Last year, I decided to embark upon a test of the raw food diet. I have no problem eating vegetarian, but raw, while probably the healthiest dietary option, is a completely different choice, and I wasn't sure if I could tolerate it. So I borrowed a couple of basic books from the library and started my research.

It wasn't long before I discovered that "raw food" is a lot more complicated than it sounds. I assumed that people eating a raw food diet just ate a bunch of salad and fruit. Not so. Raw food is far more interesting, complex, and diverse than I ever imagined, and in fact, some of the most delicious food I've eaten to date came from a raw food cookbook.

"Raw" in the raw food diet doesn't mean, "completely uncooked" or "cold." In fact, many raw food dishes are served warm (a particular favorite of mine is a spaghetti dish made from zucchini - look for the recipe in an upcoming post). The theory behind raw is that critical enzymes are lost in the cooking process. But the destruction of the enzymes doesn't start until the food is heated to 106 degrees Farenheit. So as long as you keep the temperature below that, you're good to go. That means you can heat food and you can also dehydrate food, as long as you stay below 106 (I stayed around 100, just to be safe).

And that's where my dilemma came in. Quite a few raw food recipes require equipment, whether it's a food processor, a blender, a specific kind of rotary chopper, or a dehydrator. Now, I had a bunch of this stuff already, but the one thing I didn't have was a dehydrator. There was an awesome pizza recipe that called for a dehydrator, and I love my pizza! But as I did my research, I discovered two things: a) most commercial dehydrators heat food to over 130 degrees, and b) raw food dehydrators are kind of expensive, if you want to be able to control the temperature of the food. The Excalibur, for example, is over $200.

My DIY Dehydrator

Well, my birthday was coming up and Leo had recently proved his building prowess by remodeling a shed into a chicken coop and building a chicken run with his own two hands. So I asked for a dehydrator for my birthday, and the very next day, Leo took me to the hardware store, picked out some wood, had me choose handles and hinges and before I knew it, I had my very own, handmade dehydrator. And instead of costing over $200, it cost just around $30 for the materials, which is a far more reasonable investment, when you're just conducting an experiment and aren't ready to commit to a full-on lifestyle.

The dehydrator is heated with a lightbulb. It's controlled with a dimmer switch, and we use a simple kitchen thermometer to determine the temperature inside the box. There's a screened hole in the top for ventilation, and the shelves are removable. In this photo, I think I was making either pizza crust or flatbread - I can't remember which. 

Most importantly, for my birthday, I received a beautiful, handmade gift that was made with love. What more could a girl ask for?